A Trip to See Roosevelt Dam Being Built, continued

(taken from the memoirs of Ethel Russell, continued from yesterday)

            A journey to the mountains had long been my most treasured ambition and now that we were on the way I could hardly take time to sleep.  Early in the morning when papa began the fire I piled out of bed to watch the process of cooking breakfast over the coals.  What fun it was to smell bacon sizzling and watch mama fry pancakes in the old dutch oven!  She had to be careful, though, not to let her skirt catch fire from the coals.

             How blue the mountains were!  As the sun rose higher their color changed; each mountain was a different shade and shape.  Superstition Mountain was by far the most spectacular, with it's high cliff face and rugged outline, but there was also Usury Mountain in front of the Superstitions, Red Mountain (and it really was red) and the McDowell mountains in the north west, and the Sierra Anches with Four Peaks on the North East.  The farther we went the more rugged the landscape became.  By and by we came to Fish Creek Hill which was just half way to Roosevelt.  The Hill was a mile long and very steep.  The road was not much wider than the wagons.  We children hugged the wall as we walked to the bottom.  The wheels all had to be blocked for the descent and it was a very dangerous time as they slid down.  At the bottom was a beautiful creek with big cottonwood trees and cool pools.  We were sure happy to get down to them.  They had built a waystation there for the benefit of travelers where supplies could be purchased.  It was an interesting location. 

            Eventually we reached the Dam sight.  The water from the river had been diverted into a ditch around the side of the mountain which generated electricity to operate the big cranes that placed the stones into the wall of the dam.  We stayed a while and watched the men work, then we went to a dairy farm owned by a brother of one of our party up the river a few miles.  It was a good place to rest from the journey, but there were so many interesting things to see we couldn't stay still for long.

            Near the dairy ranch were Indian Ruins, a cliff dwelling of our ancient Indians called “Tonto Ruins”.   The Tonto Ruins are up high on the mountainside south east of Roosevelt Dam.  One afternoon we all climbed into our wagon and went to see the ancient dwelling.  There were many rooms in the over hanging cliff of the mountain facing the canyon.  You would never guess there was such a place near until you came into the canyon.  We found many small corn cobs and much broken pottery in the basement room which we entered by climbing down a ladder.  At the back of the cliff was a large hole through which one from the inside could look out over the river area.  The building may have been a fortification.  It was all so interesting.

            The next day we moved further up the River to a beautiful camping spot called “Grape Vine Springs.”  There were many walnut trees here covered with grape vines, and the springs were full of water cress.  It was delightful spot.  We camped there two days.

            Soon it was time to go home, though, so we retraced our steps and reached our homes having had two weeks of the most interesting experiences of our lives.  We could more fully appreciate the travels of our pioneers and the beauties of our lovely country.  We had heard many Indian stories and seen some of their homes in the mountains.   Little Wicky-ups- they called them.  We also visited the spot where an Indian battle was fought in the early days.  It was a trip long to be remembered.