McLean Basin is 3 miles from the Old Bluff City Road near Picket
corral, 32 miles from Dolores. It has been a favorite wintering place
for stock and is well known to herdsmen. One can approach the ruin
from the road to Bluff City and the towers here referred to are easily
reached by a trail down the mesa to the highest terrace. There are said
to be several ruins in the McLean Basin, the two towers (pls. 26, _c_,
27, 28, _a_, _b_) visited being placed in an exceptional position in
reference to surrounding rooms. One of these towers is circular, the
other D-shaped or semicircular in ground plan (fig. 16, _A_, _B_).
[Illustration: FIG. 15.-Ground plan of Lion House.]
Previously to the author’s study of the southwestern towers two forms
of these structures were recognized; the square or rectangular, and
the circular or oval. It is now known that several of the towers
previously described as circular are in reality D-shaped, and this form
is probably more common than the circular.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.—Ground plan of ruin with towers in McLean
Basin.]
The rectangular building in the McLean Basin has a circular tower (pl.
28, _b_) on the southwest angle and a D-shaped tower (pl. 28, _a_) on
the northeast. They resemble two turrets rising above the remaining
walls that form the sides of the rectangles. These towers average about
12 feet high, and are well constructed, while low connecting walls
of coarse masonry rise slightly above the surface. It would appear
from the amount of débris that the remaining walls indicate a row
of buildings, one story high, with circular subterranean kivas, but
this can not be accurately determined without excavation of the ruin.
Outside of the rectangle, however, there are at least two circular
areas, possibly kiva pits. The rectangular building measures about 50
feet square. The ground on which the buildings formerly stood slopes
to the south, and back of it on the north rises a low perpendicular
bluff which effectually shelters it in that direction. The union of a
circular and a semicircular tower with, a rectangular ruin is a feature
not common in the McElmo-Yellow Jacket region but appears in Hovenweep
Castle, elsewhere described. Lower down the sides of the basin and near
by are many indications of walls of buildings.
The pottery in the neighborhood belongs to the same black and white
types commonly found in the Hovenweep and Mesa Verde areas.
Except for their peculiar relation to the rectangular building the
McLean towers do not differ essentially from others, which leads to
the inference that they were used contemporaneously and for the same
purpose. There is a well-made doorway (fig. 17) in the Round Tower.