Montezuma

Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well are located at Camp Verde, Arizona which is approximately 50 miles south of Flagstaff and 90 miles north of Phoenix. Montezuma Castle is a limestone recess located high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley. The five-story, 20-room cliff dwelling served as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Indians over 600 years ago. Early settlers to the area assumed that the imposing structure was associated with the Aztec emperor Montezuma, but the castle was abandoned almost a century before Montezuma was born. Montezuma Well is a limestone sinkhole and lake formed long ago by the collapse of an immense underground cavern. Over one and a half million gallons of water a day flow continuously through it, providing a lush, verdant oasis in the midst of surrounding desert grassland. The sinkhole is 470 feet across and is partly filled by a 55-foot deep lake. During 1100 the Hohokam Indians used the spring for building irrigation ditches and then later in 1125 the Sinagua Indians drew upon the well to sustain their life.