FARES aay Cas ia? ee eae a ea ae eats 
é 
$: 
i 
J 
À 
3 
= 
1878. | The Ancient Puéblos. 531 
of the elements, yet the remaining walls, which measure nearly 
three feet in thickness, are as firm as ever, and will in all probabil- 
ity thus continue for hundreds of years to come. In the 
distance, the great Mesa Verde (the green plateau) rises a thousand 
feet and stretches away for many miles to the north and east. 
It was from these cliffs that the blocks of stone in the neighbor- 
ing ruins were cut and carried a distance of two or three miles. 
A short distance below these remains and in the dry arroyo or 
cañon, locally known as the Rio McElmo (or, more properly, the 
Rio McElmell) is noticeable, in passing along the trail in the 
valley, the lower portion of a dark-brown circular tower, built far 
up among the rocks of the neighboring bluff, on a large bowlder, 
at the brink of a sheer precipice, oe I). 
k 
ao > 
a S \ : 
Fig. 1. Watch Tower on the gis McElmo. 
A very ancient path, now almost obliterated, leads up to the 
ruin. The structure, as well as the rock on which it stands, is 
VOL, XII—NO VII. at 
r 
