All activities were carried on in the open courts and on the terraced roof tops. Even the cooking was done over open fires outside the houses.

An average of two to the room would give a population of 400; an average of three would place 600 in the cave. If every room were occupied at one time and if the average of two or three to the room is not too high, it would seem that a total population of 500 would not be too great for Cliff Palace.

Balcony House lies in Soda Canyon about 2½ miles southeast of Spruce Tree Camp, and is reached by a continuation of the Cliff Palace Road. It is one of the most picturesque of the accessible ruins in the park and occupies a better position for defense than most of the other ruins on the mesa. A few defenders could have repelled a large attacking force. Additional precautions have been taken at the south end of the ruin for the strengthening of its defenses, where the only means of reaching it is through a fortified narrow cleft. The south part of the ledge was walled up to a height of about 15 feet, the lower part of the wall closing the cleft being pierced by a narrow tunnel. Through this tunnel a man may creep on hands and knees from the cliff dwelling to the south part of the ledge, which affords a footing, with a precipice to the left and the cliff to the right, for about 100 paces. The ledge here terminates in the perpendicular wall of the canyon. The ruined walls of a defensive structure, built to cut off approach on this side, may still be traced.

At the north end of the ruin the foundation gave the builders considerable trouble, but the difficulties were skillfully overcome. A supporting wall was erected on a lower ledge, to form a stable foundation for the outer wall of the upper rooms, where the higher ledge was too narrow or abrupt for building purposes.

South of the rooms fronted by this wall is a small open court, bounded at the back by a few very regular and well-preserved rooms which rise to the roof of the cave. The poles supporting the floors of these upper-story rooms project about 2 feet to provide support for a balcony. Split poles, laid parallel with the front wall, were covered at right angles with rods of cedar bast and generously plastered with clay to form the floor of the balcony, which served as a means of outside communication between the rooms of the upper story. A low, thick parapet wall built on the edge of the precipice encloses the canyon side of the northern court. The funds for the excavation and repair of Balcony House in 1911 were largely furnished by the Colorado Cliff Dwellers Society, an organization founded and directed by Mrs. Gilbert McClurg, of Colorado Springs, Colo. The original purpose of this society was to stimulate interest in legislation for the preservation and protection of the prehistoric remains of the Mesa Verde. This society advanced the creation of Mesa Verde National Park in 1906.

Square Tower House Ruin is situated in an eastern spur of Navajo Canyon, opposite a great bluff called Echo Cliff. An ancient approach to the ruin from the canyon rim is visible to the south of the dwelling. Footholes for ascent and descent had been cut in the cliff by the Indians which enabled them to reach the level on which the ruin is situated. The footpath now used by visitors parallels the ancient trail. Along the top of the talus this pathway splits into an upper and lower branch. The former, hugging the cliff, passes through the "Eye of the Needle"; the latter is lower down on the talus and is used by the stouter and older visitors.

The Square Tower House cave is shallow, its back wall perpendicular, with roof slightly overhanging. At the extreme eastern end of the ruin the vertical cliff suddenly turns at right angles, forming an angle in which, high above the main ruin, there still remain walls of rooms. To these rooms, which are tucked away just under the canyon rim, with only their front walls visible, the name "Crow's Nest" is given. Logs, with their ends resting in notches cut in the rock actually support walls of masonry, as seen in the angle of this cliff. This is a well-known method of cliff-house construction.

This ruin measures about 138 feet from its eastern to its western end. There are no streets or passageways as at Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace. The rooms are continuous and compactly constructed, the walls being united from one end of the cave to the other, excepting for the spaces above the kivas. The absence of a cave recess to the rear of the ruin is significant as it allowed the cliff to be used as the back wall of rooms. Rooms in Square Tower House do not differ radically from those of Spruce Tree House and other cliff dwellings. They have smaller windows, door openings, and supports of balconies. The rectangular rooms were constructed above the ground; the circular rooms were subterranean. The former were devoted to secular and the latter to ceremonial purposes.