|
 The
Apache Trail can certainly be classified as one of
the most adventurous and scenic routes in the
American Southwest. Since 1906 tourists have
traveled this unique mountain road and marveled at
some of the most spectacular scenery in our state.
The Apache Trail, as we know it today, originates in
Apache Junction and terminates at its junction with
Highway 60-70 some four miles east of Miami,
Arizona. The original roadway began at the Mesa
railhead and terminated at the Roosevelt Dam site on
Salt River some sixty-two miles away.
This approximate route of the Apache Trail has
served humanity for more than a millennium. The
Salado used the trail to penetrate the Salt River
Valley around 900 A.D. Other Native Americans groups
continued to use the trail as a migratory route
between their winter homes on the desert lowlands
and their summer homes in the mountains along the
Mogollon Rim and the various sky islands of the
central mountain region of Arizona.
 The
Apaches and Yavapais used the trail for their
predatory raids against the Pimas along the Salt and
Gila Rivers south and west of Superstition Mountain.
The Apaches and Yavapais continued their raids after
the arrival of the Anglo-Americans in the early
1850s. Finally in 1864, Camp McDowell was
established along the Verde River some four miles
north of the Salt River. The Pimas became willing
allies of the blue-shirted soldiers who manned Fort
McDowell. This footpath (trail) along the Salt River
through the mountains to Tonto Basin was called both
the Tonto Trail and the Yavapai Trail. The Army
quelled the predatory Apaches-Yavapais in this
region by 1868. There were other military campaigns
fought against renegade Apaches from 1871 until
Geronimo’s surrender in 1886 at Skeleton Canyon in
Southern Arizona.
An expedition navigated the Salt River near the
present site of Roosevelt Dam to Phoenix in a
cataract boat during the early part of the 1880s.
They reported numerous ideal dam sites along the
river’s course. The Maricopa County Board of
Supervisors ordered a feasibility study done on the
Salt River for possible water storage and flood
control dam sites shortly thereafter. William
“Billy” Breakenridge, James H. McClintock, and John
H. Norton conducted this feasibility study.
Breakenridge also explored the route for a possible
wagon road at the time of this study. Billy
Breakenridge was a well known Tombstone lawman
during the 1880s. James McClintock became Arizona’s
first official historian.
Breakenridge’s report was highly favored for the
construction of a dam just downstream from
confluence of Tonto Creek and the Salt River. The
Congress of the United States authorized the
construction dam and the project was funded in March
of 1903. The task of supervising the building of
this dam was given to the newly formed U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation Service under the United States
Department of Interior.
Immediately after funds were approved by Congress
the communities of the Salt River Valley realized no
money was appropriated for the construction of a
haul road from Phoenix to the dam site. The valley
communities wanted to participate in this economic
boom. They wanted a greater involvement in the
market developed by the construction of Roosevelt
Dam. The communities immediately worked on a bonding
plan to raise enough money to fund the construction
of the Mesa-Roosevelt Road.
Actual construction of the Tonto Wagon Road began on
August 29, 1903, with two hundred Apache laborers
working just below the dam site on the Salt River.
Another work camp was established on November 11,
1903, at Government Well, some twenty-five miles
from Mesa, employing some 200 Pima laborers. The
Tonto Wagon Road was completed on September 3, 1905,
at a cost of $551,000. The road was sixty-two miles
in distance, running from the Tonto Dam site to the
Mesa railhead. It was reported more than a million
and half pounds of freight moved over the road in
its first month of operation.
 The
first Concord stage made a run over the
Mesa-Roosevelt Road on June 10, 1905. The first
automobile that traveled over the road from Mesa to
Government Wells was on August 23, 1905. This Knox
Automobile was known as the “Red Terror.” The first
so-called tourist group to travel over the
Mesa-Roosevelt Road was on October 10, 1905. The
first major accident to occur on the Mesa-Roosevelt
Road was a stagecoach accident that happened between
Mormon Flat and Fish Creek Hill on November 23,
1905. The curves, steep grades, and narrowness of
the Mesa-Roosevelt road challenged the skills of
early teamsters and drivers. Even today as we drive
the Apache Trail the road certainly can challenge
our skill as a driver.
The Mesa-Roosevelt Road was highly regulated during
the construction of Roosevelt Dam (1906-1911),
however when the construction was over the road
became a favorite tourist attraction. The road was
known as the Mesa-Roosevelt Road and Tonto Wagon
Road during the period 1903-1915. Sometimes the
media called the road the Roosevelt Road. Shortly
after 1915 the road became known as the Apache
Trail. Historians appear to agree in general as to
the origin of the name “Apache Trail.” They believe
the term was coined by an enterprising young
entrepreneur who worked as a railroad agent for the
Southern Pacific. The man’s name was E.E. Watson.
Watson was trying to promote the Southern Pacific’s
“Sunset Limited” as it made its way through Arizona.
The Southern Pacific offered a side trip for its
transcontinental passengers over the Apache Trail if
they were interested. Southern Pacific had the
franchise on the Apache Trail as a special side trip
for their passengers. Some of the photos from one of
the Southern Pacific photo books of 1915 appear in
this article.
The Apache Trail was officially dedicated as
Arizona’s first historic highway on February 25,
1987, at Lost Dutchman State Park along the Apache
Trail. The Apache Trail is a roadway to adventure,
beauty and history.
President Theodore Roosevelt may have said it best
when he talked about the Apache Trail. He said, “The
Apache Trail combines the grandeur of the Alps, the
glory of the Rockies, the magnificence of the Grand
Canyon and then adds an indefinable something that
none of the others have. To me, it is most
awe-inspiring and most sublimely beautiful." |
