The so-called Butte Ruin, situated in Lost Canyon, 5 miles east of
Dolores, belongs to the circular type. It crowns a low elevation,
steep on the west side, sloping more gradually on the east, and
surrounded by cultivated fields. The view from its top looking toward
Ute Mountain and the Mesa Verde plateau is particularly extensive. The
butte is forested by a few spruces growing at the base and extending up
the sides, which are replaced at the summit by a thick growth of sage
and other bushes which cover the mound, rendering it difficult to make
out the ground plan of the ruin on its top.
From what appears on the surface it would seem that this ruin was
a circular or semicircular building about 60 feet in diameter, the
walls rising about 10 feet high. Like other circular mounds it shows
a well-marked depression in the middle, from which radiate walls or
indications of walled compartments. Like the majority of the buildings
of the circular form, the walls on one side have fallen, suggesting
that a low straight wall, possibly with rectangular rooms, was annexed
to this side.
In the neighborhood of Butte Ruin there is another hill crowned with a
pile of stones, probably a round building of smaller size and with more
dilapidated walls. Old cedar beams project in places out of the mounds.
The cliff-houses below the largest of these mounds show well-made walls
with a few rafters and beams. There are pictographs on the cliff a
short distance away.