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PREHISTORIC VILLAGES, CASTLES, AND TOWERS OF SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO.
CLASSIFICATION.
(continued)
GREAT HOUSES AND TOWERS
Great houses and towers differ from pueblos of the
pure type but may often be combined with them, forming composite houses
arranged in clusters called villages. Castles and towers may be
isolated structures without additional chambers, or may have many annexed
rooms which are rectangular, round, or semicircular in form.
Semicircular towers surrounded by concentric curved walls connected by
radial partitions forming compartments are shown in Horseshoe Ruin, to
which attention has been called in preceding pages, and possibly in the
circular or semicircular ruins on hilltops near Dolores.
MASONRY
The masonry of the great house and tower type (pl.
11, a, b) varies in excellence, not only in different examples but also
in different portions of the same building. Some of the walls contain
some of the best-constructed masonry north of Mexico; others (see pl. 6,
b) are crudely made. In the Great House of the Holly
group, where the walls show superior construction,
the lowest courses of rock are larger than those above, but in Hovenweep
Castle small stones are found below those of larger size; the Round
Tower in McLean Basin shows small and large stones introduced for ornamentation.
The ambitious constructors of several towers have
built the foundations of these towers on bowlders sloping at a
considerable angle, and it is a source of wonder that these walls have
stood for so many years without sliding from their bases. Although so
well constructed in many instances, the courses were weak from their
want of binding to the remaining wall. As a consequence many corners
have fallen, leaving the remaining walls intact. The builders often
failed to tie in the partitions to the outer walls, by which failure
they lost a brace and have sprung away from their attachment.
In a general way we may recognize masonry of two
varieties.
1. That in which horizontal courses are obscure or
absent. This has resulted from the use of stones of different sizes, the
intervals between which are filled in with masses of adobe. These stones
are little fashioned, or dressed only on one side, that forming the face
of the wall.
2. That constructed of horizontal courses,
constituting by far the larger number of these buildings. Each course of
this masonry is made of well-dressed stones, carefully pecked, and of
the same size. In this horizontal masonry the thickness of stones used
may vary in different courses (pl. 11, b). They may be alternately
narrow or thick, or layers of thick stones may be separated by one or
more layers of tabular or thin stones. This method of alternation may be
so regular as to please the eye and thus become decorative, a mode of
decoration that reached a high development in the Chaco Ruins. The
stones in the horizontal style of masonry are equal in size throughout
the whole building in some cases, and show not only care in choice of
stones but also in dressing them to the same regulation size. In these
cases the joints fit so accurately that chinking has not been found
necessary and a minimum use of adobe was required.
The inner walls of kivas are much better constructed
than the outer walls of the same or of the walls about them. The masonry
here is regular horizontal. The sides, lintels, and thresholds of door
ways are among the finest examples of construction. With the exception
of walls sheltered by overhanging cliffs, the plastering has completely
disappeared, but there is no reason to doubt that the interiors of all
the great houses and towers were formerly plastered.
It is instructive to compare the masonry of the great
houses and towers of the Mancos with that of the towers in Hill Canyon
(pl. 11, c) in Utah, the most northern extension of these two types. In
Eight Mile Ruin, one of the largest of these buildings in Hill Canyon,
we have a circular tower with annexed great houses, all
constructed of well dressed stones, the masonry in the walls showing on
one side of the tower. No excavations, however, have yet been undertaken
in Hill Canyon Ruins, and it is not known whether the unit type of kiva
is found there, but the combination of great houses and towers is
evident from the ground plans elsewhere published. [1]
1Smithson. Misc, colls., vol. 68, no. 1, 1917.
The feature of the towers in Hill Canyon is the
clustering into groups, somewhat recalling the condition in Cannonball
Ruin, where, however, they are united. In the Eight Mile Ruin one of the
towers is separated from the remaining houses.
Several towers have accompanying circular depressions
with surrounding mounds. This association can well be seen in Holmes
Tower on the Mancos Canyon and in Davis Tower and one or two others on
the Yellow Jacket. These depressions, sometimes called reservoirs, have
never been excavated, but from what is known of rooms accompanying
towers in the western section of Hovenweep Castle it may be that they
indicate kivas. Some towers have no sunken area in the immediate
vicinity, especially those mounted on rocky points or perched on
bowlders. At Cannonball Ruin there are several kivas side by side in one
section and towering above them is a massive walled tower and other
rooms.
STRUCTURE OF TOWERS
None of the towers examined have evidences of mural
pilasters to support a roof or recesses in the walls as in
vaulted-roofed kivas. They are sometimes two stories high, the rafters
and flooring resting on ledges of the inner wall. Lateral entrances are
common and windows are absent. [2]
2Our knowledge of the entrances into kivas of the
vaulted-roofed type is not all that could be desired.
Kiva D of Spruce-tree House has a passageway opening
through the floor of an adjacent room, and Kiva A of cliff Palace has
the same feature. Doctor Prudden has found lateral entrances from kivas
into adjoining rooms in his unit-type pueblo. The majority of
cliff-dwellers' kivas show no evidence of lateral entrances.
While the author has found no ruin of the same ground
plan as Sun Temple on the Mesa Verde, D-shaped towers or great houses
from several localities distantly recall this mysterious building, and
there may be an identity in use between Sun Temple and the massive-walled
structures of the McElmo and Yellow Jacket; what that use was has
not thus far been determined. [3] If they were constructed for
observatories we can not account for the square tower in the South Fork
of Square Tower Canyon, from which one can not even look down the
canyon, much less in other directions, hemmed in as it is
by cliffs. Isolated towers are often too small for
defense; and they show no signs of habitation.
3Mr. Jackson, op. cit., p. 415, regarded it likely
that the towers were "lookouts or places of refuge for the sheep herders
who brought their sheep or goats up here to grace, just as the Navajos
used to and as the Utes do at the present time." This explanation is
impossible, for there is no evidence that the builders of the towers had
either sheep or goats, the Navajos and the Utes obtaining both from the
Spaniards.
Are they granaries for storage of corn or places for
rites and ceremonies? Do they combine several
functionsobservation, defense, and storage of food? Thus far in
studies of more than 30 towers and great houses not one has been found
so well preserved that enough remains to determine its use, and yet
their walls are among the best in all southwestern ruins. Some future
archeologist may find objects in towers that will demonstrate their
function, but from our present knowledge no theory of their use yet
suggested is satisfactory.
It is impossible from the data available to determine
the century in which the towers and great houses of the region were
constructed. Thus far a few were seen with great trees growing in them,
but none with roofs; the state of preservation of the walls does not
point to a great age. Several writers have regarded them as occupied
subsequently to the Spanish conquest, while others have ascribed to
them a very remote antiquity. It can hardly be questioned that the
cliff-dwellers, and by inference their kindred, the tower builders,
were superior in their arts to modern Pueblos.
It is important to determine first of all the forms
of these towers; whether their ground plans are circular, oval,
square, rectangular, or semicircular. The northern wall of many is
uniformly curved and the last to fall, which might lead to the belief that
the southern side, generally straight, was poorly made, but one can not
determine that by direct observation, since the latter has fallen. As a
matter of fact the south wall was generally low and straight, over 50
per cent of the "round" towers being semicircular, D-shaped, or some
modification of that form; but we also have square and rectangular
towers. It is also important to determine whether these had single or
multiple chambers and the arrangement of the rooms in relation to them.
This is especially desirable in towers with concentric compartments.
It is also instructive to know more of the
association of towers with pueblos and cliff-dwellings or to analyze
component architectural features. The tower type often occurs without
appended rooms. At Cliff Palace and Square Tower House it is united with
a pueblo village under cliffs; in Mud Spring Ruin it has a like relation
to rooms of a pueblo in the open. Has its function changed by that
union? What use did the tower serve when isolated and had it the same
use when united with other kinds of rooms in cliff-dwellings and
pueblos?
No writer on the prehistoric towers of Colorado and
Utah has emphasized the fact that a large number of these buildings are
semicircular or D-shaped, but it has been taken for granted that the
fallen wall on the south side was curved, rendering the tower
circular or oval. [1] In most cases
this wall was the straight side of a D-shaped tower. Doctor Prudden, who
first recognized the importance of a union of towers with other types of
architecture in the McElmo district, says: [2] "Towers of various forms
and heights occasionally form a part of composite ruins of various
types." He says also: "Several of the houses are modified by the
introduction of a round tower." And again: "At the head of a short
canyon north of the Alkali, which I have called Jackson Canyon . . .
each building consists of an irregular mass of rooms about 200 feet
long, with low towers among them."
1The tower figured by Prudden (Amer. Anthrop., n. s. vol. v,
no.2, pl. xviii, fig. 2) as a "round tower" is really semicircular, as
shown in the ground plan (fig. 14) here published.
2Ibid., pp. 241, 263, 273.
As our studies are morphological, dealing with forms
rather than sites of towers, little attention need be paid to their
situation on bowlders, in cliffs, or at the bottoms of canyons. The
majority of the castellated ruins considered in the following pages are
in the proposed Hovenweep National Monument, but there are others in the
main Yellow Jacket and its other tributaries.
HOVENWEEP DISTRICT
The name Hovenweep ("Deserted Valley") is an old one
in the nomenclature of the canyons of southwestern Colorado and formerly
(1877) was applied to the canyon now called the Yellow Jacket, but at
present is limited to one of the tributaries. The name is here used to
designate an area situated just over the Colorado State line, in Utah,
part of which it is hoped will later be reserved from the public domain
and made a monument to be called Hovenweep National Monument.
The ruined castles and towers in this district are
marvelously well preserved, considering their age and imperfect masonry.
We can determine their original appearance with no difficulty and use
them in reconstructing the possible forms of more dilapidated ruins, now
piles of debris. The best castles and towers known to the author are
localized in three canyons: (1) Square Tower Canyon, (2) Holly Canyon,
(3) Hackberry Canyon. There are, of course, other castles and towers in
the Yellow Jacket-McElmo region, but there is no locality where so many
different forms appear in equal numbers in a small area.
RUIN CANYON
The Old Bluff Road from Dolores diverges southward
from that to Monticello at Sandstone post office and passes a pile of
rocks visible from the road on the Ruin Canyon long before it reaches
Square Tower Canyon (fig. 6). This large ruin is situated on the east
rim and under it in the side of the cliff are fairly well-preserved
cliff-houses. Other ruins with high standing walls were reported in
Ruin Canyon but were not visited.

FIG. 6Square Tower Canyon.
The duplication of names of canyons in this district
is misleading. Names like Ruin Canyon are naturally applied to canyons
in which there are ruins. When the author learned at Dolores of Ruin
Canyon, he supposed it was a tributary of the Yellow Jacket or McElmo,
but while the canyon known to cowboys at Dolores by this name has large
ruins on its rim, it is not the "Ruin Canyon" to which attention is now
directed. The duplication of names has led me to retain the name Ruin
Canyon for one and to suggest the name Square Tower Canyon for the
other.
After leaving Ruin Canyon the Old Bluff Road takes a
southerly course, passing through the cedars until a sagebrush clearing
replaces the "timber," where it crosses two well-preserved Indian
reservoirs, or bare surfaces of rock, dipping south, the southern
border having as a retaining wall a low ridge of earth to hold back
the water. The retaining wall of the second reservoir has been built up
by stockmen and, when the author was there, contained considerable
water. Crossing the second reservoir a trail turns east or to the left
and follows the road to Keeley Camp, near which are the "Keeley
Towers."
At present an automobile can approach within a mile
of these ruins.
SQUARE TOWER CANYON
To reach the Square Tower Canyon (pls. 11-17)
one returns to the reservoir on the Bluff Road and continues east about
3 miles farther, where a signboard on the left hand indicates the turn
off to Square Tower Canyon. Following the new direction about southeast
the great buildings are visible a mile away. An automobile can go to the
very head of this canyon and a camp can be made within a few feet of
Hovenweep House. If the visitor approaches Square Tower Canyon from the
McElmo, he passes through Wickyup Canyon, where there are two towers on
the summits of elevated buttes, not far from the junction of the canyon
and the Yellow Jacket.
The castles and towers in Square Tower Canyon have
been known for many years and have been repeatedly
photographed. [1]
1The older photographs seen by the author are those of W. H. Jackson,
prints of which are on exhibition in the State Historical Museum at
Denver, Colo.
Several descriptions of these ruins have been
printed, but no satisfactory studies of their structure have been
published. They are recognized as prehistoric and are generally thought
to have been inhabited contemporaneously with the cliff-dwellers of the
Mesa Verde, being built in the same style of architecture.
CLASSIFICATION OF RUINS IN SQUARE TOWER CANYON
The ruins in Square Tower Canyon are classified for
convenience in description as follows:

FIG. 7.Ground plan of Hovenweep House.
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(1) Ruins which have indications of inclosed circular
kivas, with mural pilasters and banquettes, and closely approximated
surrounding rooms. To this class belong ruins 1, 2, and 10. Of these,
Unit-type Ruin (No. 10) has only one kiva and belongs to the simplest
or unit form of the pure type. Ruins 1 and 2 have two or
more kivas and are formed by a union of several
units, combined with towers and great houses. (2)
Ruins, the main feature of which is absence of a circular kiva. The
Twin Towers belong to this second or "great house's" ??? type. The few
cliff-dwellings in this canyon are small, generally without kivas,
resembling storage cists rather than domiciles.
HOVENWEEP HOUSE (RUIN 1)
This ruin (fig. 7), the largest in the canyon, is
situated at the head of the South Fork. Although many
of its walls have fallen, there still
remains a semicircular great house (B, C, D) with high walls
conspicuous for some distance. The ruin is a pueblo
of rectangular form belonging to the pure type, showing circular
depressions identified as kivas (K), embedded in collections of
square and rectangular rooms, and massive walled buildings (E) on
the south side.
The standing walls of the ruin are remains of a
conspicuous D-shaped tower (B, C, D), which is multichambered;
Its straight wall measures 23 feet, the curved wall 56 feet, and its
highest wall, which is on the northeast corner, is 15 feet high. At the
northwest angle of the ruin (A) there stand remains of high walls
which indicate that corner of a rectangular pueblo. Hovenweep
House (pl. 14, a) was the largest building in this canyon, but with the
exception of the addition of a semicircular tower or great house, does
not differ greatly from a pueblo like Far View House on the Mesa Verde.
The piles of stone and earth indicating rooms below justify the conjecture
that when the fallen debris is removed the unfallen walls will still
rise several feet above their rocky foundations. If properly excavated,
Hovenweep House would be an instructive building, but in its present
condition, while very picturesque, its structure is difficult to
determine.

FIG. 8.Ground plan of Hovenweep Castle.
HOVENWEEP CASTLE
This ruin (pls. 14, b, c; 18, b), like the preceding,
has circular kivas compactly embedded in rectangular rooms arranged
about them, indicating the pure type of pueblos. The massive-walled
semicircular towers and great houses are combined with square rooms and
kivas, indicating that it is distinguished by two sections, an eastern
and a western, which, united, impart to the whole the shape of a letter
L (fig. 8).
WESTERN SECTION OF HOVENWEEP CASTLE
The western section (fig. 8, AD, M) of
Hovenweep Castle is made up of five rooms, the most western of which,
M, is semicircular, while A, B, C, and D are
rectangular. Room A is almost square, one of its walls forming
the straight wall of the south side of the semicircular
tower, M. At the union its walls are not tied
into the masonry of the circular wall of the tower, as may be seen in
the illustration, plate 14, b, implying that it was constructed later.
There is an entrance into A from the south or cliff side, and a
passageway from A to Room B, which latter opens by a
doorway into Room C. All rectangular rooms of the western section
communicate with each other, but none except A seem to have had
an external entrance. The photograph of the south wall of the west
section of the ruin (pl. 14, c) shows small portholes in the second
story and narrow slits in the tower walls. The lower courses of masonry
are formed of thinner stones than the rows above, but smaller stones
compose the courses at the top of the wall. A view of the north wall of
the western section (pl. 22, a) shows the tower and rooms united to it.
There is no kiva in the western section.
EASTERN SECTION OF HOVENWEEP CASTLE
The longest dimension of the western section (pls.
12, 14, c) is approximately east-west; that of the eastern is nearly
north-south. The eastern section (fig. 8, EL), like the
western, has a tower (L), which is situated between two circular
depressions or kivas (K). On the north and south ends the eastern
section is flanked by rectangular rooms. Those at the north end were
better constructed, and even now stand as high as the walls of the
western tower. The views show that their corners are not as well
preserved as their faces, which is due to defects in masonry, as lack of
bonding. Although much debris has accumulated around the kivas,
especially in their cavities, it is evident that these ceremonial rooms
were formerly one storied, and practically subterranean on account of
the surrounding rooms. Several fragments of walls projecting above the
accumulated debris indicate rooms at the junction of the eastern and
western sections of the ruin, but their form and arrangement at that
point are not evident and can be determined only by excavation. The
inner kiva walls show evidences of mural pilasters and banquettes like
those of cliff dwellings and other pure pueblo types.
RUIN 3
The square tower (pl. 11, a), standing on a large
angular rock in the canyon below Hovenweep Castle, is a remarkable
example of prehistoric masonry so situated that it is shut in by cliffs,
rendering the outlook limited. Several published photographs of this
tower give the impression that it stands in the open and was an outlook,
but that this is hardly the case will be seen from a general view
looking west up the South Fork.
RUIN 4
This ruin is a small tower situated in a commanding
position on the point of the mesa where the canyon forks. The section of
the wall still standing indicates a circular form, the north side of
which has fallen; the part still intact, or that on the south side,
exhibits good masonry about 8 feet high (pl. 15, c).
RUIN 5
The walls of the north segment of a tower stand on a
large angular block of stone rising from a ledge above the arroyo, or
bed of the canyon, below Ruin 4, on the South Fork. What appears to have
been a doorway opens on its north side; this opening is defended by a
wall, remains of a former protected passageway into the tower.
On the perpendicular cliff of the precipice near Ruin
5 and below the point on which Ruin 4 stands there are several almost
illegible pictographs, below which are rather obscure evidences of a
building, the features of which can be determined only by
excavation.
Instructive features of Tower No. 5 are two parallel
walls, one on each side of the doorway, like those of the circular
towers on the promontory at the junction of the Yellow Jacket and
McElmo. Other towers on the canyon rim show defensive walls, as in Ruin
9, constructed about their entrances from corners of the buildings to
the mesa rim, effectually preventing passage. Morley and Kidder have
suggested that the walled recess in the cliff below Ruin 9 was probably
built to prevent access from below. This feature is found in the floor
entrances of a building near the Great House of the Holly group.
RUIN 6
This ruin is a small tower whose curved walls are so
broken down that the form is not evident. It is situated in the base of
the talus at the head of the South Fork (pl. 26, a).
ERODED BOWLDER HOUSE (RUIN 7)
This house, more remarkable from its site than its
structure, was constructed in an eroded cave of a bowlder halfway down
the talus of the cliff. The front walls are somewhat broken down, but
others built in the rear of the cave still remain intact. On the top of
the bowlder is the debris of fallen walls, suggesting a former tower,
but not much remains in place to determine its outlines. Where the walls
are protected the mortar shows impressions of human hands and at one
place there are the indentations of a corncob used by the plasterers to
press the mortar between the layers of stone. There were formerly at
least two rooms in the rear of the cave, the front walls of which have
fallen and are strewn down the talus to the bottom of the canyon.
TWIN TOWERS (RUIN 8)

FIG. 9.Ground plan of Twin Towers.
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The so-called Twin Towers, which seen together from
certain points appear as one ruin (pl. 15, a, b), rank among the most
impressive buildings in Square Tower Canyon. They stand on the south
side of the canyon on a rock isolated by a cleft from the adjoining
cliff. The larger (fig. 9, AE) has an oval
ground plan and a doorway in the southwest corner ; the smaller (F,
G, H, I) is horseshoe shaped with a doorway in the east wall, which
is straight. The arrangement of rooms is seen
in figure 9. Small walled-up caves are found below
the foundation on the northwest base of the larger room.
RUIN 9
The ground plan of this ruin is rectangular in form,
19 feet 6 inches long by 10 feet wide. The standing walls measure 11
feet in altitude. It is situated on the south rim at the mouth of the
South Fork, just above Ruin 7, a few feet back from the cliff. A doorway
opening in the middle of its north wall was formerly made difficult of
entrance by walls, now fallen, extending from the northeast and
northwest angles to the edge of the cliff. The masonry throughout is
rough; projecting ends of rafters indicate a building two stories high.
There are peepholes with plastered surfaces through the southeast and
west walls, which suggest ports. A short distance east of the building
is a circle of stones reminding the author of a shrine.
UNIT-TYPE HOUSE (RUIN 10)
This pueblo (pl. 19, c), from a comparative
point of view, is one of the most interesting ruins in the Hovenweep,
and is situated on the very edge of the canyon on the North Fork not far
from where it begins. It is the simplest form of prehistoric pueblo, or
the unit 1 of a pure type, made up of a centrally placed circular
ceremonial room (fig. 10, K) embedded in rectangular rooms, six in
number (AF). The resulting or external form is rectangular,
oriented about due north and south; the southern side, which formerly
rose from the edge of the canyon, being much broken down and its masonry
precipitated over the cliff.
The central kiva (fig. 10) is made of exceptionally
fine masonry and shows by what remains that it had mural banquettes, and
pilasters to support the roof, with other features like a typical kiva
of the Mesa Verde cliff-houses. A side entrance opens in one
corner into a small room (fig. 10, C) in which ceremonial
objects may have been formerly stored (pl. 32, b) .

FIG. 10.Ground plan of Unit-type House.
The kiva of Unit-type House is architecturally the
same as those with vaulted roofs at Spruce-tree House, Cliff Palace, and
Far View House on the Mesa Verde. A similar structure, according to
Prudden, [1] occurs at Mitchell Spring Ruin in the Montezuma Valley, and
near the Picket corral. The same type was found by Morley [2] at the
Cannonball Ruin and by Kidder [3] in a kiva on Montezuma Creek in Utah,
where clusters of mounds would appear to be composed of
single or composite ruins of this type. This small
pueblo was probably inhabited by one social unit, and may be regarded
as the first stage of a compound pueblo.
1Circular Kivas in San Juan watershed. Amer.
Anthrop., n. s. vol. 16, no. 1, 1914.
2Excavation of the Cannonball Ruins in southwestern
Colorado. Amer. Anthrop., n. s. vol. x, no. 4, 1908.
3Explorations in southeastern Utah. Amer. Journ.
Archaeol., 2d ser., vol. xiv, no. 3, 1910.
STRONGHOLD HOUSE (RUIN 11)
Ruin 11 is composed of a cluster of several small
buildings, one of which is situated on the north edge of the mesa
somewhat east of Ruin 10 (pl. 25, b); another, called by Morley and
Kidder Gibraltar House, formerly of considerable size, was built on the
sloping surface of an angular bowlder (pl. 17, 21, b). Although many
walls have fallen, enough remains to render it a picturesque ruin,
attractive to the visitor and instructive to the archeologist, by whom
it has been classed as a tower. This building from the east appears to
be a square tower, but it is in reality composed of several rooms
perched on an inaccessible rock.
RUINS IN HOLLY CANYON
The towers in Holly Canyon (fig. 11) are in about the
same condition of preservation as those in Square Tower Canyon. They
cluster about the head of a small canyon (pl. 18, a) and may be
approached on foot along the mesa above Keeley Camp, about a mile
distant. Two of the Holly ruins belong to the tower type and were built
on fallen bowlders. One of these has two rooms on the ground floor.
(Pls. 19, a, b; 20 a, c.)

FIG. 11.Holly Canyon Ruins.
RUIN A, GREAT HOUSE, HACKBERRY CASTLE
Ruin A (pl. 21, a), the largest building of the
group, which stands on the edge of the canyon, is rectangular in form,
measuring 31 by 9 feet, and is 20 feet high (fig. 11, A).
Evidences of two rooms appear on the ground plan, one of which is 14
feet long, the other 12 feet inside measurement. The partition
separating the two rooms is not tied into the outer walls, an almost
constant feature in ancient masonry. The ends of the rafters are still
seen in the wall at a level 12 feet above the base. Fallen stones have
accumulated in the rooms to a considerable depth, and the tops of the
remaining wall, where the mortar is washed out, will tumble in a short
time.
Ruin B (pl. 20, b), situated a short distance north
of Ruin A, also stands on the canyon rim. The north wall is entire, but
the south wall has fallen. What remains indicates that the ruin was
about square, with corners on the north side rounded, imparting to it a
semicircular form. The entrance into this room may have been through the
floor.
TOWERS [C AND D]
These towers (pl. 23, a, b) show some of the finest
masonry known in this region, being constructed on fallen bowlders which
their foundations almost completely cover. Holly Tower (pl.
23, b) measures 16 feet high and 21 feet in diameter. It is 7 feet wide,
its top rising to a height level with that of the mesa on which stand
buildings already considered. One of the two rooms of this tower is
narrower and wider than the other, shown in an offset as if constructed
at a different time. Its foundations are 17 feet long by 8 feet wide,
the highest wall measuring, at the southeast corner, 12 feet 8 inches.
There is a fine doorway, wide above and narrow below, in the north wall.
The approach at present is difficult on account of the height of the
rock on which it stands, but there are evidences of former
footholes.
HOLLY HOUSE
Several broken-down walls, some of which are over 6
feet high, situated east of Ruin A, appear to belong to a pueblo of
considerable size (fig. 11, E, F), but the large foundation rock
on which it is situated has settled, its top having separated from the
edge of the canyon, so that the corner of the building (F) is out
of plumb. The walls on the adjoining cliff are also much broken down,
although several sections of them rise a few feet above the general
surface. The cause of this change in level of the base may have been an
earthquake or the settling or sliding of the bowlder on the talus down
the hill. The united building appears to have been a pueblo of
rectangular form. Its walls are so broken down that it was not possible to
determine its exact dimensions.
RUINS IN HACKBERRY CANYON
HORSESHOE HOUSE

FIG. 12.Horseshoe (Hackberry) Canyon.
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The large building in Hackberry Canyon, one of the
terminal spurs of Bridge Canyon, a mile northeast of the cluster in
Holly Canyon, is particularly instructive from the fact
that surrounding the remains of a circular tower, for
two-thirds of its circumference, is a concentric wall with compartments
separated by radial partitions (fig. 12, 1).
Horseshoe House (pl. 23, c) stands on the
north edge of the canyon (fig. 12, 1), having its straight wall on the
south side, as is usually the case, the well-preserved north side
being curved. The northeastern corner still stands several
feet high. The southeastern corner formerly rested on a projecting rock,
which recalls the cornerstone of Sun Temple. The masonry of most of the
southern segment of the enclosed circular room or tower has fallen down
the cliff. There does not appear to have been a doorway on the
south side, and there is not space for rooms on this side on account of
the nearness to the edge of the cliff. While the form (fig. 13) of
Horseshoe Ruin recalls that of Sun Temple, in details of room structure
it is widely divergent. The length of the south wall, or that connecting
the two ends of the horseshoe, is 30 feet, its width 27 feet; the
highest wall on the northwest side is 12 feet. Figure 13 shows the
arrangement of the rooms and the mutilation of the south wall of the
ruin. The distance between the outer and inner concentric walls
averages 4 feet; the circular room is 17 feet in diameter.
In the same cluster as Horseshoe Ruin (pl. 24, a)
there is another well-made tower (fig. 12, 4), constructed on a point at
the entrance to the canyon, and below it in a cave are well-preserved
walls of a cliff-dwelling.

FIG. 13.Ground plan of Horseshoe House.
A short distance due north of Horseshoe House, at
the head of a small canyon, a tributary of Bridge Canyon, there are two
large pueblos and a round tower. The pueblos are mentioned by Prudden,
who gives a ground plan which indicates an extensive settlement.

FIG. 14.Ground plan of Davis Ruin.
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TOWERS IN THE MAIN YELLOW JACKET CANYON
Of the several towers and great houses of the main
Yellow Jacket Canyon two may suffice to show their resemblance to those
in Square Tower Canyon. The two towers considered belong to the D-shaped
variety, the straight wall, as is almost always the case, being on the
south side.
DAVIS TOWER
Mr. C. K. Davis, who lives not far from the Yellow
Jacket Spring, conducted the author to a tower of semicircular ground
plan (fig. 14) near his ranch. This ruin (pl. 26, b), is situated on a
rocky ridge on top of the talus halfway down
to the bottom of the canyon, on its right side.
LION (LITTRELL) TOWER [1]
This tower (pl. 29, b) is built
on a bowlder situated in Yellow Jacket Canyon a
mile from Mr. Littrell's ranch and about 5 miles south of the
Yellow Jacket post office; approximately 20 miles from Dolores,
Colorado. Its ground plan (fig. 15) is D-shaped, the lower story being
divided by partitions into four rooms. The wall of the middle
room seems to be double, or to have been reenforced. It measures 40 feet
on the straight side, the highest wall being about 25 feet above the
base. The foundations rest on the irregular surface of a bowlder to
which it conforms.
1This tower is reputed to be the home of a mountain lion, hence the
name Lion House.
McLEAN BASIN
FIG 15 Ground plan of Lion House.
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McLean Basin is 3 miles from the Old Bluff City Road
near Picket corral, 32 miles from Dolores. It has been a favorite
wintering place for stock and is well known to herdsmen. One can
approach the ruin from the road to Bluff City and the towers here
referred to are easily reached by a trail down the mesa to the highest
terrace. There are said to be several ruins in the McLean Basin, the two
towers (pls. 26, c, 27, 28, a, b) visited being placed in
an exceptional position in reference to surrounding rooms. One of these
towers is circular, the other D-shaped or semi-circular in ground plan
(fig. 16, A, B).
Previously to the author's study of the southwestern
towers two forms of these structures were recognized; the square or
rectangular, and the circular or oval. It is now known that several of
the towers previously described as circular are in reality D-shaped, and
this form is probably more common than the circular.
The rectangular building in the McLean Basin has a
circular tower (pl. 28, b) on the southwest angle and a D-shaped tower
(pl. 28, a) on the northeast. They resemble two turrets rising above the
remaining walls that form the sides of the rectangles. These towers
average about 12 feet high, and are well constructed, while low
connecting walls of coarse masonry rise slightly above the surface. It
would appear from the amount of debris that the remaining walls indicate
a row of buildings, one story high, with circular subterranean kivas,
but this can not be accurately determined without excavation of the
ruin. Outside of the rectangle, however, there are at least
two circular areas, possibly kiva pits. The
rectangular building measures about 50 feet square. The ground on which
the buildings formerly stood slopes to the south, and back of it on the
north rises a low perpendicular bluff which effectually shelters it in
that direction.

FIG. 16.Ground plan of ruin with towers in
McLean Basin.
The union of a circular and a semicircular tower with
a rectangular ruin is a feature not common in the McElmo-Yellow Jacket
region, but appears in Hovenweep Castle, elsewhere described. Lower down
the sides of the basin and near by are many indications of walls of
buildings.
The pottery in the neighborhood belongs to the same
black and white types commonly found in the Hovenweep and Mesa Verde
areas.
Except for their peculiar relation to the rectangular
building the McLean towers do not differ essentially from others,
which leads to the inference that they were used
contemporaneously and for the same purpose. There is a well-made doorway
(fig. 17) in the Round Tower.
TOWER IN SAND CANYON
Sand Canyon, which opens into McElmo Canyon near
Battle Rock, has several types of prehistoric ruins, viz, towers,
cliff-houses, and large rim-rock pueblos. The tower type of architecture
represented by the example here figured (pl. 5, a) is isolated from
other forms of buildings. This tower is figured by Doctor Prudden, who
mentions another in the neighborhood which the author did not visit.
TOWERS IN ROAD (WICKYUP) CANYON

FIG. 17.Doorway in Round Tower, McLean Basin.
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The nomenclature of the northern canyons of the
McElmo has considerably changed in the last 40 years. What we now call
the Yellow Jacket was formerly known through its entire course as the
Hovenweep. A small canyon opening near its mouth, now known as Road
Canyon, was formerly called the Wickyup. The Old Bluff City Road from
Dolores, Colorado, to Bluff City, Utah, divides into two branches a
short distance before it descends into the McElmo, its left branch passing
through Road Canyon, the right bank of which follows the Yellow Jacket,
which the traveler fords a short distance above its junction with the
McElmo. Wickyup Canyon may be called picturesque, its cliffs being worn
into fantastic shapes by water and sand. It has important antiquities,
among the most striking of which are two towers (pl. 24, b), crowning
the tops of low buttes or hills. The walls of these
towers are well constructed, one being a simple
structure with a single room, the other having appended rectangular
rooms extending toward the northwest, some distance along a ridge of
rocks. An examination of these two towers, which are about one-quarter
of a mile apart, shows that they belong to the same type as the simple
forms of those above mentioned, and as the entrance to Square Tower
Canyon is not far away, they probably belong to the same series. The
first of the towers, called "Bowlder Castle," is situated a few hundred
feet east of the road, from which it is easily seen. This ruin is
rectangular in shape and rises from a basal mass of debris indicating
broken-down walls of rooms. At a level with
the top of this debris on its southern
side stands a well-constructed tower with well-made doorway, the
threshold and lintel of which are smooth stones, whose edges project
slightly from the surface of the wall. One remarkable feature of this
tower is that the doorway has been walled up with rude secondary masonry
(pl. 25, a). The south wall of this building has tumbled over, as is
usually the case, but the north wall rises several feet above the base.
The masonry of the second tower is also broken down on the south side,
but the standing remains of the north wall, which is circular, are over
10 feet high. The indications are that the ground plan of this building
was oval in shape and that it inclined inward slightly from foundation
to apex. Scattered over the surface are the remnants of fallen walls,
and near it there is a well-marked depression, not unlike those found in
unit-type mounds, indicating kivas.
TOWERS OF THE MANCOS
The author's examination of the towers in the region
considered embraced likewise a few in the Mancos Canyon and valley. In
all essential features the Mancos towers resemble those of Mesa Verde,
the McElmo, and the Yellow Jacket Canyons, and were evidently built by
the same people who constructed the towers on Navaho Canyon and
elsewhere on the Mesa Verde National Park. A brief reference to two or
three of these Mancos River towers may suffice to point out their
general structure.
HOLMES TOWER
One of the towers figured by Holmes in 1877 is still
among the best preserved in this region and can be visited by following
up the Mancos Canyon from the west about 10 miles from where the Cortez
road crosses the Mancos River before going on to Ship Rock. There is at
this point a bridge and near the crossing an industrial farm of the Ute
Reservation where accommodations were obtained. The Mancos Valley widens
after leaving the canyon, the southern side of Mesa Verde appearing as a
series of high mesas separated by canyons. In the neighborhood of the
western end of Mesa Verde are lofty buttes, one called Chimney Rock,
another the Ute Woman. This valley and the canyons extending into the
Mesa Verde contain numerous piles of stone indicative of buildings of
rectangular shape with numerous circular depressions. No cluster of
mounds like those in Montezuma Valley was seen, but about 40 sites of
buildings were distributed at intervals. None of these have standing
walls above ground.
Following up the Mancos Canyon in a wagon about 9
miles an arroyo was encountered and from there horses were taken and the
river crossed to its south bank, above which, on the shelving terrace,
is the Holmes Tower, visible many miles down the canyon. This
tower (pl. 29, a) is in much the same condition as
when sketched by Holmes over 40 years ago. It is circular in form, about
10 feet in diameter, and about 16 feet high, with a broken window on the
north side. The sky line is irregular. It is one of the best preserved
towers, but not as high or as well constructed as some of the Hovenweep
specimens.
Accompanying this tower on the north there are mounds
indicative of rooms and two circular saucer-like depressions.
Excavations revealing a few human bones, including a well-worn human
skull, have been made in a burial place southeast of the tower, where
the surface is covered with fragments of pottery. Except in size Holmes
Tower does not differ from others already described, but, like them, is
connected with rectangular rooms. Farther up the Mancos Canyon there are
other towers, one of which, Great Tower, is mentioned by Holmes in his
report.
On the way up the canyon, perhaps two-thirds of the
distance from the bridge to the Holmes Tower, midway in the alluvial
plain and on the right bank of Mancos Creek, stands a circular ruin
which conforms to Holmes's description of Great Tower but is too poorly
preserved to be positively identified. All that now remains of this
building is a large pile of rocks with a central depression, but no
signs of radiating partitions, although such may have existed when it
was constructed and for many years after it began to fall into ruin.
TOWERS ON THE MANCOS RIVER BELOW THE BRIDGE
TOWER A
There are two towers situated on the south side of
the Mancos below the bridge on the Ship-rock Road, one about 6, the
other 7 miles distant. The walls of the first of these (pl. 30, b) are
visible for some distance and are about 6 feet high, evidently very much
broken down on the south and east sides. Its shape is round and there is
a pile of stones indicating rooms on the east side separated from the
tower by a depression. It would be a valuable contribution to our
knowledge of these ruins if some one would determine the nature of these
pits, which can hardly be regarded as reservoirs, but suggest kivas.
TOWER B
The tower (pl. 31, a) situated farther down the
Mancos River has a more commanding position than Tower A and is
conspicuous because it stands on a projecting precipice, below the rim
of which are walled-up artificial caves. These caves have apparently
never been entered by white men; the walls of masonry are unbroken and
there are square openings, windows or doorways, which can be made out
long before reaching the place.
This tower (pl. 30, a) is almost perfectly round,
about 10 feet in diameter, and stands at least 6 feet high. The south
wall has fallen. In the pile of rocks on that side may be readily seen
the top of a straight wall reaching to the edge of the cliff as if for
protection, but no other fallen walls may now be seen in the
neighborhood. The face of the cliff below this tower (pls. 7, b; 31,
b) is almost perpendicular, the component strata of soft shale
alternating with harder rocks, the former well fitted for artificial
excavations.
The author was not impressed with the idea that any
considerable number of troglodytic inhabitants dwelt in the small cliff
rooms (pl. 31, b) [1] dug in it. Farther on there are other caves the walls
of the entrance to which are still in sight. It is true the surface of
the cliff may have been eroded and fallen in the time since they were
abandoned. They appeared to be storage cists rather than inhabited
rooms.
1A good figure of these cavate rooms is given by Holmes, op. cit.
Comparing the photograph with his figure it appears that their
surrounding shale has worn away somewhat in the last four decades.
Along the valley by the side of the road down the
Mancos from the bridge to the ruins many heaps of stone were noticed in
the valley but none of these were extensive or had walls standing above
ground. Nor were they arranged in clusters as is common in the Montezuma
Valley. On top of these heaps were found large fragments of slag in
which was embedded charred corn, indicating a great fire. Similar slag
also with burnt corn has often been found by the author on the floor of
excavated rooms.
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