JACKSON.] RUINS OF SOUTHWEST COLOEADO, &C. 429' 



one of the small, isolated mesas, whose floor is comi)osed of a distinctly 

 laminated sandstone, breaking into regular slabs from 18 to 24 inches 

 in thickness ; these have been broken again into long blocks, and then 

 placed in the wall upright, the largest standing five feet above the soil 

 in which they are planted. The sketch in Plate Lll is a view along the 

 line a a «, looking toward the round tower. Very nearly the entire 

 length of this wall is, made up of the large upright blocks of even thick- 

 ness, fitting close together, with only occasional spaces filled up with 

 smaller rocks. In one place the long blocks have been pushed outward 

 by the weight of the debris back of it. One side of the large square 

 apartment in the rear is made of the same kind of rocks, standing in a 

 solid row. The walls throughout the rest of the building are composed 

 of ordinary-sized rocks, with an occasional large upright one. Judging 

 from the debris, the walls could not have been more than 8 or 10 feet in 

 height. The foundation-line was well preserved, enabling us to meas- 

 ure accurately its dimensions. The large square room was depressed in 

 the centre, and its three outside walls contained less material than in 

 the rest of the building. No sign of any aperture, either of window or 

 door, could be detected. 



The far more numerous class of ruins occupying like mesas and the 

 promontory ])oints consist of a solid mass of small rectangular rooms, 

 arranged without any appearance of order, conforming to the irregular- 

 ities of the surface upon which they are built, and covering, usually, all 

 of the available space chosen for their site. All are extremely old, 

 tumbled into indefinite ridges 5 or 6 feet high, and as broad, with the 

 stones partially crumbled into sand, and all covered with sage-brush, 

 greasewood and junipers. They occupy every commanding and avail- 

 able spur of the mesas, usually so placed in the bends as to afford a clear 

 lookout for considerable distances up and dowm the caiion. They resem- 

 ble in this respect the sites chosen by the Moquis in building their 

 villages ; but we are not able to trace the resemblance further, from the 

 extremely aged and ruinous state in which these remains are found. 

 Between these fortresses and on the level bottona-lands, generally close 

 up to the bluff upon either side, are occasional smaller ruins, resembling 

 those at the dry camp. In connection with these a peculiar feature is 

 shown in Plate LIII. At the toot of one of the promontory towns 

 a low bench, tongue-shaped, and only about 10 feet above the valley, 

 runs out from the mesa 200 feet in length and half as broad, through 

 the centre of which runs a wall its entire length ; a portion of it is com- 

 posed of the large upright rocks shown in the sketch, the largest stand- 

 ing 7 feet above the surface and evidently extending some distance be- 

 low, in order to be retained so firmly in their places. There are only 

 seven of these standing, placed about 5 feet apart, the rest of the wall- 

 line being comjwsed of a low ridge of loose rock extending up to a mass 

 of old ruins at the foot of the bluff. One side of the space divided by 

 this wall is filled with a great pile of rocks arranged in irregular lines 

 inclosing areas from 20 to 50 feet in diameter, the whole indicating a 

 very considerable structure. 



Grouped among the lower end of these towns were a number of the 

 small cliff-houses ; a regular colony of them occurring at the first bend 

 of the West Montezuma, about a dozen miles above its junction with 

 the east fork. An exceedingly well-preserved and peculiar one was 

 noted. A block of sandstone setting on the edge of a mesa bench 50' 

 feet above the valley has a deep oval hole worn in ic, probably by natural 

 agencies, which is nearly entirely occupied by a very neatly-built little 

 house 10 feet long, 6 high, and 5 deep. A space at one end is reserved 

 just large enough to serve as a platform from which to enter. 



