The story of John Elden's Grave

I was out hiking today on the pipeline trail, Mount Elden, when I came across a site which aroused my interest.

Elden, is named after an early settler, John Elden. Elden arrived in Flagstaff in 1875, some 7 years before the town was founded. John had visited in 1872 from California and had decided it would be a good place to raise a family with his new bride.

And settle and raise a family they did, in a place now called Elden Springs on the southern slopes of Elden. They had 3 children: Helena, Eloise Felicia, and John Jr. They had a flock of 60 sheep and a few cattle. Evidence of their farm can still be just about made out.

In 1887 there was some disagreement between the family and a mule-herder called Bob Roberts. Apparently the dispute was about him using the spring to water his mules. Water has always been contentious in this part of the world and continues today! Accounts are vague as to whether or not John Snr was actually there, but was is clear is that Bob shot the 6-year old boy, John Jnr, whether by accident or on purpose it doesn't seem to be clear.

The child's grave is marked (the cross in the photo was placed there by locals in the 1960s):

A citizens' posse was formed to catch Roberts, who led them on a long hard chase to New Mexico and back again to Arizona. Roberts was mysteriously found dead in a wash (an ephemeral stream). Who actually killed him has never been determined. When Elden got back home, he moved his family to California.

I find this an interesting story because it highlights a few things that I sometimes forget:

1) Water is scarce here and is the reason for almost every major engineering work in Northern Arizona and southern Utah. Water is precious and argued about incessantly between various interest groups.

2) This is the wild west, the sort of place where individual settlers' stories, very ordinary people, are just a few generations old and known about in detail; and the sort of place where justice was, not too long ago, quite legally, meted out by gangs of revengeful men.  

Walnut Canyon

Walnut Canyon National Monument is just 10 miles south-east of downtown Flagstaff, and just 7 miles from where I live. I can bike there along old Route 66.

The 350ft deep canyon is home to 25 cliff dwellings constructed by the Sinagua people some time between 1125 and 1250 AD.

Walnut creek, which shaped the canyon, has been somewhat tamed Lake Mary was dammed to the south-west.

The geology of the canyon is a mixture of Kaibab limestone overlying Coconino Sandstone, in which there are some lovely preserved sand dunes and cross-bedding:

and you get some nice views of the mountains to the north!

Picture Canyon, Flagstaff.

Picture Canyon is an (as yet unprotected) petroglyph site, just outside Flagstaff. It's surprisingly poorly documented on the web (and it took us 3 attempts for us to find it!) so I thought I'd take the trouble to describe how to get there and what you might find.

What you'll find is 1000-year old rock paintings by the Northern Sinagua people.

You get there by pulling off old Route 66 (eastbound), which nowadays is nestled just south of Flagstaff mall, and is the nicer way to get to Walnut Canyon. Pull off just before the wastewater treatment plant, next to a depleted cinder cone. Drive up as far as the plant and park up. There's a gate which you can walk through, back towards the back of the water plant and head towards the Rio de Flag. Cross and follow the river, keeping the river to your left.

Picture canyon is found a mile or so from where you parked your car, where the river narrows and steepens and turns into a riffle as it passes over large boulders. The canyon is some 30 or so metres deep.

You can access the canyon relatively easily where the river starts to flatten again. The view upstream from where the petroglyphs on river-right can be observed:

And some of the petroglyphs on the canyon wall on river-right:

There are hundreds of pictures painted on the rocks. Apparently the most impressive specimens are on the larger boulders down towards the river. However, when we were there snow was likely covering most of these larger boulder faces. The view downstream from here is:

You'll have to scramble over and around large boulders to get to the paintings!

More details about access to the site can be found here (I found this website well after trying to find the place!) and here.

We found it hard to cross the river inside the canyon so we walked down the floodplain a mile or so until we found a bridge (this actually brings you onto the Arizona Trail)

We then walked back up the other side of the river to the canyon paintings on river left:

As you can see it's well worth the trip back up, because the river-left petroglyphs are, in my opinion, even more spectacular and accessible. The view downstream from the river left site is here:

A few more before I go. Enjoy!

Mount Elden deer

Can you see a face in the thicket?

This little guy, and his family, was our companions hiking on Fat Man's Loop trail, Mount Elden, Flagstaff:

Elden is a short bike ride from where I live. It is a dacite lava dome, part of the San Francisco volcanic field which gives Flagstaff it's beauty, and its sport!