Path drove Ariz.'s past

By Carl Holcombe
The Arizona Republic

Since A.D. 900 and probably before, Apache Trail has been vital to life in the Valley. It has been a trade route, a path to cooler climates and water recreation, the scene of legends and the key to the construction of a dam that provided the foundation for the Valley's rise from the desert floor.

This year, the paved version of the trail turns 100.

The trail, which is also Arizona 88 and runs from apache Junction east to Roosevelt lake and south to U.S. 60, rolls through areas flush with jagged rocky towers that rise from hills alongside the Superstition Mountains. Colossal mesas just from the earth, green moss brushes the sides of bulbous rock formations and archaic remains of native American cliff dwelling tribes stare out across miles of empty, rocky desert.

"It's an incredible part of Arizona that people don't know about," said Jodie Akers, a local historian and owner of Apache junction-based Apache Trail Tours.

The earliest documented use of the trail was by the Salado tribe in about A.D. 900 as a foot path to cooler summer home locations. Historians believe the Anasazi later followed the trail to trade pottery with the Hohokams and gain access to water, Akers said.

'It probably goes back to the time of Christ," said Marshall Trimble, Arizona's official state historian.

Southern Pacific Railroad named Apache Trail in 1915. It needed a catchy name to help sell tickets for a motorcar tour side trip between Globe and Phoenix, said Apache Trail Tours guide Donna Pollard.

Nearly every stop along the trail carries its own tale, some more true than others.

Near the trail's start, Apache Gap was a favorite ambush site for native warriors who rained cactuses on their enemies.

Pima and Apache tribe members paved Apache Trail in 1905 so the federal government could haul construction equipment via mule to build the Roosevelt Dam.

"The beauty of the Apache Trail will take your breath away," Trimble said. "It's rugged and was nothing more than a foot trail … but, without the dam, (Phoenix) couldn't have sustained anything of what we have today. It was the biggest milestone in the history of the Salt River Valley."

A 20-horsepower Knox auto, named the "Red Terror" for its wild ride, was the first car on the highway. In 1905, the car was driven between Mesa and Government Wells, a stop a few miles east along the trail.

The most famous tale is of the "Lost Dutchman Mine" and German gold miner Jacob Waltz.

In the late 1800's, he told stories of finding something valuable in the craggy out lands of the area, and seemed to have access to lots of gold. When the facts died with him 1891, his legend grew into a gold mine of mythic proportions. The story has been twisted through the decades to include everything from ghosts to UFO's, Pollard said.

Armed gold mine hunters prowled the mountains into the 1980's, seeking gold and defending their claims, Pollard said. A handful of legal mines still operate.

With a population of six and the size of a tiny strip mall, Tortilla Flat is still a popular tourist stop. Its name comes from a rock formation resembling a tortilla. It was a supply destination for miners, a stagecoach stop, and gained notoriety in the 1920's for having a female postmaster.

Boaters, hikers and campers now bounce down the trail for weekends at the world's largest manmade lake.

Correction Note from Apache Trail Tours: The Pima and Apache tribe members DID NOT pave the Apache Trail in 1905, they helped build the roadway. Only a portion of the Trail is paved today. Tortilla Flat did not derive it's name from the rock formation that resembles a stack of tortillas as the journalist suggested and did not gain notoriety because it had a female postmaster. Learn the real stories on our tour.