A thousand years ago the Salado first arrived in this basin, coming here around A.D. 900 from the region north of the Little Colorado River drainage. Though we do not know what they called themselves, it is here where later they were given their modern name. In Spanish, Salado means salty, referring to the Salt River near which these Indians lived.

When the Salado first entered the Roosevelt Basin they lived in the lowlands, along the Salt River floodplain where they could easily irrigate their fields. Though the area may seem inhospitable, the river’s flow is reliable—and water is an extremely precious resource in the arid Southwest. The great range of elevation nearby provides several life zones of various plants and animals to be utilized for richer living. Ponderosa pine forests and juniper-pinyon pine woodland both occur within 15 miles of this site.

The Salado enjoyed several centuries of comfortable life, with time for production of elaborately decorated pottery and ornaments, beautifully woven and embroidered cotton textiles, and, no doubt, development of elaborate religious thought and ritual.

But at about A.D. 1200, times changed and life became more difficult. Perhaps the population outgrew its resources. Perhaps disease spread. Perhaps some outside enemy pressure was felt. The reason remains unknown, but in the early 13th century the Indians began moving their villages to high ridges and ultimately to caves, finding defensible protected sites with good, sweeping views.

Unsettled conditions persisted, and finally life here, for reasons we do not know today, became impossible. Where they went, why they left, and what their ultimate fate was, we do not know, but by the early 1400s the Salado people were gone from the Salt River Valley.