MONTEZUMA WELL

In all his violent fifty-four years, Montezuma II, emperor of Aztec Mexico from 1502-20, never set foot in what is now Arizona. Yet in Arizona today there are two outstanding scenic attractions named for him. One of them is Montezuma Castle, a prehistoric five-story cliff dwelling on the bank of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley; the other is Montezuma Well, a natural limestone sink seven miles upstream from the Castle.

How these two places came to be so incongruously named is one of the anomalies of civilization. Fort Lincoln (now Camp Verde) was established in the 1860's near the junction of Beaver Creek and the Verde River to protect early settlers from marauding Apaches. One bright Sunday morning, we may suppose, soldiers from this lonely outpost were riding up Beaver Creek, saw the Castle and Well and named them after the first Indian who came to mind. A misnomer, but through the years it has remained.

By far the least known of these two features is Montezuma Well. In a sense this is because the Well lies off the beaten path, hidden, mysterious-the kind of place you like to visit, if not for the adventure of it, then for the pure and simple joy of feeling away from everything. To get there you turn off U.S. Highway 89A just east of Cottonwood and drive 13 miles to McGuireville, from which a gravelled, back-country road leads four miles to the Well. Or, if you go down from Flagstaff, it's only 20 miles south of Sedona by paved, then gravelled road through the spectacular lower reaches of Oak Creek Canyon.No matter how you arrive, it's worth the trip. For there is Montezuma Well, a sunken pool 470 feet in diameter, set like a resplendent jewel in the crest of a low ridge. Limestone cliffs encircle it completely, rising 80 feet above the water's edge.

Like most sinks, the Well was, perhaps a million years Long ago, a subterranean cave, filled with water, and so near the surface its roof was thin and weak. When water within the cave was partially drained away, the roof collapsed and fell in, resulting in the basin we see today.

Of all the springs in the Verde Valley, Montezuma Well is one of the largest. Its water, derived from rain and melting snow high on the Mogollon Plateau to the east, seeps in at the bottom and flows out through a side channel at the rate of 1,000 gallons a minute. This endless outflow of pre-cious water would pour directly into Beaver Creek had not prehistoric Indians, 800 years ago, diverted it into irrigation canals and carried it to their farmlands not far downstream. This diversion and the irrigation system they used is a monument to their engineering ingenuity.

The ancient canals are still there, preserved by the very properties of the water itself. For the water in Montezuma Well is extremely hard, and the same thing that happens to your teakettle has happened to the ditches. When the water evaporated, lime precipitated out of solution to form a natural limestone lining, enabling their preservation down through the years.

Thus did the ancient pueblo-builders, or Sinagua (from whom present-day Hopis are descended), bring life-giving water to their parched farmlands. They raised corn, squash and beans, often storing their harvest in small caves among the cliffs overlooking Beaver Creek. They had trouble with Apache raids in their day, too, and often prepared sentry posts in caves above the fields so as to give warning in case of attack at harvest time.

Montezuma Well was formed by melting snow and rain water that seeped into the ground at higher elevations on the Mogollon Rim. This water gradually formed underground channels through the soft limestone. One of these channels flowed into this area, dissolving the limestone to form a large underground cave. Beaver Creek continued to cut deeper until it reached a small channel extending out from the cave. This channel, when opened, allowed the water to escape from the cave. With the lowering of the water, the layers of rock that had formed the top collapsed because of the lack of support. This formed the "Well" as it is today.

Their main village, located on the rim of the Well itself, comprised two "apartment buildings"-one of 55 rooms, the other of 20. These structures, battered by centuries of storm, have crumbled into ruin, but inside the Well are small, well-preserved cliff dwellings, and in a cave near the outlet are a number of other rooms. The population, at its height around 1300 A.D., must have been between 200 and 300 people. Their burials were concentrated in a cemetery just west of the Well, and the method of inhumation was unique for that area. They dug an elongated pit five or six feet deep, then gouged out a side shelf in which the remains were placed, along with various offerings for the deceased to take with him to the Happy Hunting Ground. They closed the shelf with limestone slabs and finished by filling the main pit. No one knows how many burials there are; 28 were dug up while the area was still private property.

In 1947 Montezuma Well and 261 acres around it became a part of the National Park System and thus fell into the hands of the people of the United States, to be maintained unimpaired for the enjoyment of present and future generations. Administratively, it is a detached portion of Montezuma Castle National Monument, and the National Park Service has provided excellent trails to points of interest in and around the Well. The Loop Trail along the rim is a well-marked nature trail provided with a guide booklet that gives on-the-spot information. A resident Park Ranger is stationed there the year round to assist visitors in their enjoyment and understanding of the Well area. His office is also a small museum, where exhibits, rock specimens, pottery and other artifacts graphically illustrate the scientific background of this unique locality.

As soon as the Park Service took over, stories about the depth of the Well turned from legend into fact. Two scientists from the Museum of Northern Arizona went out on a rowboat and dropped a line down in 31 places. The Well was not "bottomless" after all, for at its deepest they found it to be 55 feet. Six months later this figure was confirmed when a former Navy diver, equipped with a makeshift divMontezuma Well is surrounded by semi-arid hills and canyons filled with a wide variety of desert plants and animal life.

dim, silent, blue-green depths of the Well he encountered, at 34 feet, millions of tiny leeches, though they were harm-less and did not molest him. Clad only in trunks and diving gear, he reached bottom and found it to be relatively level and covered with mud and ooze several feet deep. Once he stepped on something slimy which moved underfoot and slithered away into the darkness; he never saw it-whatever it was-again. He passed through clouds of murky silt which, for some inexplicable reason, were suspended only in certain places. He discovered several mounds of white sand, from which minute air bubbles were rising, and where the water was colder, presumably a point where water seeps up through the bottom. No other discoveries were made. If the ancient cliff-dwellers had tossed any unusual possessions, sacrificial or otherwise, into the Well, then such objects are still buried in mud on the bottom.

Present-day Indians are convinced, by legend, that the Well goes much deeper than 55 feet. Some call it an entrance to the underworld. Palulukon, the mythical Plumed Serpent of the Hopis, rose out of a great cavity in the ground, so legend relates, and with him boiling water that poured into a nearby river. Whether or not this took place at what is now Montezuma Well is still Palulukon's secret. Another legend describes a race of people climbing a giant grapevine from their dark underworld through a hole in its ceiling and out to the surface. They prospered for many moons until the son of the chieftain committed tribal heresy and took an earthly bride, the penalty for which was death. All the people gathered to watch the execution. The bow-men tightened their strings, took careful aim at the hapless prince and his bride, and let fly. But the Great Spirit, look-ing down with disapproval, called up a storm, and a mighty gust of wind deflected the deadly arrows. Then came a blinding flash of lightning, roaring thunder, earthquake, a tumultuous burst of fury which destroyed the wicked chief and his medicine men. Á great torrent fell, pouring through the hole into the underworld and filling it to overflowing. Then all was quiet. And the chieftain's son and his earthly bride ruled happily ever after. Or at least so says the legend of Montezuma Well.

Aside from its geological and archeological significance, Montezuma Well is a naturalist's paradise. This is because there is such a wide range of climatic environments in a short radius. Along Beaver Creek grow semi-tropical lush vegetation and water-loving trees like cottonwood, sycamore and willow. Next to this are places of brush and undergrowth which quail and towhees like to visit. Then there are grassy meadows and broad fields where pipits stroll about and meadowlarks sing their song.

On the dry, sun-baked flats around the Well are mesquite, catclaw and cactus, with birds like the canyon wren and white-crowned sparrow. The surface of the Well proper is a haven for ducks of all kinds, and for rails and herons. Here, too, muskrats swim about, munching pondweed or cattail, or sitting on a log at the water's edge to tidy up their fur. This attraction of wildlife to the Well is due in part to the water temperature, which remains constant at 84 degrees, even in winter: On icy mornings clouds of steam swirl across its surface.

In the six years during which nature files have been kept, over 150 species of birds have been recorded, as well as numerous visits by such animals as deer, fox, coyote, raccoon and wildcat. The wide variety of natural flora (recorded at more than 200 species) insures a splendid display of wild flowers from spring to fall.

So, then, Montezuma Well is one of Arizona's scenic and scientific treasures. If your destination is the great out-of-doors, if you seek to explore the ever-amazing secrets of nature and of the past, then satisfy your wanderlust and mark trail for the Verde Valley country. If yours is the light heart and adventurous spirit, then, wherever you are, Montezuma Well is just down the road a piece.