Arizona Agates

The Bloody Basin is an interesting collecting site, located in the Tonto National Forest and once under the control of the Arizona Agate mine this area has been hit hard, so  hard in fact that to find anything more than a few agate chips and small nodules here and there is about all one can be happy to leave there with.

The reason for the area to be named the Bloody Basin is up for debate among Arizona historians. The sign which marks and identifies the area states that the name Bloody Basin was given to the flattened area to the red rock littering that specific spot.

The funny and most interesting part of this explanation - at least from my own observation is that there is no such rock in the area. 

Another more common story and one written in some books is that at some point in Arizona history the United States Army -under orders of the government- hunted a marauding band of Indians who had attacked covered wagons heading west through the area. The result was the death of innocent pioneers whose only crime was that they were passing through tribal land.

The result of the man hunt was the late night slaughter of the inhabiting Indians at nearby Turret Peak. After which the area was named the Bloody Basin. 

However whether or not the carnage occurred or did not occur there -I will leave that to be debated among historians.

Stay tuned as I am still in the middle of cabbing through the rough I do have from my last trip out there.