North Central Arizona

Salt has been a valuable trade item throughout human history. Native American salt procurement in the Southwest involved dangerous journeys across sacred landscapes associated with the deity Salt Woman. This presentation focuses on the prehistory of a famous salt mine in what is now known as Camp Verde. In the 1920s, miners discovered prehistoric salt-mining […]

As editor of the third edition of Fran Kosik’s classic travel book, A Complete Motoring Guide to the Navajo and Hopi Nations, Turner retraced her routes in January 2013, updating information on dozens of intriguing Native American trading posts, prehistoric ruins, museums, and natural wonders. Using the pictures taken on that trip, this presentation creates […]

Sedona is known for its colorful rocks, but how did this striking landscape come to be? Join Ranney on a thrilling trip back in time when the red rocks were part of a coastal plain, a Sahara-like desert, and warm, tropical seas. Learn how the area became sculpted into a maze of breathtaking buttes, spires, […]

The story of our state is not complete without music. This interactive program will focus on the various genres of music that reflect the milieu and personalities of Arizona’s diverse immigrants. Using musical instruments and stories, audience members will be presented an artistic tableau of our past: heroes, villains, and the immigrants who passed through […]

This program is part of the 11th Annual Western History Symposium presented by the Sharlot Hall Museum. An ancient set of Indian paths and the natural flow of the Gila River created a major artery for travel through Arizona. The Gila provided a ready route for the earliest traders, including Toltecs of Mexico, who traded […]

This program is part of the 11th Annual Western History Symposium presented by the Sharlot Hall Museum. The deadliest gunfight in Arizona did not take place on the streets of Tombstone, but rather in a remote canyon of the Galiuro Mountains in Graham County in 1918, decades after the frontier had closed. Much of this […]

Mike Burns lived a long life in two worlds. Born in about 1862 into the Kwevkepaya (Yavapai) people, he was taken prisoner by U.S. soldiers after his family was massacred at a place called Skeleton Cave. He lived for years as something between a captive and a servant until joining the Indian Scouts, riding against […]