Our visit to the famous Painted Rock Petroglyph Site started out just as the Title picture  in the post shows – an afternoon out with our good friends Al & Barbie Rupiper, traveling deep in the Arizona desert, viewing some old & interesting Indian Petroglyphs. Soon after we arrived however, we could see that this was far more than just a bunch of old painted rocks – this ancient petroglyph site also happens to be situated along a little known, but historically significant, old ‘Road’ to California… with the ancient etched images seeming to stand in quiet Testament to the people that traveled this road over the centuries.

The Painted Rock Petroglyph Site is located in Arizona’s lower Gila River Valley.   The valley’s namesake Gila River rises up in the San Francisco Mountains of Western New Mexico and flows West across Arizona to enter in to the lower Colorado River, joining just above Yuma, AZ.   The Lower Gila River Valley, stretching from Gila Bend to Yuma, forms a broad, natural ‘roadway’… complete with all-important sources of water.  Over the Centuries, the Hohokam Indians… Yuman Indians… Maricopa-Pima Indians… Spanish Explorers… American Fur Trappers… American armies… the Butterfield Overland Mail stage… and eventually the railroads and US Highways (Hwy 80 and Interstate-8)… all took advantage of this natural roadway.  If the old travelers thru this Valley could talk… what fascinating stories would they have to tell us?   This Post hints at what those stories might be about.

Map showing the Lower Gila River Valley, highlighted in yellow.

 

The petroglyphs that brought us out here on a sunny afternoon are quite visible on approach.   The picture below shows the rise of the ‘Painted Rocks’ from the back side.

 

A few Painted Rocks up close:

 

A slideshow of nine (9), up-close, Petroglyph Rocks:

 

These Petroglyph Rocks sit in a pile 20′ tall and roughly 100′ x 400′ in circumvention, as left by volcanic eruptions over 150,000  years ago.   They are covered with ‘desert varnish’, or oxidation, that when pecked or scratched leaves a very distinct “light gray-on-black” contrast… and are great for creating long-lasting art images.   The Rocks are very visible from any distant ‘road’… and have been seen by many people… and travelers.

 

The Road, the People, the Travelers

Note in the Title picture on the right… in the far background…  there appears to be a lower elevation with some mountains in the background.   This is the Gila River Valley… the Roadway… also called the Southern Immigrant Trail… or the Gila Trail… used by numerous travelers over the centuries to get to California.   Water flowed in this riverbed until the Gillispie and Painted Rock Dams were built in the 1920’s, diverting the water away to be used for farming and irrigation.   Today, the water flow is intermittent and seasonal… even though occasional floods still do happen.

The People

The earliest known people living in the Valley were the Hohokam Indians, who lived in the South-Central region of Arizona (Phoenix Region) from roughly 300 BC to about 1450 AD. The Hohokam created large, complex civilizations along the Middle Gila & Salt Rivers, and used irrigation to farm the Valleys, and fished the river.   Archaeologists have identified a predecessor people (about 2,000 B.C.), but little is known about them at this time.   The current Pima Indians, also known as Akimel O’odham, or “River People” , believe they are descended from the Hohokam.

 

The Pima Indians have lived on the banks of the Gila River since before the arrival of the first Spanish explorers in 1694 A.D., as noted by Spanish Padre-Explorer, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino.   In the early 1800’s, the Maricopa Indians, who lived on the lower Gila & Colorado rivers close to Yuma, were driven from their homes by hostilities with the Yuman Indians… and relocated up river to the East, joining with the Pima Peoples for protection.

 

The Spanish

In 1540 early Spanish Explorers such as Hernando de Alarcón and Melchior Díaz  explored in the region of the lower Colorado and Gila rivers, in conjunction with Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s search for Cibola – the Seven Cities of Gold.   But the first Spanish Explorer that we know traveled through the Gila River Valley, was Lieutenant-colonel Juan Bautista de Anza, who in 1775 with a party of 240 settlers, pioneered a new land route from Culiac’an, New Spain, to Alta California.   The goal of the de Anza  Expedition was to plant a new Spanish Colony in the San Francisco Bay area in order to stymie Russian settlements advancing from the North.   The colonists ended up settling in Monterey (110 miles South), but Col. de Anza did explore the Bay Area, locating the site for what a few years later would become the City of San Francisco.   The land route explored by the Expedition established what became known as the de Anza Trail, from Culiac’an, New Spain, thru Yuma, Mission San Gabriel, and then to San Francisco.

 

The Americans

By the 1820’s American Fur Trader & Explorer Ewing Young had already explored to the Southwest, all the way to the California Pacific Coast… including the Mission San Gabriel near Los Angeles… bringing along with him a young teenager named Kit Carson.  Years later, in 1846, Carson was again in Southern California, only this time with Ltc. John C. Fremont, who had just ‘happened’ to position his American Volunteers here in anticipation of an impending ‘Declaration of War‘ between Mexico and the United States.   Within a few months, Ltc. Fremont, joined by Commodore Robert Stockton, had secured most of what was populated California, and Carson was dispatched by Ltc. Fremont to travel back east to Washington DC, in order to report the quick ‘victories’ to President Polk… 

 

While traveling east, Carson encountered General Stephen Watts Kearny in New Mexico. Kearny was in quick march to California with 100 cavalrymen from the 1st U.S. Dragoons, and ordered Carson to instead accompany him as a guide.   Carson guided Kearny thru the Gila River Valley in November 1846.   The more heavily equipped Mormon Battalion followed a month later, building a wagon trail that roughly followed the River.   There is much more to this fascinating story… but alas, time does not permit inclusion in this post.

 

The Mail

In 1857, the famous Butterfield Overland Mail Stage was established when John W. Butterfield won the bid request put out by the US Postal Service for delivery of ‘The Mail from St. Louis to California’.   Service started on September 15, 1858.   Its 3,000 mile Route took it south thru Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, taking 23 days (day & night traveling), with over 140 stagecoach stations to provide fresh water, mules, food, and a leg-stretch.   In the Gila River Valley, The Butterfield Overland Mail maintained eight stage Stops, from Gila Bend Station to the Fort Yuma Station.  

 

In 1861, this Butterfield Mail service ‘Southern Route’ was closed down by Congress on June 30, due to the emerging American Civil War… But a new Stage Line & Route was started that same day, The Central Overland Route, that traveled from Salt Lake City, thru Utah to Carson City, Nevada, and eventually on to California.   The Central Overland stayed in operation until 1869 when the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad made Stagecoach travel obsolete.

 

The Roads

In 1854, with completion of the Gadsden Purchase, the United States took possession of lands south of the Gila River.   Railroad route surveys of the Gila River Valley had already been commenced, and in the 1870’s the Southern Pacific Railroad completed its rail link between Tucson & Yuma… creating the nation’s 2nd transcontinental rail line in 1881.   In 1996, the Southern Pacific Railroad was taken over by the Union Pacific, hence today’s name presence.

 

In 1926, US Highway 80  was commissioned to become a new US Highway (one of several that year) and became the first all-weather coast-to-coast route available to auto travelers.   Before then, it was an early 1900’s “auto trail” known as the Dixie Overland Highway, that stretched from Georgia to California.   It is second only to US Route 66 in folklore.   In Arizona, Hwy-80 travels thru the Gila River Valley just as its predecessor roads did…. and many miles of the original Hwy-80 are still in local use today.   

 

In 1978, Interstate-8 was completed, connecting southern Arizona and California.   Between Gila Bend and Yuma, in the Gila River Valley, Interstate-8 travels alongside the old routes of Hwy-80… the Southern Pacific… the Butterfield Stage… the Mormon Battalion… and the de Anza Trail... 

 

Travelers Today… 

Anyone driving ‘the Road’ from Gila Bend to Yuma on I-8 will find a scenic and pleasant drive, with lots of desert and mountains.   However, if one should stop for a brief rest along the road… and just sit for a moment and ponder, and listen closely… one might just see…

 

Out on the right there are the Hohokam indians, fishing the river and planting their fields.   Take a little more time to ponder, close eyes, and one might ‘see’ Juan Bautista de Anza, guiding his Expedition along the river.   Keep looking… fifty years later, in 1826, there are the Mountain Men pursuing Beaver and a route to Alta California… then in a blink, 1846 and General Kearny is pushing his 100 Dragoons hard thru the Gila River Valley to get to San Diego in time to save early American victories in California…the Mormon Battalion closely following in support. Twelve years later, in 1858, the Butterfield Mail Stage is commencing its operation thru the Valley, from Missouri to San Francisco.   Then in the 1920’s, Hwy 80 is constructed…  replaced fifty years later with Interstate-8, and then after that… well, here we travelers are, just sitting here and pondering.  But in their way, with their deeds, the ‘early travelers’ are still out there too.  Only time has passed.

Jim & Alice LaPeer

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