After the road from old Camp Verde to Flagstaff passes a deserted
cabin at Beaver Head, it winds up a steep hill of lava or malpais to
the top of the Mogollones. If, instead of ascending this hill, one
turns to the left, taking an obscure road across the river bed,
which is full of rough lava blocks, and in June, when I traveled its
course, was without water, he soon finds himself penetrating a rugged
country with bright-red cliffs on his right (plate XCVIII). Continuing
through great parks and plains he finally descends to the well-wooded
valley of Oak creek, an affluent of Rio Verde. Here he finds evidences
of aboriginal occupancy on all sides--ruins of buildings, fortified
hilltops, pictographs, and irrigating ditches--testifying that there
was at one time a considerable population in this valley. The fields
of the ancient inhabitants have now given place to many excellent
ranches, one of the most flourishing of which is not far from a lofty
butte of red rock called the Court-house, which from its great size is
a conspicuous object for miles around. In many of these canyons there
are evidences of a former population, but the country is as yet almost
unexplored; there are many difficult places to pass, yet once near the
base of the rocks a way can be picked from the mouth of one canyon to
another. It does not take long to discover that this now uninhabited
region contains, like that along the Verde and its tributaries, many
ancient dwellings, for there is scarcely a single canyon leading into
these red cliffs in which evidences of former human habitations are
not found in the form of ruins. There is little doubt that these
unfrequented canyons have many and extensive cliff houses, the
existence of which has thus far escaped the explorer. The sandstone of
which they are composed is much eroded into caves with overhanging
roofs, forming admirable sites for cliff houses as distinguished from
cavate dwellings like those we have described. They are the only
described ruins of a type hitherto thought to be unrepresented in the
valley of the Verde.[23]
In our excursion into the Red-rock country we were obliged to make our
own wagon road, as no vehicle had ever penetrated the rugged canyons
visited by us. It was necessary to carry our drinking water with us
from Oak creek, which fact impeded our progress and limited the time
available in our reconnoissance. There was, however, in the pool near
the ruins of Honanki enough water for our horses, and at the time we
were there a limited amount of grass for fodder was found. I was told
that later in the season both forage and water are abundant, so that
these prime necessities being met, there is no reason why successful
archeological investigations may not be successfully conducted in this
part of the Verde region.
The limited population of this portion of the country rendered it
difficult to get laborers at the time I made my reconnoissance, so
that it would be advisable for one who expects to excavate the ruins
in this region to take with him workmen from the settled portions of
the valley.