The Hills of Yavapai

High in the recess of a great stone face in the Verde valley, where prehistoric Indians enjoyed the protection of their retreat-protection from marauding enemy tribes.

Beneath the surface of these colorful hills and mountains of old Yavapai lie gold, silver, copper and other valuable metals, with untold millions having been taken from their depths through the years, and also untouched and yet to be sought, are unknown quantities of valuable ores. Of course the days of free gold are just a memory-such days as in 1862-63 when it is claimed that over $500,000 in gold nuggets were taken from a single acre of the summit of Rich Hill, and where workers probably took out an equal amount during the following years.

Yavapai is an Indian word said to mean "hill country" or "sun people" and it is pronounced, Yah-vuh-pie. It is one of the four original Arizona counties Yavapai, Pima, Mohave and Yuma. These four were established by the First Territorial Legislature, meeting in Prescott in 1864. Since that time great portions of this largest of the four original counties were taken from it and new counties formed until we have the present fourteen. Parts of Yavapai were taken to form Maricopa, Apache, Coconino, part of Pinal and Gila counties.

The Yavapai Indians, for whom the county was named, number about fifty, and live on a 75-acre reservation within Fort Whipple military compound, a few miles northeast of Prescott. The Yavapai, part of the Yuman family, have neither traditions nor a culture of their own. All records of their early existence have been lost. Their tribal leader is the only woman chief among North American Indians. Because she disapproves of all ritual dances there are no ceremonials among the Yavapai.

Aside from the fine forest roads there are several beautiful drives in Yavapai county. U. S. Highway 89, which extends through Arizona from the Mexican border to the Utah line, is variously called the Hassayampa Trail and the White Spar Highway this section extending from Phoenix and Wickenburg through Prescott, continuing on through beautiful Granite Dells a few miles beyond Prescott. In this beauty spot, great granite forms rise abruptly on either side of the highway which wends through a narrow gorge of rock. Centuries of erosion have topped the steep granite walls with grotesque figures resembling human and animal forms, which are colored pink, gray, brown and red. Scrubby growths of oak, small pools, shade trees, and Granite Creek, a clear mountain stream, make it a pleasant picnicking area. A natural swimming pool in a rock depression is in the center of the area. A short distance beyond Granite Dells and to the west of the highway is Arizona's Garden of the Gods, an area of fantastic pinnacles.

The famed and beautiful Oak Creek Canyon, a thousand foot gash in the red and white sandstone, begins at Sedona, at the outer rim of northeast Yavapai county. Oak Creek, stocked with Rainbow trout, cuts its way through deep ravines and narrow gorges, plunging its transparent cold waters in white cascades over scores of tiny falls. The highway follows the floor of the canyon through broad, redwalled gorges and miles of green pine, maple, sycamore, cedar, oaks, aspen and fern. The grandeur of these massive canyon walls is enhanced by their orange-yellow ledges and towering russet buttes. From Sedona an improved road leads to Schnebley Hill. From its summit is a view of the Verde valley and a vast panorama of rock cliffs where contrasting colors form one Arizona Highways Entered as 2nd Class Matter Nov. 5, 1941, at the Post Office, Phoenix, Ariz., Under the Act of Nov. 3, 1879. The Subscription Rate $1.00 Per Year Vol. XX, February, 1944, No. 2 Bert Campbell, Editor

of the most brilliant scenes in Arizona. Because of its beauty it has been used as a motion picture location on various occasions. Entering Yavapai county from Oak Creek Canyon; be-fore you stretches a great transition-the low rolling foothills and green fields of the Verde valley. Looking back, Oak Creek stands in astounding splendor. Out across the valley the highway takes you over the rolling hills of Yavapai, leading through the smelter town of Clarkdale and the mining town of Jerome.

Clarkdale, model smelter city, is at the base of Mingus mountain. Smoke from the giant stacks curls high into the sky and across the valley. The fine brick homes of the workers contrast from the usual type of homes found in mining towns.

High on the side of Mingus mountain in the Black hills a few miles beyond Clarkdale is Jerome, perhaps unique among American towns. Its houses, mostly of frame structure, are banked against the mountain sides a jumble of stills. There is a 1,500-foot difference in elevation between the highest and lowest perches of these precariously "hanging" houses, and at night when the lights are on, Jerome, from a distance, appears as twinkling stars in the western sky.

Arizona maintains its place as the largest copper producer in the United States, and it still has important supplies of unused ore, though of increasingly lower grade. Of the state's copper mines, the United Verde at Jerome ranked sixth in production in 1942.

Copper mining in the state began with the high-grade deposits, and in the 1870's the need for copper plus the government's partly successful attempts to pacify the Apache, encouraged mining men to take a chance on Arizona. Within a few years four of the most valuable highgrade copper districts in the world were discovered in mountainous parts of the territory, one being Jerome.

The United Verde at Jerome was developed by Senator Clark, Butte copper magnate, and the United Verde Extension at Jerome was brought into production in later years by James Douglas, son of the pioneer Phelps Dodge executive. These companies had periods of remarkable prosperity.

Two miles east of Clarkdale is Tuzigoot National Monument, an ancient pueblo occupied about the year 1200. Tuzigoot is a Toto-Apache word meaning crooked water. The ruins consists of three large pueblos, one of which has been excavated, exposing more than 100 rooms. The excavations yielded large quantities of pottery, beadwork and other forms of handicraft which are housed in a museum on the grounds.

The Verde valley is rich in archaeological sites. Not far from Tuzigoot is Montezuma Castle National Monument. The monument contains the remains of ancient cliff dwellings as well as cave dwellings, chief of which is a five-story structure of adobe brick reaching to the top of a natural cave high up in the cliffs. Montezuma Castle is one of the best preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings. The castle is in a recess half way up the face of a perpendicular rock cliff 145 feet high.

The ash-pink fortress of the ancients is reached by a series of ladders placed against the face of the cliff. There are eight rooms on the first floor. The number of rooms decreases in each ascending story till the fifth has but two rooms and a plaza.

Montezuma Well, now a part of the Montezuma National Monument, is situated on a limestone mesa about100 feet above Beaver Creek, a short distance from Montezuma Castle, on Beaver Creek Road. The crater, about 600 feet across, is of great depth in which clear fresh water stands at all times about 75 feet above stream. The water remains at the same temperature, about 78 degrees, constantly. The well has been sounded to 800 feet without finding bottom. There is a flow of about two million gallons from this well every twenty-four hours. There is a small opening through the wall of the well from which a constant stream flows into Beaver creek.

100 feet above Beaver Creek, a short distance from Montezuma Castle, on Beaver Creek Road. The crater, about 600 feet across, is of great depth in which clear fresh water stands at all times about 75 feet above stream. The water remains at the same temperature, about 78 degrees, constantly. The well has been sounded to 800 feet without finding bottom. There is a flow of about two million gallons from this well every twenty-four hours. There is a small opening through the wall of the well from which a constant stream flows into Beaver creek.

Another interesting feature at Montezuma Well is the remarkably preserved cliff dwellings on the inner walls and recesses. Leading from the well are remains of ditches and a prehistoric irrigation system. A calcareous substance deposited by the water in these ditches during their long usage has formed a stone lining, which has extended their life to the present day. There are also many burials in the vicinity of the well.

There are many more other interesting places in old Yavapai Castle Hot Springs, Hell Canyon, Horsethief Basin, Chino and Peeple's valleys, Bloody Basin and Skull Valley, old Black Canyon Road, Iron Springs and the Hassayampa Mountain Club, Fort Whipple, Yarnell Hill, Congress Junction and the Joshua Tree Forest.

Castle Hot Springs in normal times is a noted winter health resort in a beautiful setting on Castle Creek in the Hieroglyphic mountains. There are a group of large springs here, some hot and some cold said to have medicinal value. In the early days when the Wickenburg, Vulture and Phoenix stage stopped here for meals, passengers were furnished with towels and invited to swim in the natural rock pool.

Hell Canyon on the highway between Ashfork and Prescott is very narrow, deep and tortuous, and towering high above and paralleling the highway bridge is the old railway bridge.

Horsethief Basin is in the Bradshaw mountains below Prescott and is leased by the City of Phoenix and used as a summer resort. It was named for some noted early-day characters who made this area their hide out for traffic in stolen horses.

In Chino Valley, about 35 miles northwest of Prescott on the Ashfork road are many small, prosperous irrigated ranches a veritable oasis its beautiful green fields of growing crops contrasting greatly with the surrounding country. Peeple's Valley is also a fertile farming country.

Congress Junction, on the highway between Wickenburg and Prescott is but a ghost of its former self. It was a cowboy's and miner's town in the early days. It is now an important sheep shipping center and was named for the Congress Mine in the vicinity.

West of Congress Junction is a large Joshua tree forest. The Joshua is a species of Yucca, although it grows much larger than the usual variety. The trees bear gorgeous clusters of cream-colored blossoms in the spring and attract many visitors.

The old Prescott-Phoenix stage route crossed through Black Canyon and it is now known as the Black Canyon highway. Along its route are many of the historic mining camps that made Yavapai noted as a mining country. Vast riches have been taken from these hills and mountains.

Old Yavapai is old very old, and reflects memories of a colorful past. Yet Yavapai is ever new and beautiful one of Arizona's favored regions a land of surprises and contradictions a beauty spot in the heart of the Youngest State.