RUIN CANYON

The Old Bluff Road from Dolores diverges southward from that to

Monticello at Sandstone post office and passes a pile of rocks visible

from the road on the Ruin Canyon long before it reaches Square Tower

Canyon (fig. 6). This large ruin is situated on the east rim and under

it in the side of the cliff are fairly well-preserved cliff-houses.

Other ruins with high standing walls were reported in Ruin Canyon but

were not visited.

The duplication of names of canyons in this district is misleading.

Names like Ruin Canyon are naturally applied to canyons in which

there are ruins. When the author learned at Dolores of Ruin Canyon,

he supposed it was a tributary of the Yellow Jacket or McElmo, but

while the canyon known to cowboys at Dolores by this name has large

ruins on its rim, it is not the “Ruin Canyon” to which attention is

now directed. The duplication of names has led me to retain the name

Ruin Canyon for one and to suggest the name Square Tower Canyon for the

other.

[Illustration: FIG. 6.—Square Tower Canyon.]

After leaving Ruin Canyon the Old Bluff Road takes a southerly course,

passing through the cedars until a sagebrush clearing replaces the

“timber,” where it crosses two well-preserved Indian reservoirs, or

bare surfaces of rock, dipping south, the southern border having as

a retaining wall a low ridge of earth to hold back the water. The

retaining wall of the second reservoir has been built up by stockmen

and, when the author was there, contained considerable water. Crossing

the second reservoir a trail turns east or to the left and follows the

road to Keeley Camp, near which are the “Keeley Towers.”

At present an automobile can approach within a mile of these ruins.