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[51]
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.
Fig. 14.—Ground plan of Davis Ruin.
M’LEAN BASIN
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 semicircular in ground plan ([fig. 16, A, B]).
