05/30/2019 - Montezuma's Castle, Montezuma Well, Tuzigoot and Clarkdale

Montezuma Castle is an ancient abode structure located in the Verde Valley in central Arizona. Thanks to its colorful name, the five-story, 20-room building sheltered high in a limestone cliff is sometimes thought to be the former home of the Aztec emperor, Montezuma. Scholars have proven, however, that the early white settlers who assumed the structure was built by the Aztecs were mistaken. In reality, Montezuma likely never stepped foot in Arizona, and Montezuma Castle was built by cliff-dwelling Sinagua Indians. The Sinagua (the name is Spanish for ‘without water’… ”sin-agua”.) were a peaceful, pre-Colombian Native Americans who were hunters, gatherers and farmers, who grew mainly corn, squash and beans. Their exact origin is unclear, yet recovered Sinagua artifacts have shown they were simple people yet gifted craftsmen who used their natural resources to create practical tools and ornamental items. They were also master spinners and weavers who fashioned intricate designs made of cotton they grew themselves. Many artifacts recovered at Montezuma Castle weren’t native to the area, so it is believed that the Sinagua were master traders and bartered for items from hundreds of miles away. Montezuma Castle was a thriving commercial center and traded a variety of goods and ideas. No one knows why the Sinagua left Montezuma Castle and its surrounding area. But by 1425 A.D., they were all gone. Some archaeologists think they left because overpopulation depleted the local resources. Others believe the high arsenic content in their water supply led them to depart. Whatever the reason, most Sinagua  eventually settled elsewhere, leaving the area free to be inhabited by other Native American tribes such as the Hopi and also early white settlers.

 

It’s estimated that the Sinagua built Montezuma Castle somewhere between 1100 and 1350 A.D. They erected the structure about one-third the way up a 150-foot limestone cliff high above Beaver Creek. The dwelling’s walls were made from limestone and mud mortar. Large beams covered by smaller beams were used to frame the roof, which was then covered with thatch and mud. Stone axes were used to harvest the trees (usually sycamore, alder or ash) used to make the larger beams. The axes could reportedly drop an average-sized tree in 15 minutes. The walls of Montezuma Castle were two feet thick at the bottom and narrowed to one foot thick at the top. The ceilings were six-feet high and the T-shaped doors were five feet high. The doors were kept low and small to preserve heat in the room. The Sinagua used Montezuma Castle not just as their home but also a community center where they held community meetings, worked, stored crops and seeds and even buried dead family members, most of who didn’t live past their life expectancy of 40 years.

Montezuma’s Castle is still standing thanks to its low humidity and an alcove which protects it from the elements. But by the late 1800s, looters, curiosity-seekers and amateur archaeologists had ransacked it, leaving it in danger of crumpling. In 1897, the Arizona Antiquarian Association fortified the structure and repaired as much damage as possible. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt declared Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well and its surrounding 840 acres one of America’s first National Monuments, guaranteeing its ongoing protection. At first, tourists could tour the abode by climbing ladders up the side of limestone cliffs; but this direct contact left it in disrepair and public access was terminated in 1951. Preserving Montezuma Castle is no easy task. The first restoration effort took place in 1933 to repair damage caused by looters. Other efforts to stabilize the structure have taken place every decade or so since. A major restoration occurred in the mid-1990s after a carpenter bee infestation bore holes into the adobe plaster. To ensure authenticity, preservationists strive to complete renovations in the Sinagua tradition using local materials and often performing repairs by hand. Weather, insects, flooding and rot constantly threaten the centuries-old Montezuma Castle. The National Park Service continues to monitor it closely and regularly takes proactive measures to preserve this national treasure for the more than 350,000 tourists who visit it each year.

 

 

 
Montezuma’s Well (1125 to 1400)

Though we did not have time to visit Montezuma Well, it is located about six miles upstream from Montezuma Castle. It’s a massive limestone sinkhole caused by a sunken cavern. The well is 55 feet deep and 368 feet wide. Underground natural springs constantly pump over 1.5 million gallons of warm water (74 degrees) into the well each day. Ancient dwellings, ranging between one-room houses to larger pueblos, surround the well as well as (no pun intended)  an ancient irrigation ditch, parts of which are at least 1,000 years old. The Sinagua used the ditch to reroute water to their crops. The ditch was later used by early white settlers and is still used today by residents of the Verde Valley. Montezuma Well supports a thriving ecosystem which includes a handful of unique species; however, the well may be best known for its population of the Sonoran mud turtles. The medium-sized, water-dwelling turtles are thought to be native to the well. When the Sonoran mud turtle’s population began to decline due to the introduction of non-native turtle species, the National Park Service intervened and methodically removed the non-native invaders, to ensure the survival of the native Sonoran mud turtles.  

This is one of the canals from the well that has been used since antiquity,

and is still in use today, though it has been rebuilt many times.

 

Montezuma's Well

 

Above and below, remnants of the buildings for housing of

the Sinaguans who lived around the well (mostly farmers). 

 

Tuzigoot National Monument, is the remnant of a Southern Sinagua village built between 1000 and 1400, preserves a 2-story pueblo (village building) ruin on the summit of a limestone and sandstone ridge just east of Clarkdale AZ, 120 feet above the Verde River floodplain. The Tuzigoot Site is an elongated complex of stone masonry rooms that were built along the spine of a natural outcrop in the Verde Valley. The central rooms stand higher than the others and they appear to have served public functions. The pueblo began as a small cluster of rooms inhabiting about 50 people for about 100 years. Then as the population grew(doubled by 1200 and then later doubled again) additional rooms were added to its current (when abandoned) 110 rooms. The National Park Service currently administers 58 acres (23 ha), within an authorized boundary of 834 acres.

″Tú Digiz/Tuzigoot″ is a Tonto Apache term for "crooked waters”, from nearby Pecks Lake, a cutoff meander of the Verde River, from Tú Digiz one principal Tonto Apache clan gets its name. The pueblo was built by the Sinagua people between 1125 and 1400 CE. Tuzigoot is the largest and best preserved of the many Sinagua pueblo ruins in the Verde Valley. The ruins at Tuzigoot incorporate very few doors; instead, the inhabitants used ladders accessed by trapdoor type openings in the roofs to enter each room.

The monument is on land once owned by United Verde/Phelps Dodge. The corporation sold the site to Yavapai County for $1 (i.e. donated it) so that the excavation could be completed under the auspices of federal relief projects. The county in turn transferred the land to the federal government.

Tuzigoot was excavated from 1933 to 1935 by Louis Caywood and Edward Spicer of the University of Arizona, with funding from the federal Civil Works Administration and Works Project Administration. In 1935–1936, with additional federal funding, the ruins were prepared for public display, and a Pueblo Revival-style museum and visitor center was constructed. Franklin D. Roosevelt designated Tuzigoot Ruins as a U.S. National Monument on July 25, 1939. The Tuzigoot National Monument Archeological District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

The ruins are surrounded by the 'tailings' pond of the former United Verde copper mine at Jerome. ‘Tailings ponds’ are also called mine dumps, culm umps, slimes, tails, refuse, leach residue, slickens, or terra-cone (terrikon), are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore.

On the way back to the campground we drove through the town of Clarkdale, which is a very quaint litle town. Clarkdale was founded in 1912 as a company smelter town by William A. Clark, for his copper mine in nearby Jerome. Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore in order to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. Clarkdale was one of the most modern mining towns in the world, including telephone, telegraph, electrical, sewer and spring water services, and was an early example of a planned community. The Clark Mansion, a local landmark, was built in the late 1920s by William Clark III, Clark's grandson and heir to the United Verde Copper Company. The structure, east of town across the Verde River near Pecks Lake, was destroyed in 2010 by a fire of "suspicious" origin.
The town center and business district were built in Spanish Colonial style, and feature the Clark Memorial Clubhouse and Memorial Library, both still in use. The Clubhouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The entire original town site is also on the National Register as the Clarkdale Historic District.

The mine and smelter closed in 1953, and Clarkdale entered hard times. Clarkdale was bought and sold by several different companies. In 1957, Clarkdale was incorporated as a town. The 1959 construction of the Phoenix Cement Company plant restored a modest prosperity to the community.

Clarkdale was a segregated town for much of its early history. Mexican and Mexican-American laborers were restricted to living in Patio Town, between the train depot area and the river, with a separate swimming pool and park; the town swimming pool was marked "whites only." Additionally, Upper Clarkdale was designated for engineers and executives, while Lower Clarkdale was for the "working class." A portion of the Yavapai-Apache Nation is within Clarkdale's boundaries.

Their current Town Center has a central park in their town center with a central pavilion where since 2001 the Town of Clarkdale Parks & Recreation and co-sponsored by Jennifer Griffin, State Farm Insurance and Financial Services Agent, has been providing FREE summer concerts at Clarkdale Town Park. Concerts run from 7:00-9:00 p.m. and 50/50 raffles take place as well! have free concerts for the public. Their 2019 schedule is….

 May 25 …………………… Cross-Eyed Possum Rock/Blues/Jazz

June 8 …………………….. Matchbox Twenty Too Pop Rock

June 22 …………………… Big Daddy D & the Dynamites Blues

July 6 ……………………… Come Back Buddy 50s/60s Rock & Roll

July 20 ……………………. Scandalous Hands Blues/Classic Rock/Dance

August 3 ………………….. Cadillac Angels Rockabilly

August 17 ………………… The Izzies Blues/Dance/Rock

August 31 ………………… Potent Motion Funk/Reggae Rock/Dance

September 14 ……………. McKenna Faith Country

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above and beow is a Museum located in the old High School building

 

 

The Verde River .

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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