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Arizona is known as the state of the five C's, Cattle, Copper, Cotton, Citrus and Climate
and every one of these require water and lots of it. So the powers that be decided
to build some Dams on the Salt River Project and you can go to some of the stories we've
already told about Roosevelt Dam and about Apache Trail and to see the whole story
today you better put your seat belts on because we're going to go to some on-site locations and
view some water stops and other things that are still there today that you can explore
the animals of course were so dependent upon water that they had to have water just every
so far and have a rest stop and uh we're going to three of the five locations where the water was we
can't go any further because of the blockage of the Apache Trail by a landslide but we do
have some pictures of the location to the last two water stops we're on location here to Weeks Ranch
Water stop uh when the Roosevelt Road was built which is called the Mesa Tonto Roosevelt Road and
then ended up being called the Apache Trail it was started in 1903 and finished in 1905.
and uh there was as many as 60 wagon teams on the road at any one time
and from Mesa this was the first major stop that they could get water for their animals and this
is the tank and we've got a picture here we're going to show you of when it was an operational
but this is the tank that the animals would drink from and you can see this piece of pipe here
that they they brought water down from the major reservoir where the windmill was into this tank
this is the main rotter reservoir at Weeks Ranch that the windmill kept this full at
all times and they pumped water down to the feeding troughs where we were a little bit
earlier and you can see right across the road is the Museum itself this is part of the 160 Acres
that was in receivership with the Royal Bank of Canada that we made a deal with the Royal Bank
of Canada to tie up and sell this land off which paid for everything for the building of the Museum
that was on 54 Acres over there that we sold two Parcels off and then the 15 Acres over here we
sold off and then this 87 and a half acres was sold separately and I was told today that one of
the relatives of the weeks by still by the name of weeks is who put in this this operation here which
I'm not quite sure what it is about but they're working on something that's still in the family
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We're on location here at the second water stop probably the most common this is known as
Government Wells there was a two or three Wells here and one of them you see right behind us
this is where Jim Hatt by the way who was a Nuclear Engineer who gave up his job to search for
the Lost Dutchman gold mine he was the caretaker of this property where there's a couple of gold
mines actually here this is also the beginning of Apache Trail where all the switchbacks begin
right up the road here and there was 200 Pima Indians that started the Apache Trail at this
end and 200 Apaches at the other end and they met in the middle well here we are on location
at tortilla flat this is a third water stop on the way to Roosevelt Dam on Apache Trail the
water tank behind me was it was put into place in 1903 to 1905 when it was used and we really can't
go any further today because of the landslide that's closed Apache Trail at Fish Creek Hill
and at the bottom of the hill was the lodge and became a water stop and the last water stop is
beyond that well there you have it folks today we get in the car we want to go someplace we got
to run on gasoline and oil and back then those hay burners all they had was grass and water to get to
where they were going so if you need to go out and do a little exercise just go out and stop at these
places we're talking about and well who knows maybe you'll solve a few of the Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains. Thank you for watching this episode of Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains
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