Inverted Cone Ruin
Fig. 15.—Inverted cone ruin.
The best example of the mushroom type of ruin, shown in the accompanying figure ([fig. 15]) is about 6 miles up the canyon from Taylor’s ranch on the right hand side of Hill Canyon. It is clearly visible from the road which follows the stream and has a wide outlook up and down the valley. Although the top of the rock on which this ruin stands would at first sight appear to be inaccessible, Mr. Owen, by means of a log, surmounted it and reported that its surface is flat and that the walls thereon are about 20 feet long and five feet wide, enclosing a roughly oval chamber, as their outline follows the rim of the top of the rock. These walls, when seen from the road with a good glass, appear as low ridges constructed of indifferent masonry.
Twin Towers
Fig. 16.—Mushroom rock ruins.
Twin pinnacles, shown in figure 16, were observed from the road about 3 miles up the canyon from Taylor’s ranch. Fragments of walls existed on top of both of these pinnacles, but as it was impossible to reach them on account of the erosion at their bases the form and condition of the walls were impossible to determine. Like the tower last mentioned, the view from their tops stretches several miles in both directions up and down the canyon.
Ruin on Leaning Pinnacle
The author’s limited visit to this region made it impossible to record all the various shapes of eroded pinnacles bearing buildings found in Hill Canyon, but one of the most remarkable of these foundations was observed to lean very perceptibly to one side ([pl. 13]) so that one side of the ruin barely falls within the line of stable equilibrium. The top of this leaning pinnacle was inaccessible, the height being about 50 feet from the base, which rose from a narrow ridge over 200 feet above the plain. The author’s idea of the ground plan and character of the masonry in this ruin is limited to what could be seen from the road, but its general appearance from that distance is the same as the preceding ruin.