fewkes] PREHISTORIC VILLAGES, CASTLES, AND TOWERS 



55 



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 (pi. 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 ' 



This tower (pi. 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 high- 

 est terrace. There are said 

 to be several ruins in the 

 McLean Basin, the two tow- 

 ers (pis. 20, c, 27, 28, a, b) 

 visited being placed in an 

 exceptional position in 

 fig. i 5 .-Ground plan of Lion House. reference to surrounding 



rooms. One of these towers is circular, the other D-shaped or semi- 

 circular in ground plan (fig. 16, A, B). 



Previously to the author's study of the southwestern towers two 

 forms of these structures were recognized; the square or rectangular, 

 and the circular or oval. It is now known that several of the towers 



i This tower is reputed to bo the home of a mountain lion, hence the name Lion nousc. 



