A History of Indian Garden, An Administrative Site on the Tonto National Forest, Gila County, Arizona
Author(s): Pat H. Stein
Year: 2007
Summary
Located along a spring-fed stream, Indian Garden has attracted and supported as wide a range of activities as perhaps any site in the area below the Mogollon Rim. Recent work by Desert Archaelogy has shown that prehistoric people used the Indian Garden area as early as 770 B.C., and that Apaches exploited the locality during the early twentieth century (Ferguson and Anyon 2000a; Sarah Herr, personal communication 2007). From the 1880s to the turn of this century, the site served sequentially as a squatter's ranch, U.S. Forest Service guard cabin, state fish hatchery, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp, water supply for a homestead turnedresort, U.S. Forest Service work center, Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) camp, and Arizona Boys' Ranch camp. The property could certainly be considered a "poster child" for Forest Service multiple use.
Indian Garden, the inviting pasture just west of Kohl's Ranch, was long a familiar sight to travelers along State Route 260 (SR 260). Recent construction has changed that, however. Realignment now carries the route well north of the property. Fortunately, construction of the new roadbed and obliteration of the old one have left the historic components of Indian Garden intact. Although the historic site is not currently threatened, Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) officials realized that a history of Indian Garden would be timely, and they agreed to sponsor the present study.
The resulting history of Indian Garden is presented in approximate chronological order, by phase of occupation. Prefacing that, however, are the following items concerning the size, location, and name of the property. The Indian Garden administrative site now contains 80 acres. In the past, the tract contained as many as 94 acres. The "missing" 14 acres were located along the eastern edge of the property. The administrative site was gradually reduced to its present size when it was found to overlap the Kohl property to the east.
Cite this Record
A History of Indian Garden, An Administrative Site on the Tonto National Forest, Gila County, Arizona, 19. Pat H. Stein. 2007 ( tDAR id: 448147) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8448147
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
Culture
Euroamerican
•
Historic
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Historic Native American
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Hohokam
•
Huhugam
Site Name
AR-03-12-04-53 (TNF)
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AZ O:12:32 (ASM)
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Indian Garden Site
Investigation Types
Historic Background Research
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Site Evaluation / Testing
Geographic Keywords
Gila (County)
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Interstitial Zone F
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Tonto Basin
Spatial Coverage
min long: -111.096; min lat: 34.313 ; max long: -111.073; max lat: 34.349 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Prepared By(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Submitted To(s): Arizona Department of Transportation, Environmental and Enhancement Group, Historic Preservation Team
Record Identifiers
Technical Report No. (s): 2005-19
File Information
| Name | Size | Creation Date | Date Uploaded | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tr2005-19_final_OCR_PDFA_Redacted.pdf | 44.36mb | Nov 9, 2020 2:38:25 PM | Public | ||
| This file is the redacted version of the resource. | |||||
| tr2005-19_final_OCR_PDFA.pdf | 41.65mb | Jan 1, 2007 | Mar 5, 2019 4:57:11 PM | Confidential | |
| This file is the unredacted version of the resource. | |||||
Accessing Restricted Files
At least one of the files for this resource is restricted from public view. For more information regarding access to these files, please reference the contact information below
Contact(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.