English: A tributary of the San Juan lying just within Colorado, occupying a prominent rocky bluff overlooking the usually dry bed of the creek. Hovenweep National Monument, Colorado. Hovenweep Castle. Ruined town on the Hovenweep, a tributary of the San Juan lying just within Colorado, occupying a prominent rocky bluff overlooking the usually dry bed of the creek. It consisted of a solid mass of small houses not more than 6 by 8 feet in diameter, arranged in a semicircle. The convex side was flush with the edge of the rocky bluff and inaccessible. The concave side, which was depressed like a amphitheater, was occupied by much lower and less important buildings, now almost unrecognizable. The most prominent of the buildings are solidly constructed of well-dressed stone, and not withstanding their exposed situations, are well preserved. 1874.U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories (Hayden Survey). Stereoscopic view.