Overgaard in Navajo County, Arizona — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Travel on a Journey Through Time...

Stop 1

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

1. Travel on a Journey Through Time... Marker

Inscription. From 1915 to 1949 the Heber Ranger Station Stood at this site.
The year is 1910 and you decide you'd like to be a Forest Service Ranger. To pass the test you'll need to know the local country, be able to take care of yourself and your horses, stand up to severe physical hardships, live under any condition, make your own food, and engage in combat when needed. You take on the job knowing that most Rangers who came before you only made it for a couple of years, and some for only a few months. The isolation and hard work eventually just got to folks.

Because the station was so close to the cliffs, it was said that "the sun didn't rise til noon and went down about 3:30."

Can you find clues that a ranger station once stood here?

Early rangers were a unique group who came from many backgrounds including prospectors, lumbermen, farmers, cowboys, gunmen, and a sprinkling of professors and newspaper men.

In 1915 Rangers were paid $75 a month and had to own and take care of 2 to 6 horses.

Rangers covered vast roadless areas alone. All work was done on horseback. If a fire broke, a ranger whould grab his axe and

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saw and head out on his horse to put it out by himself. Phone lines were a constant chore and required frequent repairs. Phone insulators and wire can still be found strung across the forest today. Other duties were building trails, reporting abandoned homesteads, squatters and illegal fences, re-blazing survey lines, piling and burning brush, and managing timber sales.

Journey Through Time

Erected by Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Horticulture & Forestry. A significant historical year for this entry is 1915.

Location. 34° 24.867′ N, 110° 36.747′ W. Marker is in Overgaard, Arizona, in Navajo County. It is on Black Canyon Road, on the right when traveling north. Black Canyon Road can be accessed by Highway 260. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Overgaard AZ 85933, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is on Arizona’s Mogollon Rim,

in the White Mountains,

and in Hopi.

It is also in the American Southwest,

in the Mountain West,

and at the Four Corners.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

2. Travel on a Journey Through Time... Marker

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain

and also Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 3 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Can You Read the Rocks....? (approx. 1.6 miles away); Imagine Yourself Here Some Nine Hundred Years Ago (approx. 2.7 miles away); How Long Has It Been? (approx. 3.9 miles away).

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

3. Travel on a Journey Through Time... Marker

Travel on a Journey Through Time...Trail image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

4. Travel on a Journey Through Time...Trail

Blue Diamond Trail Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

5. Blue Diamond Trail Marker

Hidden Ranger Station Ruins image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

6. Hidden Ranger Station Ruins

Remains of a Ranger Camp? image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

7. Remains of a Ranger Camp?

Ranger Station Storage Water Tank image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

8. Ranger Station Storage Water Tank

Tucked within the rocky ridge of boulders is a water tank that looks like it is part of it.

Water Storage Tank image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

9. Water Storage Tank

Photo Displayed on Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Denise Boose, September 1, 2013

10. Photo Displayed on Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on September 15, 2013, by Denise Boose of Tehachapi, California. This page has been viewed 1,407 times since then and 56 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. submitted on September 15, 2013, by Denise Boose of Tehachapi, California. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.