Their Own Road: Archaeological Investigations along State Route 260 Payson to Heber-Kohls Ranch Section

Editor(s): Sarah Herr

Year: 2017

Summary

The Kohls Ranch highway section lies at the center of the State Route (SR) 260 —Payson to Heber project area. This section also crosses a number of central places of the past. Here, near its headwaters, Tonto Creek is a mountain stream, whose terraces widen briefly near the highway before the canyon narrows into the Hells Gate Wilderness to the south. Indian Garden, a mile to the east, is a spring-fed meadow. Geology transitions in this area, as the topography created by the friable granites to the east interfinger with the stepped ridges of the limestone and sandstone to the west. The narrowing of natural passageways and a reduction in arable land to the east make the Kohls Ranch section a place where roads and people have converged over the years. The well-watered places in this section were first settled nearly 3,000 years ago, were returned to in the intervening centuries, and continue to be used today. In the twentieth century, the area became a small center for government, residential, and recreational activity in this isolated region.

The community after which this road section is named is designated Kohl's Ranch, after Lewis Kohl, who patented this homestead on Tonto Creek in the mid-1920s (Herr and Stein 2001). The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) engineering plans, however, designate the section as Kohls Ranch, without an apostrophe. This distinction will be maintained when referencing the community versus the highway project.

Cite this Record

Their Own Road: Archaeological Investigations along State Route 260 Payson to Heber-Kohls Ranch Section, 03. Sarah Herr. 2017 ( tDAR id: 448151) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8448151

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Culture
Archaic • Historic • Hohokam • Huhugam • Middle Archaic

Material
Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Dating Sample • Fauna • Fire Cracked Rock • Glass • Ground Stone • Hide • Human Remains • Macrobotanical • Metal • Pollen • Shell • Wood

Site Name
AZ O:12:32 (ASM) • AZ O:12:33 (ASM) • AZ O:12:34 (ASM) • AZ O:12:74 (ASM) • AZ O:12:75 (ASM) • AZ O:12:77(ASM) • AZ O:12:78 (ASM) • AZ O:12:94 (ASM) • AZ O:12:95 • AZ O:12: 96 • AZ O:12:97 (ASM) • AZ O:12:98 (ASM) • Camp Geronimo • Forest Highway 11 • Indian Garden • Payson to Colcord • Sammie Haught's Corral • Too New

Site Type
Amphitheater • Artifact Scatter • Burial Pit • Campfire Pit • Campsite • Chimney • Culvert • Flagpole Foundation • Foundation • Funerary and Burial Structures or Features • Historic Structure • Leach Pits • Lithic Scatter • Midden • Pit • Pit House / Earth Lodge • Post Hole / Post Mold • Privy • Quarry • Remnant • Roasting Pit / Oven / Horno • Showerhouse • Swingset

Investigation Types
Data Recovery / Excavation • Records Search / Inventory Checking • Research Design / Data Recovery Plan • Site Evaluation / Testing

General
Osteological Analysis • Pollen Analysis • Vertebrate Faunal Analysis

Geographic Keywords
Arizona (State / Territory) • Gila (County) • Kohls Ranch

Temporal Keywords
Ceramic Period • Classic Period • Early Agricultural period • Early Cienega Phase • Late Historic/Modern Period • Pioneer Period • San Pedro phase • Sedentary Period

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 500 to 1300 (Ceramic)

Calendar Date: 400 to 1000 (Indian Garden Flaked Stone)

Calendar Date: 1000 to 1200 (Indian Garden Flaked Stone)

Calendar Date: -800 to 500 (Occupation)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -111.136; min lat: 34.301 ; max long: -111.078; max lat: 34.333 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Contributor(s): Jenny L Adams; Erika Bassaraba; Allison Cohen Diehl; Michael Droz; Susan D. Hall; James M. Heidke; Sarah Herr; Lincoln-Babb Lorrie; Penny Dufoe Minturn; Ellen C. Ruble; R. Jane Sliva; Susan J. Smith; Kimberly Spurr; Susan L. Stinson; Pat H. Stein; Arthur W. Vokes; Jennifer A. Waters; CaraMia R. Whitney; Michael W. Diehl

Prepared By(s): Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Submitted To(s): Arizona Department of Transportation Environmental and Enhancement Group Phoenix, Arizona

Record Identifiers

TRACS Number(s): 260 GI 266 H4473 01C

Contract Number(s): 99-59

Project Number(s): F-053-2-202

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
tr2006-03_final_OCR_PDFA_Redacted.pdf 255.57mb Nov 9, 2020 4:02:45 PM Public
This file is the redacted version of the resource.
tr2006-03_final_OCR_PDFA.pdf 277.75mb Feb 28, 2017 Mar 5, 2019 4:57:43 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.

This Resource is Part of the Following User Created Collections