THE VERDE RIVER

The Verde River CONCLUSION BY CHARLES FRANKLIN PARKER

The rich grass lands and the great springs at Del Rio in the Chino Wash area could not long be missed by the caravans coming West to find new homes, and so some of the very earliest settlements of the entire northern Arizona region were to be established here at the headwaters of the Verde River. Life was rugged and the treatment by the Apaches and kindred tribes was furious and dangerous. The folk lore of those pioneer days is filled with stories of encounters and of especially how the brave women defended their homes against the attacks of the Apache. They were exciting days, and many a man lost his life carving out an inheritance for posterity. But they stayed and today some of their descendants speak pridefully of the terror of those days that gave to them the good life of this century.

While the settlers at Chino and Del Rio were farmers those who came into other areas of the basin were the miners. They came first to Granite Creek, on the banks of which Prescott was established. Pauline Weaver is recorded as the first settler here, but soon others came and the pine clad hills resounded to the sound of axe and saw as timbers were felled for homes. In other places the clear streams became clouded as the miners sleuced the gravel of the stream beds for gold. Prospectors ventured farther and farther into the hills and the encounters with the Indians increased. Others established the stage routes, the emissaries of the business ventures ever awaiting to expand with the frontiers. Increasingly the small fertile valleys of Granite, Willow, Miller Creeks and the areas of Williamson Valley and other lush areas of high grass and clear water were settled. All of this made necessary the presence of the military, the guardians of the frontiers. (It The rich soil along the banks of the Verde have attracted people for centuries. Many acres are now in production.

KENYON TRENGOVE

is doubtful whether in sequence the settlers or the military come first since the two are so closely related).

The settlements in the central Verde area came just a little later than those in Chino or those near Prescott, but it was inevitable that some hardy souls would desire to go for agricultural purposes to those same areas already proven productive by the Sinagua more than 400 years before. The settlement of this area of the Verde is quite well authenticated, and some are still alive who can give accurate descriptions of many of the experiences of those days in the 1860's when the first stockade was established near Clear Creek, and the rich fields guarded by Squaw Peak and capable of being watered from Clear Creek produced corn and other grain to the delight of those who planted and then guarded the fertile fields-not from birds but from the destructive forays of the embattled Indians. It is said descriptively that "the rows of corn run red with blood" so numerous were the fallen Indians that came in attack. It is a great loss to Arizoniana that the old stockade is now a mere pile of rock, and its very existence is lost to even many of those now living in this very historic area.This settlement below the site of the present Camp Verde was the beginning of an agricultural development that has made this valley one of the finest in Arizona. From this settlement there was a growing expansion in the Valley and into those of the tributaries of the Verde.

Finally, the Indians were subdued and eventually placed upon very restricted reservations. However some of the descendants of those Yavapais who came into the Valley some 500 years ago still till the fields of the Verde.

Thus we come near the end of the tides of migration that have populated the Verde for some period of more than 1,200 years, and we now turn to a consideration of those factors that have directly contributed to the modern day development.

The Military

Wherever settlements were to be established it was necessary that a military detachment be near, and wherever stage routes were to be located there must be some detachments along the way. It is impossible to tell the story of the military activities of the Verde basin but it is important to state that without this adjunct the country would have been settled under even more trying circumstances than did prevail.

Fort Whipple, named after the noted military explorer of northern Arizona, was originally established in Chino Valley, not far from Del Rio, about 20 miles north of Prescott, December 21, 1863. It was garrisoned by two companies of the California Volunteers. The site was moved to a new location on Granite Creek, at a distance of only one mile from Prescott by then the Territorial Capital, and was occupied May 18, 1864. This is the present day site of the modern Veterans Administration Hospital.April 15, 1870 was the date when Whipple Barracks became the headquarters for the Military Department of Arizona (including also parts of California and New Mexico). During the heyday until 1887, when the departmental headquarters were moved to Los Angeles, Whipple was a social as well as a military center, because it was usually staffed by a regiment with its band.

It is often true that people and not buildings give a place its importance, and this is true of Whipple. During the army days a governor for Arizona, Thomas B. Campbell was born at Whipple, while his father was serving there; too, Fiorella La Guardia was a boy there during the days when his father was bandmaster of the regimental band. But most important for our purpose is the fact that it was from Whipple, as commander at the time. that General George Crook went forth in November of 1872 to drive the Indians (particularly the various bands of Apaches) back to the reservations. He was so successful that it is to him that the region and the state owe a great debt in finally breaking the backbone of Indian resistance that at long last brought peaceful pursuits to fruition in Arizona.

Other Camps and Forts were established within the confines of the Verde, fast becoming an important area within the newly found Territory. At one time there was Camp Lewis on Fossil Creek, on the trail that led from the Verde Valley over towards San Carlos. Camp Hualpais was established on Wahiut Creek (a tributary to Chino Wash) on the Fort Mohave road. Camp Rawlins was a sub-post about the western edge of Williamson Valley, and Camp Clark was maintained for awhile at the first site of Camp Whipple in Chino Valley.

A sub-post to Whipple was established as Camp Lincoln on the Verde itself in 1864 after some nortorious Apache depredations, and after the forming of the new settlements near Clear Creek. After a five-year period the location was moved to a better site near the mouth of Beaver Creek at its junction with the Verde) and was finally named Fort Verde.

Fort McDowell located in Lower reaches of the Verde was also a Camp of consequence, it controlled many of the important trails that served as thoroughfares between the Apache tribes of central Arizona. Its adobe walls are now crumbled, and where soldiers once bivouacked Apache children now play and attend school. The location is now a reservation for the descendants that General Crook sent back to the reservations in 1872. The reservation now includes about 24,600 acres of land of which there are 350 acres in cultivation, watered by 390 miner's inches of water from the Verde River. There are now 209 Indians on the reservation and they are designated as Yavapais and Mohave-Apaches.

It is a travesty that most of the old Forts have now deteriorated or been so abused or neglected that one can hardly locate them in this day. Even at Whipple none of the original buildings remain. The deeds of the brave men and women who lived in them and served arduously, though sometimes without the greatest of understanding of conditions, have nevertheless built greater monuments in the progress that has come in the development of the area they aided in acquiring and subduing for posterity.

Territory and Statehood

Territorial government came to Arizona within the confines of the upper Verde Basin. True the territorial declaration was made at Navajo Springs in northeastern Arizona (so the officials and attaches could begin drawing salaries) but the first established site of government was located in Chino Valley in the proximity of the then existing Fort Whipple in 1863. Thence like Fort Whipple, it was moved on May 18, 1864 to the then brand new town of Prescott. Here was built the first capitol of Arizona on the banks of Granite Creek. This building, which is still standing and now serves as a museum, was built of pine logs taken from the neighboring hills. It is a building of great historic importance and Prescott itself is of importance as having been the place of many "firsts" in Arizona history. However, our space will not permit the listing of these, suffice it to say that within the confines of the Verde at Chino Valley and Prescott, government came to Arizona.

For the first several years of Territorial history this area served as the cradle of the baby state of the Union. The combination of the officialdom at Prescott and the Military at Whipple gave to Prescott a social demeanor not often found on a frontier. The influence from those early days still remains in part and casts a memorable romanticism over the town in this late day.

Because of the choice of the seat of government at Prescott, as opposed to both Tucson and La Paz, largely because of the southern influence and bias in those areas, while the new officials were strong supporters of the President, the Verde basin held an important part in the leadership of the newly organized Territory. Trade was drawn to the area, and the official character of statehood was definitely influenced by many of those who came in the continuing stream of migration across the prairies and through the mountain passes, as well as the more affluent who came 'round the horn. It is not too much to suppose that those informal conferences of political minds, probably often held in the midst of the gay night life of the brightly lighted dance halls and saloons, can in a great measure be given the responsibility for having inaugurated much that went into the molding of the plans and purposes of the Arizona that was to evolve. Thus situated as it was, the Verde basin area nurtured the political life of the new land, and continues to be a factor in its emergent development.

One could not conclude this very brief notation without recalling that it was the words of a poetess, whose life had long been associated with the area, that moved a recalcitrant Congress to release Arizona from joint statehood with New Mexico, as had been suggested by Theodore Roosevelt, and brought ultimate statehood to the Territory. Yes, it was Sharlot Hall, whose "Arizona" rang through the halls of Congress. Too, it was Sharlot Hall who was far sighted enough to save the old Governor's Mansion for Arizona and whose efforts kept at least one historic building from complete ruin.

True, the Capital was once moved to Tucson and then back to Prescott and ultimately to Phoenix, so that the seat of government is now located on the banks of the Salt River, nevertheless, it was in the bosom of the Verde that the classic era of Territorial elegance blossomed, and from its sources gained the strength that has brought a robust maturity.

Mining

Mining in the Verde basin has existed since prehistoric times. Three types of mines used by the ancient ones are located in the area, and all had valuable uses to those peoples, though the purposes were somewhat different in terms of values than ours today. This fact is probably largely responsible for the existing legends of the "lost mines of the padres" which still lure many seekers to the mountain and desert fastnesses even today. Those mines were valuable to the Indians even if they did not produce the much needed silver and quick-silver for the Spanish economy. In most of the ancient ruins that have been investigated, beads made of a substance much like the pipestone ornaments of the Indians of the midwest, have been found. It was long a quandary as to the source of this material for the Indians of the Verde basin, since the distances to the earlier known sources seemed too remote even for trade in that early time. A source has now been found east of Del Rio in the Chino Wash area. It is a series of small outcroppings of Argillite, closely resembling Catlinite, and is found in the Mozatal Quartzite, a deposit of pre-Cambrian age. This Argillite, which is a baked red shale, was the material used for the beads so treasured for ornamentation by these ancient peoples. It is believed that these mines were worked as early as 900 A. D. and probably as late as 1400 A. D.

An even more important mine near Camp Verde was positively worked during the 14th and 15th centuries, probably for centuries before that, and in fact as early as man came to the area now believed to have been as early as 750 A. D. This is the Verde salt mine. This deposit was laid down during the time of the lava dam across the old Verde. The deposit is sulphate of sodium and as such has been mined in recent years. However, the mine of the Indians was in this deposit, where they tunnelled in to obtain sodium chloride (table salt) which exists here in crystal form of great purity. To understand the importance of this mine, one must project a world in which there was no sugar and very little salt. Salt was a great luxury, and may have been one reason for the continuous population in the Verde basin The mines of great present day interest are the copper mines, particularly those at Jerome. The history and development of these mines the United Verde and United Verde Extension-have been of momentous importance to Arizona, the United States and the world in terms of war material and commercial use. While the development of these mines awaited the day of white man's values and of his skills, their presence was known to the ancient ones, who took the ores from them for the very important use of ornamentation and decoration. How long these mines have been worked, we can not exactly determine, but they were old workings when Espejo visited the site in 1583, and had probably l long served important purposes for early generations. It is thought that probably the first copper ore ever exported from Arizona was that taken from the Black Hills in 1583.

The modern era begins in 1876 when M. A. Ruffner, one of the original migrants to the Clear Creek area, discovered an out-cropping of copper bearing ore and locatedtwo claims, that were in time, along with adjacent claims, to become the producing properties of the United Verde Copper Company, reported about 1915 to be the largest producers in Arizona. These properties have been in actual commercial production since 1883. The first operating company included in its officers Eugene Jerome as secretary and the town of Jerome was named for him. This is of interest today since this man was the grandfather of Winston Churchill, former British prime minister. However, it was not until the properties were acquired by Senator W. A. Clark of Montana that sufficient capital was garnered to finance the mammoth operations needed to bring the properties to great production and thoroughly successful financial return. The story of the building of the towns, the mills, the smelter, the railroads, as well as the large operations in the mine itself, is one of great enterprise and romance, and would require far too much space to include here. The property is now operated by Phelps Dodge and is still producing copper ore for the markets of 1949. Here is probably a mine that has served the needs though changed of peoples for 1,000 years.

Another copper mining operation of note, which developed along side the United Verde, was that of the Douglas interests, the United Verde Extension. This mine was a great producer, but its lode has been exhausted and the mine abandoned.

The history of mining in the Verde needs a long treatment portraying the romance and struggle that led to such ultimate financial success.

Agriculture

As has already been noted, agriculture in the form of land tillage and irrigation came to the Verde Valley with the early Hohokam who planted their squash and corn in the small fields of the inner valleys, and who developed irrigation systems as the one still to be seen at Montezuma Well.

But agriculture in the modern sense came with the earliest pioneers who came across the plains with their trains of horses and cattle. Probably by 1863 there were bands of horses and small herds of cattle being carefully guarded from the grasp of the Apache in the reaches of Chino Wash, near Del Rio. But these herds were small. The presence of the military gave rise to the need for cattle and offered a ready market for all that could be delivered. This was also sufficient to create an interest in hay and other agricultural crops. Soon the valleys were being harvested and even the fear of the marauding Apache was not enough to drive the sturdy economically depressed frontiersman from his fields and his range. Thus, against great hazards they slowly evolved the great herds that now range the many hills, and brought to fruitage the many acres of tillable land.

Agriculture in the center part of the Verde (that area near Camp Verde) was begun again on some of the same fields as the ancient ones had cultivated with the first migration to the area in 1865.

Today, all of the areas of the Verde, including the valleys of the tributaries and the surrounding uplands are among the best in the State of Arizona. Chino Valley is a fine area for alfalfa and pinto beans as well as other crops. Oak Creek Canyon has abundant vegetables and fruits. And the cattle on the thousand hills are "tops" for feeder cattle on all the markets. Statistics are not of greatest importance and yet they would prove that this basin area is an important area in terms of values of production both as to crops and livestock.

But the agricultural importance of the Verde River does not end even with a complete report of the crops and livestock produced within its own basin. While some water is taken from the river and its various tributaries for irrigation purposes, by far the most of the water is stored in dams and taken many long miles by canals to the great fields of the reaches of the vast reclaimed desert lands in the Salt River Valley. The first great dam to be built on the Verde by the Salt River Water Users Association, which controls most of the water delivery in the Salt River Valley and much of the hydro-electric power, was built in 1939. This dam, called Bartlett Dam, is in the lower reaches of the Verde on a dam site in the Mazatzal mountain area. It is built in a saguaro studded canyon of great rugged beauty. The Dam, which is the largest multiple arch dam in the United States (probably in the world) has nine piers and a water depth when filled of 18812 feet at the dam. The reservoir stores 183,000 acre feet of water. In March of 1949 the dam was filling at the rate of about 3,600 feet every twenty-four hours over and above the outlet which was sending out 1,475 second feet at the spillway.

Above Bartlett Dam about twenty-two miles, there was constructed in 1945 another dam on the Verde by the Salt River Valley Water Users Association called Horseshoe Dam.

Just below the juncture of the Verde with the Salt (on which the Water Users have four dams for water storage and the generating of hydro-electric power) is Granite Reef Dam. This is a comparatively shallow dam of great length for the purpose of diverting the waters to the irrigation ditches for the various areas under cultivation in the widespread valley of the Salt River. But our story of the agricultural resources of the Verde is not complete until we see these waters being diverted, see them on their way to the citrus groves, and acres of hay and vegetables which they produce in this land beyond the confines of their own basin. Thus, we must conclude this bit of our story of a river that for about 1,200 years has nourished a civilization with its resources and today continues to give a growing economy the wherewithal for its future destiny.

Harnessing Power

In an arid land, with few springs and not an abundance of running streams, sites for the production of hydro-electric power are scarce. Again, the Verde basin meets a great need. Fossil Creek, one of the main tributaries of the Verde, heads in a great spring that flows regularly, except in times of rain, 43 cu. ft. of water per second-giving it a total head of 1,600 ft. in a distance of ten miles.

During the late 1890's Lew Turner, a Yavapai County cattleman, told his partner at the old army post at Camp Verde, that the biggest spring he ever heard of gushed forth from under the rocks one hundred yards or so below where the Apache Trail crossed the biggest canyon on the way to Strawberry in Gila County. He said that the water from these springs covered sticks and stones, ferns and rocks, with a formation which made them look like fossil, so they named the creek Fossil Creek. Later Lew Turner made a filing of the water rights at these springs and appropriated the use of the water for himself and his assigns forever. He succeeded in 1902 in interesting capital, but it was not until 1907 that the organization took definite form and arrangements were completed for the lower power plant, now known as the Childs Hydro Plant, using 1,080 feet of the total head. Another plant was constructed at Irving in 1914, using Fossil Creek water, and, still later, water from the Jordan Ditch from Oak Creek, was used for condensing at the steam plant at Tapco in the Verde Valley near Clarkdale. These plants are now operated by The Arizona Power Company of Prescott, and the power, carried over 377 miles of transmission lines and 155 circuit miles of electric distribution lines, serves a great area in northern Arizona and delivers a surplus to the cities of the Salt River Valley. Once again the resources of the ancient Verde are used to make for progressive, comfortable living, and give power to an ever developing area commercially, industrially and agriculturally.

In This Modern Day

Modern highways have replaced the old Indian trails, fine cities and towns the ancient pueblos, and the area that a little over 100 years ago was the dangerous hideout of the Apache is now a mecca for sportsmen and vacationers. Two national monuments are maintained here-Tuzigoot and Montezuma's Castle (Montezuma Well is detached), where one can explore the ancient past. Parts of three national forests lie within the Verde basin wherein abound, not only great areas of uncut ponderosa pine, but game to satisfy the desire of sportsmen. Elk, deer and mountain lion are in these areas, and well stocked streams lure the fisherman. The scenes of the Verde have long been attractions to artists and pictorialists. Authors find here the locale and desire for writing, such ones as Zane Gray who wrote his "Call of the Canyon" in Oak Creek. Recently, some of the better movie studios have used the area for background and often the entire picture is done on location. The Verde Valley, with a warm inviting winter climate, has many famous guest ranches, and the surrounding mountains and canyons are rendezvous of quiet living in the summer seasons. Fine accommodations can be found to meet all needs at any season. The cities and towns are more than mere stops for the tourist. Each affords special pleasures and all have excellent accommodations. Since they are trade centers for large areas of a permanent population, they are not simply awaiting tourists with sharper's methods. The merchants are interested in their communities and the Chambers of Commerce are willing planners for vacation days.

For Tomorrow

All is neither past nor present along the Verde. From the past has come a long romance of living, and in the present there is a marked degree of excellent use of the abundant resources of all kinds. Today is one of gracious, wholesome living in the finest American tradition. Tomorrow affords a continuing opportunity for business and for pleasure. Good soil conservation practices on farms and range assure a good agricultural future. The climate of sunshiny days and agreeable temperatures, along with the beautiful landscape and interesting adventure, guarantee a tomorrow when more people will come over U. S. 89 and Alternate 89 to the entire Verde basin. The tomorrow is an opportunity for further growth and development and the story of the Verde yet to be recorded may be even of greater romance and attainment than all that has passed in the more than 1,000 years of man's habitation along one of the most important rivers in the Southwest the Rio Verde from whose high plateaus come the resources for nourishing a tomorrow in rich valleys of greater expectancy.