Along the Rio Verde

LONG THE Rio Verde lies the Valley of Enchantment, the great Verde River and its tributaries, a great basin, an ancient sea bed. It is surrounded on the north and east by the Mogollon Rim which breaks off into the valley in a series of wild, rugged, multicolored gorges and ravines, some over two thousand feet deep, and some through which course crystalline streams of water. On the west and south the Black Hills tower over five thousand feet above the valley as they rear their timber crested heights above ragged canyons and cliffs. For seventy-five miles from the western rim of Sycamore Canyon to Jack's Canyon twelve miles southeast of Sedona, Arizona, there extends a belt over fifteen miles in width in which are mountains of unbelievable beauty and color; of Cyclopean and grotesque rock sculpture. This region alternately laughed and scowled at the puny efforts of three distinct Indian races, covering a period of fifteen hundred years, to sustain themselves. In mute evidence of this are countless ruins, burial grounds, and picture writings scattered all through this labyrinth of ravines and mountains and then along the table mountains that skirt the Verde River are to be found countless ruins in attesting witness.

This great region but recently opened to the public by the Forest Service is the scene of some of the last stands of the Apaches with whom General Crook fought, who were conquered by him. The ancient Spaniards in their cross-state trek in the seventeenth century from Yuma to the Little Colorado passed through this area, and much evidence bolsters the lore and legend of lost gold mines in the Sycamore, the old smelter in Dry Creek, and the stolen Mission Bell from a New Mexican Mission, The waylaying and slaughtering of these early Spanish adventurers by the wild Apaches in the upper Sycamore and the Dry Creek region. There are those who claim in the darkness of night ofttimes in this area, weird spectral lights have been seen, said to be the puny efforts of discontented spirits of the vanquished to convey a message to those who observed. At any rate a glance at this section would but convince the traveler the area is worthy of all mystery and legend ever attached to it.

The most artistically beautiful gorge in the United States, twenty-five hundred foot Oak Creek Canyon, penetrates a portion of this wild area. Its miles of clear, cool water, laden with trout, resorts and camp grounds along its course, and towering rock temples and minarets of impressive beauty mark this still little known ravine.

At Sedona, a thriving community thirty-five miles south of Flagstaff with its three hundred population and beautiful farm area, Oak Creek Canyon broadens out from the Canyon proper into the beginning of the Valley of Enchantment. To the northwest, just off Alternate 89 is the wonderful ampitheatre known as Dry Creek just made available to the public by efforts of the Forest Service. Two hitherto unknown natural bridges were discovered here, the Vultee in solid rock named after an official of the Vultee Aircraft Corporation who lost his life in a crash near it some years ago. Then there is the Devil's Arch, very aptly named, Sterling Canyon, Lost Wilson Mountain, Secret Canyon, Boynton Canyon, all 2000 feet deep or more, wild and rugged, full of ruins, picture writings and intensely colorful, and pleasantly mingled all through this wilderness is a great variety of trees and shrubbery, many little known to the botanist. Like the Canyon of the Sycamore, this is a truly wilderness area, the home of deer, bear, mountian lion, bob cat, ring tail cats, coons, and some antelope. This area as yet little known to even the traveling public of Arizona, let alone the United States.

From Sedona it is but twenty-two miles through the Valley of Enchantment to Cottonwood, gateway to Oak Creek Canyon. Cottonwood is the geographical center of Arizona, in the heart of Yavapai County, and the center of the Valley of Enchantment. This city with its eighteen hundred population is thirty-two hundred eighteen feet above sea level and boasts the best all-year climate in the U. S. Eight major and minor highways lead from Cottonwood in all directions making of easy access all the wonders of the valley. It has eighty business representatives including several tourist courts, hotels, restaurants, garages, filling stations, sporting goods stores, a mile of paved streets, two and one half miles of sidewalks, artesian water for city supply, churches, a $40,000 Community building, theatre, civic, patriotic and fraternal organizations.

Its resources are mining, stock raising, agriculture, horticulture, dairying, guest ranches, tourist travel and best of all the area for support of tourist travel. Living expenses are reasonable. Highway 89 Alternate leads from Flagstaff fifty-one miles north on 66 through Cottonwood, Clarkdale, and Jerome, over the Black Hills to Prescott, forty miles on Highway 89 itself. This is a ninety-one mile highway that passes through the greatest scenic area in the world.

Camp Verde, the oldest town in the valley, with a population of six hundred, is nineteen miles south of Cottonwood. It is the scene of first military barracks in this section and some of the old adobe buildings still remain as interesting relics of that time of Indian warfare. Resources of Camp Verde are mining, cattle raising, agriculture, horticulture, and its close scenic attractions and equable all year around climate make it an important travel center. Five miles from Camp Verde is Montezuma Castle National Monument, best preserved Indian ruin in the U. S. Only five miles north of Camp Verde is Montezuma Well, an extinct geyser, half a mile across and one hundred fifty feet down to water, a crystalline pool fed by subterranean water below. This well was once a habitat of an ancient race of Indians whose disintegrated homes still may be seen both along the rim of the crater and in caves two hundred feet deep in its side. Water flows from this silent pool today. A prehistoric irrigation ditch a mile long is an interesting feature of this well. An enormous deposit of (Continued on Page Forty)