FEWKES— RUINS IN FEWKES CANON 



are remains of a trail from the Sun Temple to the top of the talus 

 along which is a pathway to the Fewkes canon ruins, namely, Oak- 

 tree House and Painted House. The foot-holes from the canon rim 

 to this trail were so much worn and the face of the cliff so steep that 

 the author built ladders above them. The visitor is now able to 

 descend from the mesa rim opposite Cliff Palace to the top of the 

 talus, and to follow the path around the point of Chapin mesa, making 

 his way to the spring at the very end of Fewkes canon. A part of 

 the pathway above mentioned is situated below the perpendicular 

 cliff on which stands the Sun Temple, under ruins of small, nameless 

 cliff-houses situated in shallow caves of the northern wall of the canon. 

 One of these buildings, on the exterior surface of the wall of which 

 plastering still adheres, is especially noticeable (pi. I, a) ; this may 

 be called Willow House, from a few willows that grow along the trail 

 below it. Below it, but above the trail, are the remains of another 

 dilapidated inaccessible building. Following the talus pathway, on 

 the eastern and northern sides of Fewkes canon, about midway from 

 mouth to head, one descends slightly to a small cluster of ancient 

 oaks, growing about a circular depression, possibly the remains of a 

 kiva, beyond which rise the ruined walls of Oak-tree House, the 

 largest cliff-dwelling in Fewkes canon. This structure, formerly 

 known as Willow House, was excavated and repaired by the author 

 in October, 1915, at the close of his work on the Sun Temple. About 

 an equal distance northwest of Oak-tree House, and. approached by 

 the same trail, lies another ruin of considerable size, called Painted 

 House, from paintings on its walls. Like its neighbor, Oak-tree 

 House, this ruin is protected by an overhanging roof of a cave and is 

 situated at the top of the talus on the northern side of Fewkes canon. 

 The few caves on the opposite or southern side of the canon are small, 

 and, as they lie in the shady side of the cliff, were not adaptable to 

 winter use, hence they are devoid of cliff-houses of any considerable 

 size. On a large rock in the floor of one of the largest and most con- 

 spicuous of these caverns there are still to be seen shallow parallel 

 grooves made by the use of mealing stones. Near this cave can be 

 traced fragments of an ancient wall, apparently the foundation of all 

 that remains of a square tower. Somewhat back from the mesa rim, 

 at the head of the canon, is a petroglyph of spiral form (pi. 11, a), 

 similar to the Hopi symbol for a coiled snake, which marks the 

 position of a fine spring in the head of the canon below it. As the old 

 Indian trail to the Sun Temple passes near this water symbol, one 

 might well believe that the petroglyph was carved in this spot to 

 indicate the site of the spring to passers-by. 



[97] 



