200 ANTIQUITIES OF THE VERDE AND WALNUT CREEK  [pru. ayy. 28 
walled-up caves or cliff-dwellings. Higher up the canyon is called 
Sycamore Basin; this also is reputed to contain cliff-dwellings and 
other evidences of former habitation, but was not visited. 
In Sycamore Canyon, about a mile from the junction of the Sycamore 
and the Verde, a fine spring bubbles out of the ground, the outflow from 
which formed a considerable stream at the time of the author’s visit. 
Half a mile farther up the canyon is a well-preserved but inaccessible 
cliff-house, having an upper and a lower front wall, as shown in the 
accompanying illustration (pl. 88). This ruin is situated in a cave 
in the side of the cliff, the approach to which is worn away. The 
stones of the upper front wall of the inner building are supported by 
upright logs. 
About 2 miles from the junction of Sycamore Creek and the Verde, 
on both sides of the canyon, even where the walls are steepest, are 
natural caves showing evidences of former occupancy. For the 
greater part the walls in these caves have tumbled down, but rem- 
nants of front walls are still standing. Here and there the volcanic 
rock is of columnar form. (Pl. 86,6.) The formation of the cliff 
in which the caves are situated is uniformly soft and tufaceous; the 
color is commonly reddish, in places almost white. 
Apparently the prehistoric population of Sycamore Canyon was 
small and the area that could be cultivated was meager. 
On a level place to the left of the road from Jerome as one descends 
to the mouth of the Sycamore there is a pueblo ruin which is much 
dilapidated. 
Ruins in HELL Canyon 
Hell Canyon is a branch of the Verde Canyon and the small 
stream flowing through the former discharges into the Verde a short 
distance from the mouth of Granite Creek. The author had been 
informed that there were extensive ruins of cliff-dwellings in Hell 
Canyon, but although there are here several stone ruins of the fortress 
type, referred to by ranchmen as ‘‘corrals,”’ there are few remains of 
cliff-houses. One ranchman declared the Hell Canyon ruins to be the 
largest on the upper Verde; this may be true, but no ruins of great 
size were visited by the author. Not far from the junction of this 
canyon with the Verde is a low bluff of soft stone, suggestive of the 
Oak Creek formation, which looks as if it once might have been 
honeycombed with cavate rooms. These have now disappeared, only 
a hint of their former existence remaining. The rock here is suitable 
for cavate houses like those at the mouth of Oak Creek, and there is 
level land adjacent that would serve for agricultural purposes. 
1 There is evidence of the existence of a large ruin on the rim of the mesa or the point of the tongue of 
land between the Verde and the mouth of the Sycamore, 25 miles from Williams, but this ruin was not 
visited. 
2It is impossible to drive up this canyon, hut the trip can easily be made on horseback. 
