Tuzigoot National Monument

Tuzigoot National Monument
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Location	Yavapai County, Arizona, USA
Nearest city	Flagstaff, ArizonaNearest city: Flagstaff, Arizona
Coordinates	34°47′15″N 112°2′11″W / 34.7875°N 112.03639°W / 34.7875; -112.03639Coordinates: 34°47′15″N 112°2′11″W / 34.7875°N 112.03639°W / 34.7875; -112.03639
Area	800.62 acres (3.2400 km²)
Established	July 25, 1939 Established: July 25, 1939
Visitors	108,262 (in 2005)
Governing body	National Park Service

Tuzigoot National Monument preserves a 2 to 3 story pueblo ruin on the summit of a limestone and sandstone ridge just east of Clarkdale, Arizona, 120 feet (36 m) above the Verde River floodplain. The National Park Service currently owns 58 acres, within an authorized boundary of 834 acres (3.38 km²) ^[1].

Tuzigoot is Apache for "crooked water", from nearby Peck's lake, a cutoff meander of the Verde River. Historically, it was built by the Sinagua people between 1125 and 1400 CE. Tuzigoot is the largest and best-preserved of the many Sinagua pueblo ruins in the Verde Valley.

Tuzigoot is located on land once owned by United Verde/Phelps Dodge. The corporation sold the site to Yavapai County for $1, so that the excavation could be completed under the auspices of federal relief projects. The County in turn transferred the land to the Federal Government ^[2].

Tuzigoot was excavated from 1933 to 1935 by Louis Caywood and Edward Spicer of the University of Arizona, with funding from the federal Civil Works Administration and Works Project Administration. In 1935-1936, with additional federal funding, the ruins were prepared for public display, and a Pueblo Revival-style museum and visitor center was constructed.

Franklin D. Roosevelt designated Tuzigoot Ruins as a U.S. National Monument on July 25, 1939.^{[citation needed]} Within it, the Tuzigoot National Monument Archeological District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.^[3][4].

Tuzigoot National Monument

The ruins are surrounded by the tailings pond of the former United Verde copper mine at Jerome. The tailings have recently been stabilized and revegetated ^[5].

See also

In the photo at left, the Verde River and Verde River Greenway are seen at 12 o'clock, just below the ruins. The old tailings pond (now revegetated) is to the right, Dead Horse Ranch State Park is just offscreen to the left, and the town of Cottonwood is in the background. The skyline is Mingus Mountain.

Gallery

Tuzigoot gallery

Tuzigoot tower.jpg The Tower.	Tuzigoot from valley below.	Tuzigoot from sidewalk.jpg Tuzigoot from sidewalk.
Tuzigoot closeup.jpg Closeup of walls.	Tuzigoot, viewed from across the old tailings pond, 1945

Notes

References

• The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tuzigoot National Monument

• Official NPS website: Tuzigoot National Monument
• Tuzigoot archaeology, at National Park Service
• American Southwest, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
• History of Tuzigoot monument. Includes a list of structures and artifacts on site.