The old High Country

Before land swaps and subdivisions in the pines, before a Super Walmart in Payson and wildfires started by the likes of Valinda Jo Elliott, the Arizona High Country was wild and lightly populated. Click on a photo for a larger image:

Loggers working between Heber and Overgarrd in the late 19th century.

Pack mules heading into Payson, 1901 (ASU Archives).

The Payson General Store (ASU Archives).

Montezuma's Well seen in 1886.

Montezuma's Castle. Far from the Aztec king, these cliff dwellings were inhabited by the Sinagua people. It's now a National Monument.

The Verde Valley, empty except for the Army post, seen in the late 19th century.

An oak grove in the White Mountains, seen in the 1870s (Library of Congress).

Snow remains on the upper elevations of the White Mountains, near Springerville 1940 (Russell Lee/Library of Congress).

One of the many logging train spurs south of Flagstaff, early in the 20th century.

Flagstaff in 1943 (Jack Delano/Library of Congress)

Irrigating the hay fields in the Little Colorado Valley, so they will be ready for the seasonal cattle drives from central and southern Arizona (Russell Lee/Library of Congress).

Cottonwood in the 1940s.

Whispering Pines bridge across the Verde River, below the Mogollon Rim.

Oak Creek Canyon (Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress).

Sedona's red rock country (Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress).

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.