The Verde River Sheep Bridge (Figure 1), also known as the Red Point Sheep Bridge, is located along Bloody Basin Road, approximately 100 km north of Phoenix, Arizona, in Yavapai County. This suspension bridge was constructed to allow sheep to be driven between grazing ranges on either side of Arizona’s Verde River. Historical activities in the Bloody Basin were characterized by itinerant sheep herding, primarily staffed by Basque shepherds and laborers.
The region of southern Arizona near modern day Quartzsite became attractive to ranchers in the second half of the nineteenth century, with cattle ranching becoming prominent in the Palo Verde area as well as the area around Blythe, California. Farming, wood-collecting, and mining quickly followed. By the 1920s, the Bureau of Reclamation had become involved in water control projects along the lower Colorado River. Its efforts included levee and channel construction and dredging (USDOI 1981). With the discovery of minerals in the 1850s, Arizona began to draw a significant number of settlers, including prospectors, miners, military personnel, farmers, ranchers and salespeople (Stein 1994; Edwards 2015).
In 2015, Cornerstone archaeologists surveyed a portion of the Kingman Army Air Field (KAAF: Figures 1 and 2) prior to construction of two photovoltaic renewable energy projects. Given that the area was known to be within the KAAF, and near to the headquarters (on the east side of Route 66), the surveyors were not surprised to find that the ground surface was littered with bullets. Local residents are familiar with these findings, as there are hundreds of thousands of bullet slugs commonly found for many square miles around the project area.
From late summer of 1857 to the winter of 1858, retired Navy Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale surveyed the 1,240-mile 35th Parallel Route from Ft. Smith, Arkansas, to the Colorado River (Beale 1858). In 1859, Beale’s road construction party was accompanied by the trial run of military camels as beasts of burden for the wagon road he constructed (National Park Service [NPS] 1977). The lead driver of this famous expedition was Ali al-Hajaya (born ca. 1828), an immigrant from the Levant and an Ottoman Turkish citizen who had accompanied the shipment of camels destined for military service across the Atlantic from the Middle East.
One of Arizona's most fascinating ghost towns, Goldroad is located along the zig-zags of Historic Route 66 in the mountains between Sitgreaves Pass and Oatman. This route was initially a well-traveled trail frequented by Native Americans for thousands of years. The locale has been witness to numerous notable individuals including Francisco Garcés, Antoine Leroux, Lorenzo Sitgreaves, Joseph Christmas Ives, Edward "Ned" Beale, and Mohave Chief Iretaba.
In 2015, Cornerstone Environmental conducted archival research and provided historic preservation services to Shephard-Wesnitzer, Inc. for 700 and 702 S. Milton Rd., Flagstaff, Arizona, which are currently occupied by SuperPawn and Lu Mandarin Buffet, respectively. This work was performed per specifications in the City of Flagstaff Zoning Code prior to demolition of the two buildings to construct a CVS pharmacy at the site. The SuperPawn building was constructed in 1983 (Coconino County Assessor's Office) by the owners of Gables Restaurant as a disco/sports bar (R. Sean Evans, pers. comm. to Josh Edwards, February 23, 2015). The building was not over 50 years old and was not researched further since it is not historic. The building at 702 S. Milton has a long history, starting as the Golden Drumstick restaurant at the Park Plaza Motel, which is summarized below.
“Cornerstone Environmental was key to helping us to complete the appropriate environmental analysis for a Recreational Trails Program Grant for the Fort Tuthill Bike Park. This was a daunting task for us, given that the bike park lies within the boundaries of a National Register of Historic Places site. Cornerstone handled all of the necessary steps to include in our submissions to Arizona Department of Transportation, Arizona State Parks, and the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office.
Cornerstone’s sponsorship of this volunteer driven, free-to-the-community project has been greatly appreciated!”
- Anthony Quintile | Flagstaff Biking Organization
