The region described in the following pages comprises the valley of
the Rio Verde, in Arizona, from Verde, in eastern central Yavapai
county, to the confluence with Salt river, in Maricopa county.
The written history of the region treated extends back only a few years.
Since the aboriginal inhabitants abandoned it, or were driven from it,
the hostile Apache and Walapai roamed over it without hindrance or
opposition, and so late as twenty-five years ago, when the modern
settlement of the region commenced, ordinary pursuits were almost
impossible. Some of the pioneer settlers are still in possession, and
are occupying the ground they took up at the time when the rifle was
more necessary for successful agriculture than the plow.
The first notice of this region is derived from the report of Espejo,
who visited some “mines” north and east of the present site of Prescott
early in 1583; in 1598 Farfan and Quesada of Oñate’s expedition visited
probably the same locality from Tusayan, and in 1604 Oñate crossed the
country a little way north of the present Prescott, in one of his
journeys in search of mineral wealth. Nothing seems to have come of
these expeditions, however, and the remoteness of the region from the
highways of travel and its rough and forbidding character caused it to
remain unknown for over two centuries. It was not until the active
prospecting for gold and silver accompanying the American invasion and
conquest began that the country again became known. Valuable mines were
discovered east and south of the site of Prescott, some of them as early
as 1836; but it was not until after 1860 that any considerable amount of
work was done, and the mining development of this region, now one of the
best known in Arizona, may be said to date from about 1865. Camp Verde
was first established in 1861, at a point on the northern side of Beaver
creek, but was not regularly occupied until 1866. In 1871 it was removed
to its present location, about a mile south of the previous site. It was
abandoned as a military post in 1891, and gradually lost the military
element of the name.
Concerning the archeologic remains of the Rio Verde valley almost
nothing is known. In the early history of Arizona the Verde was known as
Rio San Francisco, and vague rumors of large and important ruins were
current among trappers and prospectors. The Pacific railway reports,
published in 1856, mention these ruins on the authority of the guide to
Lieut. Whipple’s party, Leroux by name. Other notices are found here and
there in various books of exploration and travel published during the
next two decades, but no systematic examination of the region was made
and the accounts are hardly more than a mention. In 1878 Dr. W. J.
Hoffman, at that time connected with the Hayden Survey, published
descriptions of the so-called Montezuma well and of a large cliff ruin
on Beaver creek, the latter accompanied by an illustration.[1] The
descriptions are slight and do not touch the region herein discussed.
[Footnote 1: Tenth Ann. Rep. U.S. Geol. Survey for 1876 (Washington,
1878), p. 477.]
The first publication of importance to the present inquiry is a short
paper by Dr. E. A. Mearns, U.S. Army, in the Popular Science Monthly for
October, 1890. Dr. Mearns was stationed for some years at Camp Verde,
and improved the opportunity afforded by numerous hunting expeditions
and tours of duty to acquaint himself with the aboriginal remains of the
Verde valley. He published a map showing the distribution of remains in
that region, described several ruins in detail, and illustrated some
pieces of pottery, etc., found by him. The article is unfortunately very
short, so short that it is hardly more than an introduction to the wide
field it covers; it is to be hoped that Dr. Mearns will utilize the
material he has and publish a more comprehensive report.
The remains in the valley of Rio Verde derive an additional interest
from their position in the ancient pueblo region. On the one hand they
are near the southwestern limit of that region, and on the other hand
they occupy an intermediate position between the ruins of the Gila and
Salt river valleys and those of the northern districts. The limits of
the ancient pueblo region have not yet been defined, and the
accompanying map (plate X) is only preliminary. It illustrates the
limited extent of our knowledge of the ancient pueblo region as well as
the distribution of ruins within that region, so far as they are known;
and the exceptional abundance of ruins noted on certain portions of the
map means only that those parts are better known than others.
Notwithstanding its incompleteness, it is the best available and is
published in the hope that it will serve as a nucleus to which further
data may be added until a complete map is produced.
[Illustration: Plate XI.
MAP OF THE VALLEY OF THE RIO VERDE.]
The ruins in the Gila valley, including those along Salt river, are less
known than those farther northward, but we know that there is a marked
difference between the type exemplified by the well-known Casa Grande,
near Florence, Arizona, and that of which the best specimens (notably
the Chaco ruins) are found in the San Juan basin. This difference may be
due only to a different environment, necessitating a change in material
employed and consequent on this a change in methods, although it seems
to the writer that the difference is perhaps too great to be accounted
for in this way. Be the cause what it may, there is no doubt that there
is a difference; and it is reasonable to expect that in the regions
lying between the southern earth-constructed and the northern stone
structures, intermediate types might be found which would connect them.
The valley of Rio Verde occupies such an intermediate position
geographically, but the architectural remains found in it belong to the
northern type; so we must look elsewhere for connecting links. The most
important ruin in the lower Verde region occurs near its southern end,
and more distinctly resembles the northern ruins than the ruins in the
northern part of that region.
Although the examination of this region failed to connect the northern
and southern types of house structure, the peculiar conditions here are
exceptionally valuable to the study of the principles and methods of
pueblo building. Here remains of large villages with elaborate and
complex ground plan, indicating a long period of occupancy, are found,
and within a short distance there are ruins of small villages with very
simple ground plan, both produced under the same environment; and
comparative study of the two may indicate some of the principles which
govern the growth of villages and whose result can be seen in the ground
plans. Here also there is an exceptional development of cavate lodges,
and corresponding to this development an almost entire absence of cliff
dwellings. From the large amount of data here a fairly complete idea of
this phase of pueblo life may be obtained. This region is not equal to
the Gila valley in data for the study of horticultural methods practiced
among the ancient Pueblos, but there is enough to show that the
inhabitants relied principally and, perhaps, exclusively on horticulture
for means of subsistence, and that their knowledge of horticultural
methods was almost, if not quite, equal to that of their southern
neighbors. The environment here was not nearly so favorable to that
method of life as farther southward, not even so favorable as in some
northern districts, and in consequence more primitive appliances and
ruder methods prevailed. Added to these advantages for study there is
the further one that nowhere within this region are there any traces of
other than purely aboriginal work; no adobe walls, no chimneys, no
constructive expedients other than those which may be reasonably set
down as aboriginal; and, finally, the region is still so little occupied
by modern settlers that, with the exception of the vicinity of Verde,
the remains have been practically undisturbed. A complete picture of
aboriginal life during the occupancy of the lower Verde valley would be
a picture of pueblo life pursued in the face of great difficulties, and
with an environment so unfavorable that had the occupation extended over
an indefinite period of time it would still have been impossible to
develop the great structures which resulted from the settlements in
Chaco canyon.
It is not known what particular branch of the pueblo-building tribes
formerly made their home in the lower Verde valley, but the character
of the masonry, the rough methods employed, and the character of the
remains suggest the Tusayan. It has been already stated that the
archeologic affinities of this region are northern and do not conform
to any type now found in the south; and it is known that some of the
Tusayan gentes--the water people--came from the south. The following
tradition, which, though not very definite, is of interest in this
connection, was obtained by the late A. M. Stephen, for many years a
resident near the Tusayan villages in Arizona, who, aside from his
competence for that work, had every facility for obtaining data of this
kind. The tradition was dictated by Anawita, chief of the Pat-ki-nyûmû
(Water house gentes) and is as follows:
We did not come direct to this region (Tusayan)--we had no fixed
intention as to where we should go.
We are the Pat-ki-nyû-mû, and we dwelt in the Pa-lát-kwa-bĭ (Red
Land) where the kwá-ni (agave) grows high and plentiful; perhaps it
was in the region the Americans call Gila valley, but of that I am
not certain. It was far south of here, and a large river flowed
past our village, which was large, and the houses were high, and
a strange thing happened there.
Our people were not living peaceably at that time; we were
quarreling among ourselves, over huts and other things I have heard,
but who can tell what caused their quarrels? There was a famous
hunter of our people, and he cut off the tips from the antlers of
the deer which he killed and [wore them for a necklace?] he always
carried them. He lay down in a hollow in the court of the village,
as if he had died, but our people doubted this; they thought he was
only shamming death, yet they covered him up with earth. Next day
his extended hand protruded, the four fingers erect, and the first
day after that one finger disappeared [was doubled up?]; each day a
finger disappeared, until on the fourth day his hand was no longer
visible.
The old people thought that he dug down to the under world with the
horn tips.
On the fifth day water spouted up from the hole where his hand had
been and it spread over everywhere. On the sixth day Pá-lü-lü-koña
(the Serpent deity) protruded from this hole and lifted his head
high above the water and looked around in every direction. All of
the lower land was covered and many were drowned, but most of our
people had fled to some knolls not far from the village and which
were not yet submerged.
When the old men saw Pá-lü-lü-koña they asked him what he wanted,
because they knew he had caused this flood; and Pá-lü-lü-koña said,
“I want you to give me a youth and a maiden.”
The elders consulted, and then selected the handsomest youth and
fairest maid and arrayed them in their finest apparel, the youth
with a white kilt and paroquet plume, and the maid with a fine blue
tunic and white mantle. These children wept and besought their
parents not to send them to Pá-lü-lü-koña, but an old chief said,
“You must go; do not be afraid; I will guide you.” And he led them
toward the village court and stood at the edge of the water, but
sent the children wading in toward Pá-lü-lü-koña, and when they
reached the center of the court where Pá-lü-lü-koña was the deity
and the children disappeared. The water then rushed down after them,
through a great cavity, and the earth quaked and many houses tumbled
down, and from this cavity a great mound of dark rock protruded.
This rock mound was glossy and of all colors; it was beautiful, and,
as I have been told, it still remains there.
[Illustration: Plate XII.
GROUND PLAN OF RUIN NEAR MOUTH OF LIMESTONE CREEK.
RIO VERDE : ARIZONA]
The White Mountain Apache have told me that they know a place in the
south where old houses surround a great rock, and the land in the
vicinity is wet and boggy.
We traveled northward from Palat-kwabi and continued to travel just
as long as any strength was left in the people--as long as they had
breath. During these journeys we would halt only for one day at a
time. Then our chief planted corn in the morning and the
pá-to-la-tei (dragon fly) came and hovered over the stalks and by
noon the corn was ripe; before sunset it was quite dry and the
stalks fell over, and whichever way they pointed in that direction
we traveled.
When anyone became ill, or when children fretted and cried, or the
young people became homesick, the Co-i-yal Katcina (a youth and a
maiden) came and danced before them; then the sick got well,
children laughed, and sad ones became cheerful.
We would continue to travel until everyone was thoroughly worn out,
then we would halt and build houses and plant, remaining perhaps
many years.
One of these places where we lived is not far from San Carlos, in a
valley, and another is on a mesa near a spring called Coyote Water
by the Apache. * * *
When we came to the valley of the Little Colorado, south of where
Winslow now is, we built houses and lived there; and then we crossed
to the northern side of the valley and built houses at Homolobi.
This was a good place for a time, but a plague of flies came and bit
the suckling children, causing many of them to die, so we left there
and traveled to Ci-pa (near Kuma spring).
Finally we found the Hopi, some going to each of the villages except
Awatobi; none went there.