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. cHtR$: 1):6 Newspaper Rock is the feature attraction of Indian Creek State Park located about 20 airline miles north- west of Monticello. Here the literary con- tributions 0f three early cultures are displayed over many square yards of sand- stone. . The Goosenecks State Park provides a commanding view of the Great Goosenecks of the San Juan River. From an observation level 1,200 feet above the river the visitor sees a classic example of erosion cut by a meandering stream. This phenomenon of na- ture cuts through many centuries of time and is discussed in most textbooks on geology. Across the river from the viewpoint are the Navajo Indian Reservation DESCRIPTION OF STUDY AREA '.i , Indian petro glyphs cover Newspaper Rock in Indian Creek State Park. and Monument Valley. Archeological sites Places of archeological interes~ are distributed throughou~ the study area. One, located in Grand Gulch, an intermittent sou~h-flowing tribu- tary of the San Juan River, is a "type site" for Ba.sketmaker culture. It was first recognized in the 1890's by Richard Wetherill. A n~ber of points of archeological interest are also concentrated in the Hovenweep National Mon~ent and in nearby Squaw Point and Montezuma Areas. These are essentially an extension of ~he Mesa Verde Area of south~estern Colo- rado. Numerous other sites in the study area are generally small and rather widely dispersed. A n~ber are located in the Monticello Ranger District of the ~~nti-La Sal National Fares.. An inventory by the Bureau of Land Management and the University of Colorado, as yet only t~o-thirds complete, has turned up 1,400 archeological sites in the 158,OOO-acre Me Elmo Unit in southwestern Colorado adjacent to the study area. . 21