The Hieroglyphic Mountains are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

located in central

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. The Hieroglyphics roughly straddle the border between

Maricopa Maricopa can refer to: Places * Maricopa, Arizona, United States, a city ** Maricopa Freeway, a piece of I-10 in Metropolitan Phoenix ** Maricopa station, an Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona * Maricopa County, Arizona, United States * Marico ...

and

Yavapai The Yavapai are a Native American tribe in Arizona. Historically, the Yavapai – literally “people of the sun” (from ''Enyaava'' “sun” + ''Paay'' “people”) – were divided into four geographical bands who identified as separate, i ...

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

and form an effective physical barrier northwest of the

Phoenix Metropolitan Area The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – also the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Metro Phoenix (known by most locals simply as “the Valley”) – is the largest metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States, centered on the city ...

. Due to their proximity to Phoenix and its environs, the mountains offer a number of outdoor recreational activities. The Hieroglyphic Mountains were named in an apparent confusion between

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

ian

hieroglyphs A hieroglyph (Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatonis ...

and the

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

found in the area.

History

Early human settlement in the Hieroglyphic mountains is sparse at best. Existing petroglyphs indicate that the area had been settled, or at least visited, by Native Americans prior to the 19th century. A

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

strike on the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

near Yuma in 1862 created local interest in prospecting, and the Hieroglyphics were among many of the local mountain ranges visited by prospectors during this time period, but the ruggedness of the terrain and the scarcity of water largely discouraged permanent settlement. In the early 19th century, local

Indians had discovered a natural

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...

in the mountains, treating the location as a sort of "demilitarized zone" where all were welcome to come and treat their wounds. The springs were discovered by

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Colonel Charles Craig in 1867 while pursuing a group of Yavapais through the mountains. The group named the spring Castle Springs for the

castellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

appearance of the surrounding mountains. While most sources credit Craig with the discovery, some sources claim that the springs were first discovered by a gold miner in 1874. Ongoing fighting between the US Army and the Yavapai tribes would discourage further development of the area until the 1880s when the springs and the adjacent land were purchased by Frank Murphy for the construction of a

health resort A destination spa or health resort is a resort centered on a spa, such as a mineral spa. Historically, many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or mineral springs; in the era before modern biochemical knowledge and ...

. The resort was completed in 1896 and the newly renamed Castle Hot Springs were heavily advertised to potential clients. During the resort's heyday in the 1920s it was extremely popular and was visited by celebrities such as

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American fronti ...

, as well as famous families such as the

Rockefeller family The Rockefeller family () is an American industrial, political, and banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the American petroleum industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by brot ...

. The resort was also used by the United States military as a rehabilitation center from 1943–1944 to treat injured veterans of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Future president

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

spent 3 months at the resort during this time period to recover from his wounds. The resort continued to be popular until it was heavily damaged in a fire in 1976. In 1928 a dam was constructed on the

Agua Fria River The Agua Fria River (Spanish for "cold water") is a long intermittent stream which flows generally south from east-northeast of Prescott in the U.S. state of Arizona. Prescott draws much of its municipal water supply from the upper Agua Fria w ...

where it passes through the mountain range, creating Lake Pleasant. The lake was primarily used as an agricultural storage facility, but with the creation of the

Central Arizona Project The Central Arizona Project (CAP) is a 336 mi (541 km) diversion canal in Arizona in the southern United States. The aqueduct diverts water from the Colorado River to the Bill Williams Wildlife Refuge south portion of Lake Havasu ne ...

in 1973 the lake became a permanent water storage facility and an important recreational center. The dam was replaced in 1993, increasing the size of the lake.

Geography

The Hieroglyphic Mountains run primarily east to west along the border between Maricopa and Yavapai counties. The Agua Fria River is the primary waterway in the region, passing through the southwestern portion of the range. The Buckhorn Mountains are a smaller range located within the Hieroglyphics, and contain the range's highest points including Crater Benchmark, in elevation. Other mountains located within the range are: * White Picacho * Garfias Mountain * Hellgate Mountain * Governors Peak The range is bounded, roughly, by the Agua Fria River to the east, the

Bradshaw Mountains The Bradshaw Mountains ( yuf-x-yav, Wi:kañacha, "rough, black range of rocks") are a mountain range in central Arizona, United States, named for brothers Isaac and William D. Bradshaw after their deaths, having been formerly known in English as ...

to the north, and the

Wickenburg Mountains Wickenburg Mountains is a mountain range located in Maricopa and Yavapai Counties in Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most po ...

to the west, or the

Hassayampa River The Hassayampa River ( Yavapai: Hasaya:mvo or ʼHasayamcho:) is an intermittent river, the headwaters of which are just south of Prescott, Arizona, and flows mostly south towards Wickenburg, entering the Gila River near Hassayampa. Although the r ...

if the Wickenburg Mountains are considered a part of the Hieroglyphics range.

Protected areas

The range is home to the Hells Canyon Wilderness, a wilderness area maintained by the Bureau of Land Reclamation.

References

External links

Hells Canyon Wilderness
{{Authority control Arizona transition zone mountain ranges Mountain ranges of the Sonoran Desert Mountain ranges of Maricopa County, Arizona Mountain ranges of Yavapai County, Arizona Mountain ranges of Arizona

History

Geography

Protected areas

See also

References

External links