MONTEZUMA WELL-THE FOUNTAIN ETERNAL.

MONTEZUMA WELL

MONTEZUMA WELL is located on an isolated mesa above Beaver Creek in Yavapai county and is one of Arizona's most notable phenomena. This huge cup-shaped, crater-like depression is nearly 800 feet across. In it stands a pool of clear fresh water always at the same level, nearly 100 feet below its brink. The depth has never been determined although sounded to 800 feet.

The Fountain Eternal

Montezuma Well, like Montezuma Castle a few miles to the southwest, was probably named after the ancient chief of the Aztec tribe in Old Mexico. According to legend Cortez discovered the well on one of his expeditions into Arizona. In fact, he has it located on a map made of sheepskin which is preserved in the National Museum in Mexico City. The first known American discovering the well was Wales Arnold in the year 1863.

The pool is formed by a constant and uniform inflow of subterranean thermal springs. The temperature of the water never varies winter or summer regardless of atmospheric conditions. It is always 78 degrees. The water bubbles up in the center of the pool and gushes through an opening in the cliffs to the south, emptying into Beaver Creek at the rate of nearly two million gallons every 24 hours.

The walls of Montezuma Well are built up with a travertine deposit on sea-weed, that resembles coral. In many places are found the perfect imprint of the tree leaves in the rocks.

Several cliffs dwellings, built and used by a vanished race of prehistoric people are found in the inner recesses of the upper portions of the bowl. The front and side walls of these houses are built of various sized stones and chinked with mud. The overhanging ledge forms a natural roof while the contour of the cliff forms the back walls. The doorways, as in nearly all ancient dwellings were small and low, an appropriate defensive feature in case of attack.

In the crevices of these cliffs are found many burials, some yet unexcavated. On the west rim, 17 baby burial vaults have been opened. The vaults were built of masonry and covered with flat stones. In 1933 a stone vault was discovered just west of Montezuma Well. Since that time over a score of these vaults have been opened and more than 100 adult skeletons have been taken out. With the burials were fine specimens of Pottery and numerous artifacts. In opening the adult burial vaults a most unusual discovery was made, differing from anything yet found in cliff dweller work. These vaults are about four feet deep, cut in soft limestone and sealed with flat flagstone. About four feet of dirt has been washed over them since they were made. The bodies were placed in each vault with the head to the north. As many as seven skeletons have been taken from a single vault together with twenty-one pieces of pottery buried with them. Many of these skeletons were green with copper, supposedly used as a preservative at the time of death.

In the west wall of the well is a large natural cave that would probably hold 200 people that the cliff dwellers had taken advantage of and built dwellings inside where there is a natural spring of water. The floor on one of these cave dwellings was raised and baskets, mummy cloth, sandals made from the yucca fiber, tomahawk handles, and a head mat were found.

A few years ago, near the underground cave, two large flat painted sandstone rocks were uncovered. The colors were black, red, orange, and gray. One of them has a perfect circle cut in the center, about two inches in diameter. These specimens are considered unique in prehistoric artifacts and are on display in the museum at the site as are many other specimens found at the well.

Close at hand are found ancient irrigation ditches which appear to have been lined with cement. Originally they were plain dirt canals a few feet wide and deep. The water from the well, being 30 per cent alkaline, carried an abundance of lime or travertine and had run through the ditches long enough to deposit a 20 inch stone wall on the sides and bottoms. The Geology Department of Stanford University versity has estimated the age of the canals as well as the dwellings at about 1200 years.

These ancients apparently understood and practiced the engineering features of agriculture, building these canals, traceable for nearly two miles in the valley, to carry water to their patches of maize and cotton.

Standing on the rim of Montezuma Well, gazing into its depth and viewing the ruins of the ancient homes, one endeavors to reconstruct what must have occurred here over a thousand years ago. Where these mysterious people came from and where they disappeared is quite as mystifying.

Montezuma Well is reached from Flagstaff via scenic Oak Creek Canyon, a distance of about 75 miles, also from U. S. Highway 89. Travelers leave this highway eight miles north of Prescott at the fork; take State Highway 79 to three miles east of Cottonwood, drive through Cornville to the junction, then left to the well. From Roosevelt Dam also, a road leads north through Payson and Pine to Camp Verde, thence about 13 miles past Montezuma Castle to Montezuma well..