Lake Montezuma icon on market

Commentary by John Parsons: Greater Beaver Creek's Lake Montezuma was once the epitome of rural gentrification in The Verde Valley.  Many members of Flagstaff's affluent middle class aspired to retire to Lake Montezuma.  And many did.  So many, in fact, Flagstaff residents of Lake Montezuma once staged an annual picnic at Montezuma Well that drew upwards of 200 people!

The golf course and Ranch House were the Heart, Pride and Joy of Lake Montezuma movers and shakers.  Everybody who was anybody had something to do with either the golf course or the Ranch House...or both.  Countless thousands of volunteer hours went into "betterment" of the facilities.  The facilities were genuine gems.  I remember being totally awed by them on my first encounter over 40 years ago.

Some how, some way, something happened and a heartless developer let the golf course die while shuttering the Ranch House, too.  A feeble community attempt to resurrect the Ranch House ended with allegations of possible misdeeds.  The sad fate of both facilities have lingered like a dark cloud over Lake Montezuma for many years.  

The article below brings a ray of hope to the golf course and Ranch House.  Of course, in this day and age, sale of such a plum property is fraught with peril. Whether the Glory Days of Lake Montezuma will ever return is a dubious, fanciful flight of fantasy.  What's much more likely is a rezoning and massive, high density development--just the thing that will send Lake Montezumians into a froth-at-the-mouth fitful frenzy.

This article appeared in the Easter Sunday issues of "The Verde Independent" and "The Camp Verde Bugle".  It is Copyright 2022 by Verde News.  It is used here WITHOUT permission because we feel this story transcends the publication's ironclad paywall.  This is a story that needs wider circulation in the interest of public awareness and involvement.  It's a classic "heads up" story.

Reporter Lo Frisby did a great job writing the article but also gifted the community with an outstanding video of the time-frozen interior of The Ranch House.  The video is an instant historical classic!  You can watch the 1:28 production here:  https://youtu.be/FnBUpClx38k

End of commentary by John Parsons.

Original article is below the dashed line:
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By Lo Frisby

Originally Published: April 17, 2022 12:05 a.m.

LAKE MONTEZUMA – Beaver Creek Ranch has a long and colorful history, including its years spent as a hidden getaway for famous actors working on films in Sedona during Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Nowadays, it more closely resembles Mrs. Havisham’s mansion in Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations”: forlorn, neglected, and showing signs of decay.

The contents of Beaver Creek Ranch House have been suspended in time ever since its closure in 2010. Now, it is back on the market and could come back to life.

Realtors Richard Chambers and Sam Worseldine of Camp Verde’s Chambers Realty Group are the listing agents of the ranch, and say the property has many possibilities and they are excited by the thought of it being brought back to life.

“There’s so much potential already,” said Worseldine, who spent summers at the property in his youth.

“The water rights alone have a lot of value," he said.

Chambers said the property’s previous owner had an attorney assess the property’s water rights, which include portions of the historic “Schroeder Ditch,” and it was determined that at the time, there were over 600 acre feet of water.

“The water rights alone justify the ($2.6 million) asking price,” Worseldine added.

Other assets include a restaurant, office building, retail store, and a 1,927 square foot residence.

The golf course, which has continued to receive “basic” maintenance, is over 100 acres.

Chambers and Worseldine say they can envision a vineyard, golf resort, barley farm, boutique hotel, or potentially a combination of things.

“I’d love for it to stay local and see it become what it used to be,” Chambers said.

“It’s a shame that such an icon has been sitting vacant,” Worseldine said.

What about big development?

Chambers explained that despite community rumors of the property being converted into a large-scale development, only a small portion (3.48 acres out of 108) of the property is zoned for commercial use.

The rest of the property is zoned “Open Space,” which can only be utilized for agriculture and cultivation, public or private parks, and other recreational types of spaces like a golf course.

For a larger-scale development to occur, the property would have to first undergo a re-zoning process with the Planning & Zoning Commission, which Chambers said would be a “lengthy endeavor” requiring community input.

“I don’t think it’s likely,” he said.

In addition to rumors of big development, there has been a story going around that the rock ‘n’ roll legend Alice Cooper has taken an interest in the property.

“So far, he hasn’t contacted our office,” Chambers said with a laugh.

“I don’t know how that rumor got started,” he said.

Rumors of Cooper notwithstanding, Chambers and Worseldine say they have received numerous inquiries about the property since it first came on the market a month ago, and are actively engaged in “direct marketing” to local “big name folks” including farmers that they think may be interested.

“Whoever buys it, it’s going to be an improvement,” Worseldine said.

With an active listing posted on Flexmls.com and regular inquiries coming in, it seems it will only be a matter of time until the community knows just what will become of the ranch.

“It’s exciting,” Chambers said.

A historic marker, which was placed by the community, stands at the entrance of Beaver Creek Ranch. Despite its rich history dating back to the 1830s, the ranch is not listed in the Arizona Register of Historic Places.

Verde River Sheep Crossing 2011

By Diane Lovett

Originally Published: July 17, 2011 7:52 a.m.

 The Verde River, clear and clean, rolled out of the shade of the desert willows and into the bright sunlight, flowing toward the cacophony and commotion just ahead.

Dozens of small hooves milled around on the sandy river bank, sending clouds of dust skyward. Up and down the river, shouts rang out and dogs barked. A wether walked out to the middle of the crossing, the bell on his neck clanking loudly.

On May 21, a band of 2000 sheep were being pushed into the water at a place on the Verde River known as Sheep's Crossing.

Even though a string of pack animals had already crossed and the bell wether bleated and beckoned to them, the ewes refused to budge.

With insistent voices and long shepherd's poles, three Peruvian herders urged them on. Members of the Auza family of Casa Grande, the owners of the sheep, called out and waved their arms.

A few onlookers, locals who'd gotten word of the crossing, added their voices to the fray to help start the band across the river.

A seasoned border collie wore back and forth behind the flock, nipping at rear ends and barking furiously. A younger dog mimicked him without much result. Finally, a ewe at the head of the bunch crowded closest to the river's edge stepped into the water and proceeded across.

The rest of the flock followed, wading into the river as quietly as you please, as though there'd never been any fuss at all.

The date could just as easily have been May, 1911, and the same scenario would be playing out in exactly the same spot on the river.

According to Carmen Auza, member of one of the oldest sheep ranching families in Arizona, "in the 1900's there were well over one million sheep in Arizona.

Today there are approximately 20,000 and only a few operations of substantial size.

They are Manterola Sheep, Dobson Sheep, Joseph Auza Jr., Joe Auza Sr., and Rudy Echeverria." She also explains that in the early 1900's, many Basques from the Pyrenees of Northern Spain arrived in Arizona to herd the sheep. Among them were Ramon Aso, Tony Manterola, Frank Auza, Pete Espil, Manuel Aja, Miguel Echeverria, and Juan Aleman.

In those days the sheep were driven from Phoenix to various spots in Northern Arizona to graze in the cool mountain meadows.

Approximately 10 bands of 2000 sheep were driven by herders who walked the distance, along with a pack string to carry supplies, and two or three good dogs who did the hard work of keeping the sheep bunched together and moving north.

The sheep were required to stay within prescribed driveways, determined by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, who hired outriders to keep an eye on the bands and make sure they didn't wander out of those driveways.

There was the main north-south driveway between Black Canyon and Flagstaff, the Beaverhead-Grief Hill Driveway that headed east, and a more westerly route north that traveled through Munds Park.

Early on, the sheep ranchers joined together and formed the Arizona Wool Growers Association. They controlled watering sites, bought property as necessary along the drive routes, and did much to protect the rights of the sheep ranchers. Over the years, as the number of sheep and sheep ranchers declined, the association scaled down accordingly and was renamed the Arizona Wool Producers.

For some years, the sheep were trucked north in the spring and back down in the fall, but as Mrs. Auza explains, her family and the Manterolas resumed the historic drive north for "a couple of reasons. . . . First, we can't enter the Forest Service permit areas until the first of June, and it is too hot to keep the sheep in the Valley. Also, walking puts the sheep into better shape for breeding. The trip takes 30 to 45 days and the sheep are driven three to four miles each day." And, making this token drive each spring helps to protect the sheep ranchers' right to use the historic driveways.

In early May, 2011, the Auza family trucked 2000 of their 7000 ewes to the Badger Springs area north of Phoenix. From there, the Peruvian herders and camp tender (flown in each year for the purpose) began the annual historic drive. Along with their pack string and a couple of dogs, they head north towards Black Canyon, following the route that will take them through the Verde Valley and on to Flagstaff. Mrs. Auza relates that the daily ritual begins with a hearty breakfast prepared by the camp tender. Then "they break camp at daylight, pack up the burros, and start guiding the sheep. At about 11 a.m., the camp tender unloads the burros and prepares lunch." After a couple of hours' rest they begin again, grazing the flock along the way and pushing on until sunset.

Just after leaving the windmill and water tank near the top of Copper Canyon, the band enters the Verde Valley, winding its way down to Cherry Creek and up to the next watering spot just beyond Cherry Road. From there, they go under Highway 260 at Hayfield Draw, down a valley to Thousand Trails camping area, and on to Sheep's Crossing. The Auzas met the band at the crossing, bringing fresh supplies to the herders before they head on to the high country. The burros are repacked and everyone is rested before the sheep are pushed across the river and up the hill on the far side. From our vantage point on a rise above the river, it looks as though the entire hill turned white. Slowly, the sea of white creeps out of sight and into the blue sky beyond.

If you'd like to catch a glimpse of history played out just as it was 100 years ago, watch for the sheep as they come across our valley to Thousand Trails and head north. You'll spend an exciting and interesting day!

With special thanks to Carmen Auza for the use of information from her article: Auza, Carmen. "Handing down History." Pinal Ways, Casa Grande Valley Newspapers, Inc., Summer, 2010: 4 - 6, 34.

Verde water thoughts March 9

As of mid-day March 8, there are a couple of feet of snow at the Happy Jack SNOTEL.  It's the one SNOTEL in the best shape in the entire Verde Watershed.  It's rated at 152% of median.  Supposedly, there are over 9 inches of Snow Water Equivalent in that two feet of snow.

It sounds rather suspicious to me because nothing else in the watershed is that high.  White Horse Lake is 62% of median.  Baker Butte is 43%.  There "might" be a good pocket of snow tucked into the Upper Oak and Beaver Creeks watersheds.  But then again there "might" not.* West Clear is "iffy" at best.

A small storm will pass through late tomorrow, leaving 1-4 inches of snow in the highest parts of the watershed.  It appears this will be dry snow so it won't add much water to the equation

A warm phase is expected by the middle of next week and CBRFC thinks this will bring The Verde River @ The Ladders up to around 400 cfs during daytime hours.  There might be higher peaks at nibght. Right now it's running 280 cfs so the net gain won't be much.  The only interesting aspect of this upcoming rally will be weather it exceeds the small peak registered during the most recent warm spell.

Whatever the weather next week, it doesn't appear very likely to totally wipe out the Happy Jack area snowpack.  That means there "might" be enough snow left up there to react to any kind of a rain-on-snow event.  No such event is currently forecast.

I would think the best place to practice river rescue training would be at Beasley Flat sometime during the latter half of next week.

*We have visited the Happy Jack SNOTEL in person and I don't think it is necessarily indicative of the health of this year's snowpack.  It sits at a site that's more suited for administrative access than for monitoring representative snowpack.  I've always thought Happy Jack is a great indicator SNOTEL if and only if it is in sync with the other SNOTELs.  This year is it NOT in sync so that makes me very suspicious.  It "might" be telling truth and it "might" not.

Dreams come true at Art Glitter

Barbara Trombley, who designed greeting cards before creating her own line of glitter, has expanded her Art Glitter retail space for an art gallery. Verde (Independent/Vyto Starinskas)

By Vyto Starinskas

Originally Published: January 30, 2022 12:15 a.m.

https://www.verdenews.com/news/2022/jan/30/dreams-come-true-art-glitter/

COTTONWOOD – Barbara Trombley said she dreams in glitter.

Her face even sparkles as she explains that she puts those dreams in her paintings which are now hanging at her Art Glitter arts and crafts store in Old Town.

Trombley has expanded her Art Glitter retail store to include an art gallery with her large oil, acrylic and watercolors, and she describes them as “glittering.”

Art Glitter is better known for having the largest line and selection of designer glitter colors, over 1,200 super-high quality colors, Trombley explained.

The glitter is used on all kinds of things such as calligraphy, art, quilts, paintings, musical instruments, cards, cosmetics, fingernails, clothing, shoes and glitter tattoos. (Verde Independent/Vyto Starinkskas)

The important thing is that it’s a high-quality glitter. “It doesn’t feel like sand, it feels like silk, satin.”

The glitter comes in many different cuts and sizes, and they distribute glitter, adhesives, and accessories all over the world.

People are surprised when they come into the retail store in Old Town at the bend and see the expansiveness, Trombley said while touring the space where she also gives classes and demos in glittering. She said she gets both retail and wholesale customers coming into her store.

She also has greeting cards, dog and pet beds, a large, paper-mache Pegasus and works by other artists including quilts with glitter.

Next to the retail business, they have a production building. She employs 12 people for the entire glitter operation.

Her customers are hobbyists, artists, rubber stamp/scrap book stores and stationery stores, and they get Internet sales from their website at ArtGlitter.com.

The glitter is used on all kinds of things such as calligraphy, art, quilts, paintings, musical instruments, cards, cosmetics, fingernails, clothing, shoes and glitter tattoos.

Trombley was asked if there was anything that can’t be glittered? She said she wasn’t sure.

One person in Sedona did their entire driveway in their glitter, she said. Some people have glittered their entire houses.

Trombley said she moved to Cornville in 1987 for the clean air with her daughter, Shannon, when she was 4 years old.

(Verde Independent/Vyto Starinskas)

She was hand-making greeting cards using glitter. She made 1,500 greeting cards a day for 10 years selling them at tradeshows and craft shows. “I probably made a half million.”

She had glitter made for greeting cards and then she started designing her own line of glitter colors. She created the kind of craft glitter product she wanted. She was the first to come up with the silky, ultra-fine glitter.

After a lot of research, she came up with her own glue, which she now sells. The different glues make the glitter appear differently, she said.

Trombley also teaches classes in glitter. Customers can start with the basic Glitter 101 class to get started. Art Glitter is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at 720 N. Balboa St, on the bend off Main Street in Old Town, Cottonwood. Contact the store at 928-639-0805

Oak Creek Vineyards

(Verde Independent/Vyto Starinskas)

By Raquel Hendrickson

Originally Published: December 21, 2021 8:09 p.m.
Copyright 2021 Verde News.

CORNVILLE – Oak Creek Vineyards & Winery is looking to expand again. And the effort may eventually change the way Yavapai County operates in Page Springs.

Gary and Nathalie Carruthers are asking for an amendment to the property’s use permit with a 15-year extension. Their plan is to expand and renovate the tasting room, winery and parking lot. The changes would occur in three phases.

The county itself has asked them to consider a zoning map change to make life easier for everyone.

“We think it’s the right thing to do,” Gary Carruthers said, but he said he wanted to get the current use permit through before the Board of Supervisors starts debating the larger issue of an area zoning change.

While the winery is nearing its 20th anniversary, the Carruthers couple has owned it less than two years, their planned opening coinciding with the beginning of COVID-19 closures in 2020. So they have been familiar with the unpredictable from the beginning.

Rendering of some of the planned expansion of Oak Creek Vineyards & Winery by Architecture Works Green Inc.

The property came with some history, and that reflected what’s happened in Page Springs the past two decades. By the county’s count, there have been more than 20 use permit applications in the area, all for commercial development, as it has grown into a tourism haven.

County staff has been frustrated with repetitive paperwork for even small changes. Use permits are restricted to the site plan. Any change not on the site plan must have an approved amended use permit, even “the addition of a walk-in freezer or a deck.” The result, they said was owners building without getting the proper permits, becoming an enforcement headache.

In the case of Oak Creek Vineyards, it was first approved for a 10-year use permit in 2002 for construction of the winery and tasting room. In 2007, the owners asked for a use permit to add a restaurant, which was not allowed at the time. In 2012, the original use permit was extended another 10 years.

Two years later, the county granted a use permit to expand the tasting room, but that was revoked when no building permit was obtained within two years. In 2018, the county did approve a use permit amendment for an expanded seating area.

In supporting its most recent amendment application, county staff recommended all commercial property owners in the area, primarily wineries, get together and pursue a conditional use zoning map change. That would allow the owners to simply get a building permit for any changes.

Carruthers agreed that would help mitigate the shortcuts some property owners may take to get around a lot of the public processes. He said the Cornville Community Association also wanted more time to discuss it and its ramifications.

“We don’t know how much latitude we would have to make changes,” he said.

Carruthers wants to add 729 square feet to the tasting room, renovate the seating area and wine bar, build a new commercial kitchen with walk-in cooler and pantry, add 1,914 square feet to the patio, renovate the parking lot and make an exhaustive list of other changes.

“It’s pretty exciting,” he said.

The Cornville Community Association sent in a letter of support of the project.

Carruthers said Oak Creek Vineyards would like to have the changes to the tasting room complete by 2023 and the winery building finished by the fall harvest in 2024.

In the long term, he would like to go back to the county with the request for a zoning change.

Bike School

 By Vyto Starinskas Originally Published: November 22, 2021 4:31 p.m.

(Editor's Note: This story appeared in the "Verde Independent" newspaper on Wednesday, 11/24/2021.  It is Copyright Verde News and located behind a paywall.  Occasionally, we feel a Verde News article needs and deserves much wider local circulation that the paywall permits.  Therefore, we occasionally take the liberty of reformatting an article so that it can be shared with the proper credit and this disclaimer. We realize this may cause some heartburn at Verde News but we are proceeding under the mantra, "It's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.")

CORNVILLE – The late Sen. John McCain will be remembered for spending summers by the Oak Creek with his family in Page Springs.

Now the community is remembering the late statesman by naming a new mountain bike park at the Oak Creek School after him.

The Trek Trails at the John S. McCain III Memorial Bike Skills Park is set to be open next Earth Day, 2022, explained Principal Naya Persaud of the Oak Creek School in Cornville.

“The McCain family did give us permission to name it that,” Persaud said. Trek donated a significant amount of money to get the park up and running.

Persaud said they have just put the fence in, obtaining final permits and hopes to have the park open on April 22, 2022.

They will be breaking ground later this year assuming they get all the county permits, to Verde Valley Wheel Fun Treasurer Kevin Adams said.

This is the second bike park built by the nonprofit group, Verde Valley Wheel Fun. The Mountain View Preparatory Bike Skills Park, possibly the first such park at any Arizona public school, was completed last year.

Verde Valley Wheel Fun raised the funds to build both parks and the projects did not cost taxpayers any money. Both parks will be open to the community as well as student riders.

Trek was the biggest funder of the Oak Creek School project with a $60,000 donation, Adams said. There were numerous corporate contributors and private contributors such as Rural Arizona Healthcare and the Arizona Community Foundation of Yavapai County and Sedona.

The Cornville trails will be built by Flagline Trails LLC in Flagstaff, which worked for six to eight weeks at the MVP Park, according to Adams. The company builds bike trails all over the western U.S.

He said the skills park at MVP cost about $110,000. The Oak Creek skills park will cost about $145,000, Adams said on Thursday, Nov. 11.

The Oak Creek bike park will be fenced, have two zones, downhill and cross-country, he said. It will be open to the community as well as students just like MVP.

Adams attended the Oak Creek School’s Earn a Bike Program flag raising on Thursday, during which bikes were presented to students by the Wheel Fun organization.

They awarded six bikes on Thursday to students who needed bikes and did well in attendance, citizenship and conduct, during a flag-raising ceremony.

The group raises the money for the bikes and purchases the discounted Trek Bikes through Verde Valley Bicycles in Cottonwood.

The nonprofit group has presented bikes at other schools this year – Dr. Daniel Bright, Mingus High School, Mountain View Prep - and has five more schools still to go.

Verde Valley Wheel Fun, an IRS-designated, nonprofit organization, began going into schools in the Verde Valley to teach kids bike skills in 2018 and 2019, Adams said.

The group runs after-school bike clubs and provides everything the school needs – bikes, helmets and hydration packs

This fall they will be in 13 schools, including the six clubs at the different Cottonwood schools, he added. They are also in Camp Verde and Sedona.

Email Vyto Starinskas at vstarinskas@verdenews.com or call 928-634-2241, ext. 6031.

Source: https://www.verdenews.com/news/2021/nov/22/cornville-school-name-bike-park-after-late-sen-joh/

Beaver Creek Watershed

The Verde River is The Heart & Soul of The Verde Valley.  Likewise, each of The Verde River's tributaries offer their own allure and special magic to this place we call home.  Here are some of the many online resources describing The Beaver Creek Watershed.

The website above is an excellent introduction to The Beaver Creek Watershed:
http://beavercreek.nau.edu/Hydrology/hydrology.htm

This is a somewhat longer look at the Beaver Creek Watershed.
http://www.azheritagewaters.nau.edu/loc_beaver_creek.html

The USDA Forest Service has put together some awesome

resources pertaining to The Beaver Creek Watershed:
https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/boise/AWAE/labs/awae_flagstaff/highlands/watersheds/beavercreek/index.html

The USGS stream flow gage for Wet Beaver Creek is located at a very

picturesque site alongside the famous Bell Trail a few miles away.
Here is the USGS website for the Wet Beaver Creek gaging station:
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/uv/?site_no=09505200&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060

Wet Beaver Creek really shines on The Bell Trails to The Crack.
Here is the link to the Hike Arizona description of that classic day hike.
https://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=7

Below are a few of the 100's of  photos you will find on the above website.

After you have perused one or more of the above websites, you will be equipped with plenty of "key word search strings" with which to do your own independent investigation(s) into The Beaver Creek Watershed.