9204 ANTIQUITIES OF THE VERDE AND WALNUT CREEK [sru. any. 28 
from Del Rio by following the bed of the Verde. The great trachyte 
cliff rises precipitously about 300 to 400 feet above the river on the 
eastern, northern, and western sides, but on the south the approach, 
although steep, is more gradual; even here access is difficult. Ap- 
proached from the river, the ruin presents the appearance of a cas- 
tle towering above and commanding a view of the stream. 
The general ground plan (fig. 63) of the ruin is roughly oval, with its 
longer axis extending north and south. The northern part is without 
a high wall, the precipice, from the edge of which it rises, serving the 
purpose of defense in that direction; but the southern part is protected 
by a high massive wall 320 feet long, fairly well preserved, and provided | 
with an entrance at the southern extremity. The short axis of the 
ruin, measured from one extremity of the south wall to the other, is 
about 125 feet in length. 
The northern and southern sections of the ruin are separated by a 
row of several rectangular rooms. The distance of these structures 
from the southern entrance is 87 feet, and from the nearest point of 
the northern section, 65 feet. The section south of these rooms 
appears to have been an enclosed plaza, without houses. In the 
northeastern part of the northern section are several rooms the com- 
bined length of which is 61 feet. 
The walls of this fort and of the included buildings average 6 feet 
in thickness; they contain no mortar. 
This ruin is evidently the one mentioned by Hinton, as follows 
(pp. 419-20) :* 
Four miles below the place described, there is a hill overlooking the Verde River, 
with a series of ruins of stone houses, inclosed by a stone wall on the south side, which 
in places is 20 feet high and 12 feet wide. The other sides of the hill are abrupt and 
precipitous, and 200 to 300 feet perpendicular. 
LIMESTONE BUTTE RUIN 
The Limestone Butte ruin (pls. 88-91), situated about 6 miles west 
of Jerome Junction and 16 miles north of Prescott, is one of the best 
preserved of the hilltop forts. It crowns_a limestone ridge com- 
manding fine views of the valleys to the east and west and of the 
distant Juniper Mountains to the northwest, with the Chino Valley 
and the distant peak called Pichacho. To the west lies Williamson 
Valley and to the south the mountains surrounding Prescott. The 
approach to this ruin on the east is more abrupt than that on the 
west. An old Government road which runs through Aztec Pass 
lies at the base of the ridge on top of which the ruins stand. This 
ridge rises 500 to 600 feet above the neighboring valley. 
The general plan (fig. 64) of the Limestone Butte ruin is rectan- 
gular, the orientation slightly east of north. The walls are solid 
1 Hinton. Richard J., Handbook to Arizona, San Francisco and New York, 1878. 
