Eight Mile Ruin
Eight Mile Ruin ([pl. 10]) is the largest and most conspicuous of the Hill Creek remains. It consists of a cluster of towers on a cliff overlooking the right side of the canyon below Taylor’s ranch and from the bottom of the canyon resembles a single large building. It is made up of several circular towers, with passageways between which preserve all the typical features of this style of ruins. When this cluster is examined individually it is found to be composed of round rooms, a semi-circular building, and a rectangular room ([fig. 14]). The basal courses of the masonry are constructed of massive, almost megalithic, rocks. The walls of the rectangular building are particularly well made, and enclose a room filled to the top with clay mixed with fallen rubble. The longest side of this room extends north and south. The whole cluster is approximately 70 feet in length. The diameter of the circular rooms varies, the outside measurement of the larger ones being about 20 feet, while the smallest is barely large enough for a man to stand in with comfort. The semi-circular room is 14 feet in diameter. The axis of these rooms extends approximately in a north-south direction. So far as could be traced each of the larger circular ruins has on the inside an elevated banquette surrounding it, and enclosed in a wall, reaching a height of 10 feet. There is much fallen rock within these enclosures concealing their floors and rendering it impossible to trace properly the course of the banquette or interpret its relation. Another ruin of the same general plan, but smaller, is a little farther down on the same side of the canyon. Its walls have tumbled almost to their foundations, and are inconspicuous, resembling piles of stone.
The essential architectural feature of the Hill Canyon towers is their circular form, modified in many instances by the addition of a straight wall or rectangular annex. In certain cases the enclosing walls of two towers have fused, while in the Eight Mile Ruin the towers are accompanied by a rectangular room separated a short distance from them.
None of these towers show any evidences of past habitation and, what is remarkable, no fragments of pottery occur on the surface of the plateau in their neighborhood. Not far from the tower ([pl. 10, a]), there was picked up a mealing stone similar to those used by pueblo Indians in grinding corn, but no accompanying metate was found. No excavations were attempted.