A thousand years ago the Salado first arrived in this basin, coming here
around A.D. 900 from the region north of the Little Colorado River
drainage. Though we do not know what they called themselves, it is here
where later they were given their modern name. In Spanish, Salado means
salty, referring to the Salt River near which these Indians lived.
When the Salado first entered the Roosevelt Basin they lived in the
lowlands, along the Salt River floodplain where they could easily
irrigate their fields. Though the area may seem inhospitable, the
river’s flow is reliable—and water is an extremely precious resource in
the arid Southwest. The great range of elevation nearby provides several
life zones of various plants and animals to be utilized for richer
living. Ponderosa pine forests and juniper-pinyon pine woodland both
occur within 15 miles of this site.
The Salado enjoyed several centuries of comfortable life, with time for
production of elaborately decorated pottery and ornaments, beautifully
woven and embroidered cotton textiles, and, no doubt, development of
elaborate religious thought and ritual.
But at about A.D. 1200, times changed and life became more difficult.
Perhaps the population outgrew its resources. Perhaps disease spread.
Perhaps some outside enemy pressure was felt. The reason remains
unknown, but in the early 13th century the Indians began moving their
villages to high ridges and ultimately to caves, finding defensible
protected sites with good, sweeping views.
Unsettled conditions persisted, and finally life here, for reasons we do
not know today, became impossible. Where they went, why they left, and
what their ultimate fate was, we do not know, but by the early 1400s the
Salado people were gone from the Salt River Valley.