Wagon Road becomes State Route 79

The evolution of US 89A is a complex, multi-faceted story deeply rooted in ancient geology, pre-historic trails, Indian Wars, reclusive pioneers, a Montana tycoon, prolific fruit trees and the wagon roads that tied a patchwork quilt of Verde Valley communities together.

To attempt to tell the US  89A Story we must first examine many small details, each in their own element.  Only after we have delved deep into peoples' pathways gone by will we finally be able to bring context to the US 89A Story from Prescott to Flagstaff.

Today (10FEB18) we discuss the Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road.  For as long as people have traveled the land, humans have tended to choose the Path Of Least Resistance.  Pre-historic people were experts at finding routes that used up the least calories and provided the most shelter and sustenance. Pony soliders chasing Native Yavapai and Apache People during the Indian Wars quickly learned lessons of "least  effort" as well.  The Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road follows a natural Path of Least Resistance that quickly became an economic and cultural artery in The Verde Valley.

This wagon road developed quickly and primarily to sell fruit and produce to the miners of Jerome.  The road paired a match made in heaven: abundant, prize-winning fruit and produce grown in the micro-climate of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon with the rich cash flow of thousands of miners hanging on to the  side of Mingus Mountain in a wild, raucous, burgeoning place called Jerome.

You can see the river gravels "plain as day" scattered on this Old Road.
More photos at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ho1jPt57L0cEXaJ92

As a result of this symbiotic commercial connection, the Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road was one of the most heavily traveled routes inside The Verde Valley.  The money brought back home to Red Rock Country bought improvements that helped put the Upper Oak Creek area on the map.  It wasn't long before the Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road became a two-way street.  Affluent mining managers and distant tourists began using the road to travel from Jerome-Cottonwood to Sedona to enjoy the camping, fishing and scenic splendors of a truly special American place.

So, when automobiles arrived on railroad flatcars in Jerome, the Wagon Road between Cottonwood and Sedona became one of the first horseless carriage roads in the Verde Valley.  Over the many years of heavy use of this road, much hand and horse-drawn work had been done to improve this relatively level, fairly straight road.

When the time finally came in 1925 for Arizona's transportation leaders to create an official network of numbered State Routes, The Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road was a "natural" first choice as the backbone of State Route 79 between Prescott and Flagstaff.

Much work would need to be done to put the other pieces of the puzzle together for this complex road but the pre-existing usage, condition and maintenance of the Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road made it a "no brainer" as the Heart of State Route 79 in The Verde Valley.

The Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road (AKA: Old State Route 79) looking like a long ride to The Red Rocks!
More photos at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ho1jPt57L0cEXaJ92

Back in 1990, we met with the late local legend Zeke Taylor (1910-1994) to talk about the Rimrock-Cottonwood Wagon Road.  He told us many important details of early Verde wagon roads and also described how the Rimrock Road intersected the Sedona Road and proceeded to Cottonwood.  Back when Zeke was a kid, it was a three day trip to Cottonwood.  One day to get there.  One day to do business and one day to get home.  We presume the same could be said of the Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road since both are about the same distance.  (Zeke wasn't allowed to go to Jerome until he came of age.  Local respectable families kept their kids safe that way!)

Anyway, on 10FEB18, we decided to try to find a remnant of the old Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road that Zeke had told us about 28 years ago.  We'd caught many subliminal, peripheral glimpses of it over the years but really hadn't paid much attention...until today.  As we drove north out of  Cottonwood on busy Arizona 89A, we thought we saw the road but we were already past it.  We had to make a u-turn and then turn around again and slow down and park.  Then and only then could we see what appeared to be the faint trace of an old historic road sitting not far off the incessant stream of speeding sedans on the four lane highway that's still called 89A.

You really have to know where you're looking to see the Old Road.
More photos at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ho1jPt57L0cEXaJ92

As we parked our truck beside the wide, modern highway, we looked with  great happiness and anticipation of being able to walk a portion of the Old Road.  Was it truly the Old Road?  Or was it a false alarm?  That question haunted us as we carefully walked that Old Road.  Once we got out on the Old Road, there was no longer any question that it was authentic.  It lay lightly on the land, showing only marks of hand and horse power.

Back in the time when this road was built, humans used picks and shovels and horse-drawn fresnos to make their mark upon the land.  The Path Of Least Resistance was translated into the Path of Least Earth Moving when it came to carving a roadscape from a landscape.

I could quickly see that the earliest Wagon Road has been dressed up with a thin covering of gravels from the nearby Verde River.  Verde River gravels are unmistakable in their composition, size and geological characteristics.

I thought of how much work it would have taken to haul tons and tons of those gravels from the river bed to the road bed.

BEER! Road Trip Fuel for The Ages!  Back in those days, steel can openers were known as "Church Keys!"
More photos at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ho1jPt57L0cEXaJ92

I long ago learned that litter is apparently a genetic deficiency of travelers.  Many of them appear to be genetically predisposed to throw their human detritus out upon the land they traverse.  I learned long ago how to "sleuth" an old road to two Old Road Pros: Jim Brykit and Eldon Bowman, both now traveling that great Old Road In The Sky.

Byrkit & Bowman were both Genius Road Sleuths.  (We need to do a separate post on their influence in our life. It's too long to tell here.)  Both taught me the concept that early road builders lived lightly on the land.  They taught me how to tell "hand & horse work" from work powered by diesel-fueled horsepower monster machines.  And they also taught me Litter Lessons.  They taught me that "Litter Is Inevitable" and that's how you can determine you are on a Historic Road.  You "date the litter" and, bingo, it's another brick in the wall of evidence documenting you can prove the era of your Old Road.

Guts of an old starter motor on Old State Route 79.
More photos at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ho1jPt57L0cEXaJ92

As I walked that road today, I scanned my eyes for where I knew the litter would be and it sure didn't disappoint me.  It showed up right on time and kept appearing everywhere I expected it to be.  Everything fit the "time frame".  Brykit & Bowman were BIG on "time frame".  If your roadside detritus didn't fit your "time frame," then your theories about your Old Road were toast.

Byrkit & Bowman also were insistent that you needed other means and methods to prove that you had your Old Road.  That's what worried me today.  The Verde Valley is criss-crossed with roads that aren't old, aren't historic and have no context or relevance to days gone bye.

Was this a false alarm?  Was this a fake?  Those questions haunted me, even though the roadside artifacts screamed, "This Is The Old Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road and Old State Route 79."

I dutifully took my photos and walked back to the truck and went home to Rimrock.  Once home I decided to delve immediately into whether the Old Road I saw was really the Old Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road AND Old State Route 79.  I spent two hours on that task and came away vindicated and very happy.  Yes, there's NO doubt the road I walked today was part of the ancestral Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road AND Old State Route 79--both progenitors of what would become US 89A and eventually Arizona 89A.  I found compelling, irrefutable evidence that the Old Road I walked today is the REAL Old Road I hoped it would be!

Walking on The Wild Side on Old 79!

I left 100% of the artifacts where I found then, putting them as much back "in situ" as I could.  I certainly hope no one loots these old rusty cans and other tell tale debris from their final resting place.  Leave them where you found them.  Leave them alone.  It's the right thing to do.

We're thoroughly pleased we have finally set foot on a genuine, unmolested portion of The Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road and Old State Route 79.  One of the awesome things that happened in the 1930's was that the government put a lot of people to work to build new roads.  Those roads were often designed to be completely new--not just plopping themselves down on top of the Old Road.  Nope!  The Old Road was passé.  "NEW!" was all that mattered back in those days.

By the time the late 30's rolled around,
The Old Road was long gone & forgotten.

So, when an Old Road was bypassed, no one went there any more.  The Old Road was effectively frozen in time, complete with all its litter in the primitive bar ditch!  That's just one of the  many, many reasons we love unmolested pieces of Old Roads so much.

To find a piece of the ancestral Sedona-Cottonwood Wagon Road and Old State Route 79 today was a personal milestone.  I am a very Happy Camper!

This is how we know we were on the Right Path  for the Old Road!
Here's the full album of all the pictures we took and the graphics we created:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ho1jPt57L0cEXaJ92