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DK Eyewitness Travel Guide USA

Tonto Upper Cliff Dwelling

  • Also Known As: AZ U:8:048 (ASM)
  • Address: Upper Cliff Dwelling Trail
  • Travel Genus: Sight
  • Sight Category: Site

Upper Cliff Dwelling at Tonto National Monument is a well-preserved 14th century cliff-residence in the Sonoran Desert in Gila County, Arizona. - AsNotedIn

The Upper Cliff Dwelling is accessible by guided tour only. Tours are offered November thru April, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday starting at 10:00 am. If the Upper Cliff Dwelling trail is open (November - April), make a reservation for the 3-mile (5 km) round trip hike. - NPS


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Tonto Upper Cliff Dwelling
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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
1300/00/00 Salado people begin building a 40-room Lower Cliff Dwelling in a cave overlooking Tonto Basin. Partially intact roofs, stone and slab door lentils, portholes, second story rooms, and third story parapet walls remain.
1450/00/00 For unknown reasons, Salado people leave the Tonto Basin in the early to mid- 1400s. Long before Europeans arrived in the New World, the cliff dwellings are left to the wind and sun.
1880/12/12 A school teacher in the remote and often hostile Tonto Basin, Angeline Mitchell, visits the Upper and Lower Cliff Dwellings. In her diary, she also describes her experiences with cattle stampedes and Apaches.
1883/05/00 Adolph F Bandelier Vocation Adolph Bandelier sketches floor plans and documents the physical appearances of the Upper Cliff Dwelling in his journal.

Data »

Particulars for Tonto Upper Cliff Dwelling:
Area of Significance Exploration-settlement
Owner Federal
Criteria Historic Event
Level of Significance National
Criteria Person
Historic Use Research facility
Area of Significance Science
Sight Category Site



US National Registry of Historic Places Data »

Accurate at time of registration: 21st April 1989

PLACE DETAILS
Registry Name: Tonto National Monument, Upper Ruin (AZ U:8:048 ASM)
Registry Address: Off AZ 188
Registry Number: 89000266
Resource Type: Site
Theme Group: Bandelier's, Adolph F. A., Archeological Survey of Tonto Basin, Tonto National Forest, MPS
Owner: Federal
Area in Acres: 1
Other Certification: Date received-pending nomination
Certification: Listed in the National Register
Nominator Name: National Monument
CULTURAL DETAILS
Level of Significance: National
Area of Significance: Exploration-settlement, Science
Applicable Criteria: Event, Person
Period of Significance: 1875-1899
Significant Year: 1883
Associated People: Bandelier,Adolph F.
Historic Function: Education, Landscape
Historic Sub-Function: Unoccupied land, Research facility
Current Function: Education, Landscape
Current Sub-Function: Park Research facility

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