ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN VERDE VALLEY, ARIZONA 



By Cosmos Mindeleff 



INTKODUCTIOX. 



THE REGION AND ITS LITERATURE. 



The region described in tlie following pages comprises tlie valley of 

 tlie Rio Verde, iu Arizona, from Verde, in eastern central Yavapai 

 connty, to the couflueuce with Salt river, in Maricoija connty. 



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 hin- 

 drance 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 iu possession, 

 and are occupying the ground they took u^) 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 "nunes" north and east of tlie present site of Pres- 

 cott early in 1583; in 1598 Farfau and Quesada of Oiiate's expedition 

 visited probably the same locality from Tusayan, and in 1004 Oiiate 

 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 

 fi'om 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 prospecthig for gold and silver accompanying the American 

 invasion and C(mque«st 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 1800 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 1801, 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 graduallj' lost the military element of the name. 



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