Along the path of history

Celebration marks 100 years for vital Apache Trail

By Kimberly Hosey
For the East Valley Tribune

Hundreds of visitors sat on pieces of history Friday outside the Superstition Mountain Museum in Apache Junction to celebrate the 100 th birthday of the Apache Trail.

The trail's recorded history goes back to at least A.D. 900, and much earlier according to some local historians. This year marks 100 years of the Apache Trail in its current state.

Attendees sat on large, rough-hewn blocks of stone - pieces of the original Roosevelt Dam - and heard tales of Apache Trail and its integral role in the Valley at the museum at 4087 N. Apache Trail. Speakers included Gov. Janet Napolitano, local historians and officials, and an Apache woman who witnessed finishing work on the Apache Trail as a girl after its construction.

"We're not just celebrating a bloodline that led to the development of the Valley of the Sun," Napolitano said, "Without the Apache Trail there would be no Roosevelt Dam, and no Valley of the Sun."

Jodi Akers, local historian and owner of Apache Junction-based Apache Trail Tours, researched the construction of Apache Trail.

"I found that the Apache tribe was instrumental in its construction," she said. She also found one woman - Eva Tulene Watt - who had written down the history of one Apache family's role in the construction of Apache Trail. Both Apache and Pima tribal members helped pave the way for mule-hauled construction equipment to reach the Roosevelt Dam.

Watt, 92, of Whiteriver was a young girl when her father and brother were asked to help in Apache Trail's construction. Using pricks, shovels and dynamite, workers cleared the road one mile at a time. When they cleared a mile, they would pack their equipment, food and families, then move to the next campsite.

"We used a flat wagon, so my mother tied our stuff and me and my brother to the wagon," Watt said. Her family followed and built the Apache Trail, much as it appears today, for about two years.

"The road was real narrow - it's rough too - so they were making it bigger and smooth," she wrote. "That Apache Trail was a slow one."

Watt wrote the story of her family' life from the time of the Apache wars to present day. The book, "Don't Let the Sun Step Over You," has already won awards, including the David W. and Beatrice D. Evans Annual Biography Award.

Many of Apache Trail's "treasures" are well known - from sparkling blue lakes along the trail and saddle-shaped bar stools at Tortilla Flat, to attractions of shady veracity, such as the Lost Dutchman's gold.

But many are unaware of Apache Trail's crucial role in the Valley and Arizona, and historians reveled in the opportunity to share the history.

"Apache Trail brought wealth to this community from very early on," said Reyna Palmer of the Apache Junction Chamber of Commerce.

"This is a piece of Arizona's history and culture," Napolitano said.