Water is a rare and precious resource in the desert.
The plants and animals --all the living things of the desert--have evolved with this basic fact.
The Sinagua people--late comers into this environment--obviously based their occupation of the arid land on the availability of water--and that is why a small group of them discovered and used the Montezuma Well as a resource.
The circular sink of the well is adjacent to an abrupt valley and the springs that feed the well pour from a small passageway from the well into a stream in the valley.
Long ago the Sinagua people created a system of irrigation canals capturing the water coming from the cliff under Montezuma Well and carrying it down the valley to water their fields of maize, beans and squash. The later native people and eventually the European settlers used and improved these canals which are still useful today.
Just a few paces from the look-out point above the well into the valley below the well brings the visitor to this rushing "leak" in Montezuma Well and follows the ancient irrigation system a short way, passing from dry desert to lush riparian habitat.
The circular sink of the well is adjacent to an abrupt valley and the springs that feed the well pour from a small passageway from the well into a stream in the valley.
Long ago the Sinagua people created a system of irrigation canals capturing the water coming from the cliff under Montezuma Well and carrying it down the valley to water their fields of maize, beans and squash. The later native people and eventually the European settlers used and improved these canals which are still useful today.
Just a few paces from the look-out point above the well into the valley below the well brings the visitor to this rushing "leak" in Montezuma Well and follows the ancient irrigation system a short way, passing from dry desert to lush riparian habitat.
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