morris] THE CLIFF-RUINS OF JOHNSON CANYON 165 
Butmpincs 
1. IN JOHNSON CANYON 
A short distance below the head of the box canyon an ancient trail 
scales the north wall. It consists of a number of steps or toe holds 
cut into the rock, which greatly facilitate the ascent of the sloping 
surface. 
Under the first arch of considerable size, also on the northern 
side of the canyon, are two depressions, with a capacity of about 
3 gallons each, pecked into the rock floor of the cave. They are 
arranged to catch the drip from the cliff, and a very inconsequential 
rain is sufficient to fill them. 
Ruins at mouth of Spring Canyon—At this place are the ruins 
marked Nos. 1 and 2 on the map (pl. 31). Both are in a poor state 
of preservation. The one on the southern side of Johnson Canyon 
consists of six rooms built in a crevice which can be entered from the 
east end. The walls are poorly constructed. In one place they are 
built entirely of mud into which have been thrust many small frag- 
ments of stone (pl. 34, &), and in another they contain no stone what- 
ever, but are thickly chinked with broken pottery. They stand upon 
the edge of the cliff and reach to the roof of the cave. A passage 
runs the length of the crevice behind the apartments. 
Below the mouth of Spring Canyon practically every available site 
contains the remains of a small building. Few of these could have 
been used as dwellings, the majority probably having served as stor- 
age places for the crops raised on the mesas. The finding in one of 
them of several bushels of corncobs strengthens this conclusion. In 
the first 5 miles below Spring Canyon the party counted 15 of these 
ledge houses, and it is probable that there are many more hidden by 
the line of spruces which skirts the rim rock and concealed in the 
numerous ramifications which branch off from the main gorge on both 
sides. 
Ruin No. 3—Under a high arch on the north side of the canyon 
are the remains of the first building of noteworthy size (No. 3 on 
the map, pl. 31). An ascent of 300 feet brings one to the level of 
the cave in which it stands. The débris and ruined walls extend 
along the cliff for 150 feet. Four kivas form the most conspicuous 
feature, three of them at the western end of the cave, the other well 
toward its eastern extremity. In the central part of the rear of the 
cave a crack was walled up, and the five rooms thus formed are in- 
tact. Upon a detached bowlder at the front and near the western 
end perches a tower 7 feet square and 6 feet in height. The features 
of the rest of the building can not be determined, since even the bases 
of the walls have been disturbed. 
