3. Tower ruin crowning a leaning pinnacle.
4. Ruin on top of a plateau with precipitous sides, in middle of a canyon 3 miles south of Taylor’s lower ranch.
5. Walls on top of an inverted cone, 6 miles up the canyon from Taylor’s lower ranch.
6. Several towers in a cluster on a point of the plateau 8 miles below Taylor’s lower ranch.
The above ruins may be classified into two types distinguished by the character of their site: (a) True “mushroom rock ruins,” as their name implies, are perched on tops of isolated rock pinnacles resembling the so-called Snake rock at Walpi, and (b) the second type, crown spurs of the mesa overlooking the canyon. The pinnacle foundations of the former are the last stage in erosion of a spur from the side of the canyon. It is doubtful whether these pinnacles were cut off by erosion before or after the buildings thereon were constructed. On the whole both types of ruins in Hill Canyon present no architectural differences from those found in some of the tributary canyons of the Colorado River.
The author’s visit to the Hill Canyon region was mainly a reconnoissance to verify reports of the existence of prehistoric remains in this little-known region. He was accompanied by Mr. T. G. Lemmon of Dallas, Texas, a volunteer, who furnished the Hill Canyon pictures here reproduced. Mr. Owen, the official farmer of the Ute reservation, and an Indian boy accompanied us, the former as guide, the latter as driver. In penetrating this secluded country we were obliged to camp along the way, but were hospitably received by the few ranchmen along the route and made our home for a few days at Taylor’s lower ranch while making our excursions to the ruins. It is a great pleasure to acknowledge this aid and especially that of Mr. Kneale, who aided us in outfitting at Ouray.
The best preserved examples of characteristic Hill Canyon Ruins belong to the second type, or those not isolated from the neighboring plateau, the most striking of which belong to the mushroom type. Both have a general similarity in circular form and massive walls, recalling, except in poor quality of masonry the so-called “towers” of the McElmo Canyon. They resemble the “Tower ruin,” found by Prof. Montgomery, in Nine Mile Canyon, on the western slope of the range. Their masonry is composed of natural slabs of rock, rudely fashioned by fracture, but rarely dressed in cubical blocks, as in the towers on the McElmo Canyon. Their exposure to the elements has led to considerable destruction, the adobe in which the walls were laid having been washed out of the joints. The lower courses of stone, as seen in the view of the large ruin perched high above the ranch house, were of larger stones than the upper, and showed more evidences of having been dressed than the flat stones piled one on the other, which form the upper courses.
RUINS NEAR TAYLOR’S LOWER RANCH
Ruin A
