Hassayampa River Preserve

The Hassayampa River is one of the few undammed rivers in Arizona which flows above ground, creating an oasis in the Sonoran Desert. The river starts at Groom Creek in the Bradshaw Mountains near Prescott. Groom Creek is a typical mountain stream, plunging over rocks and bordered by tall trees typical of higher elevations. When the water reaches the valley floor, it disappears under up to a thousand feet of sand and gravel that has been eroded, over millennia, off the mountains. To its convergence with the Gila River, the river is almost entirely underground. But for 5 miles at the Preserve, the granite bedrock domes up, forcing the water to the surface, where it flows year round. This geological fact led to its naming by the Yavapai people as Hassayampa, which can be loosely translated as the upside-down river. The perennial surface flow is usually shallow (

Plants

The perennial flow of the Hassayampa River at the Preserve supports a lush ecosystem of plants and wildlife to thrive. The dominant riparian forest trees along the river are Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii), Goodding’s willow (Salix gooddingii), velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina), and Mexican elderberry (Sambucus cerulea), with several other species of smaller shrubs, flowers, and grasses in the understory. Parasitic mistletoes (Phoradendron spp.) grow on cottonwoods, willows, and mesquites, and provide both food and nesting sites to several bird species, including the phainopepla.

As many as 26 springs have been reported on the property, which historically would have created a small ciénega, or marsh. In the 1960s, property owners excavated the area around these springs to create the 4-acre Palm Lake, which is still present today. A spring at the northern end of the Palm Lake Trail shows visitors an example of one of the springs that feeds the lake. A nearby historic spring house is a remnant of how early settlers kept perishable foods and liquids refrigerated. The ground around the springs and lake is blanketed by a native herbal wildflower, yerba mansa (Anemopsis californica), which grows only around springs in the western U.S. and Mexico. Since the Preserve was created, narrowleaf cattails (Typha angustifolia) have been allowed to create a marsh thicket in the center of the lake, which supports several species of birds that nest or roost in them. The lake and slower moving channels of the river have green algae, duckweed, and other aquatic plants that are used as both shelter and food for the fish, frogs, and insects that live in the water. During wet winters, the surrounding desert slopes can be covered with an abundance of colorful wildflowers.

The California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) that are a modern symbol of the Preserve were likely planted as early as the 1860s by one of the first Anglo settlers, Frederick Brill. Oral history says that seeds or plants were brought by stagecoach from Castle Hot Springs, a resort east of the Preserve. There are many palm trees on that property, perhaps brought by Native Americans who used the fruit for food, the seeds for flour and the thatch for roofing material. California fan palms are native to southern California and the Baja peninsula, with a disjunct population in the Kofa Mountains of southwestern Arizona. Brill also planted white mulberries (Morus alba) and common figs (Ficus carica), which are still growing at the Preserve today. While not native to the area, the palms, mulberries, and figs provide food for a variety of birds and mammals, and the skirts of palm fronds also provide shelter for wildlife. Tree to***co (Nicotiana glauca) and salt-cedar or tamarisk (Tamarix spp.) have become naturalized in small densities along the river, as have large densities of exotic mustards, bromes, and foxtail grasses that are especially dominant in the understory during wet winters.

An abundance of colorful wildflowers are among the first sights and smells that greet visitors year-round as they approach the Visitor Center. Volunteers with the Preserve have long maintained this native plants garden with an array of desert flora found in the Southwest region. March through May is the best season to witness the wildflower show, with penstemons, verbenas, cacti, globemallows, and chuperosas making the garden pop and drawing in hungry hummingbirds and butterflies. The late summer monsoon season can also bring about more shades of red and orange flowers as hummingbirds pass by these nectar sources on their way south. Milkweeds attract monarch butterflies and provide them an important food source during their long distance migration. Our usually mild winters also allow visitors to enjoy some color while the rest of the country is cold and dreary.

Wildlife

Many species of wild animals call the Preserve home, including year-round residents, migrants, and those visiting from the nearby Sonoran Desert scrublands. Illustrating the high biodiversity present here are the 290+ bird species that have been documented at the Preserve over the last 30 years! The Preserve provides critical habitat for imperiled bird species that migrate here to nest, the federally endangered ‘southwestern’ willow flycatcher and threatened ‘western’ yellow-billed cuckoo. A relatively high diversity and density of raptors nest along the river, including red-shouldered, gray, Cooper’s, Harris’s, zone-tailed, red-tailed, and common black hawks. Many colorful songbirds can be seen at the Preserve too, including Anna’s, Costa’s, black-chinned, and broad-billed hummingbirds, vermilion flycatcher, tropical kingbird, yellow warbler, yellow-breasted chat, summer tanager, hooded and Bullock’s orioles, northern cardinal, and blue grosbeak. Other Southwest specialties include ash-throated and brown-crested flycatchers, Bell’s vireo, verdin, canyon wren, Lucy’s warbler, Abert’s towhee, and the pale and rusty southwestern race of song sparrow.

Spring and fall migration periods bring a plethora of other bird species, and winters bring flocks of western bluebirds and cedar waxwings from the north to feed on mistletoe berries and lingering palm fruit. Hundreds of Brewer’s blackbirds roost nightly in the cattail marsh on Palm Lake from fall through spring. American coots, pied-billed grebes, green herons, and common yellowthroats nest in vegetation along Palm Lake. Turkey vulture migration over the Preserve and at the pedestrian bridge in nearby Wickenburg can be spectacular in mid-late March and in late September, as hundreds come in nightly to roost in trees and along rocky outcrops along the river.

The arthropod (insects, arachnids, centipedes, and millipedes) community is even more diverse, including 45 species of dragonflies and damselflies, and dozens of butterflies and other insect species. Ranger-led night walks often turn up dozens of Arizona bark and stripe-tailed scorpions in the warmer seasons as they glow under UV black lights, and the sparkle of wolf spider eyeshine can often be seen among the fallen leaves. Aquatic insects include water striders, water boatmen, larvae of mayflies, caddisflies, dragonflies, damselflies, and beetles.

The sunburst diving beetle is among the most colorful and interesting, the adults having a black shell with yellow polka dots and the larval form being the only known animal to have biologically built-in bifocal vision! Mesquite bugs, paloverde beetles, fig-eater beetles, stink beetles, tarantula hawk wasps, antlions, velvet ants, red harvester ants, crickets, wolf and funnel-web spiders, black widows, and desert blonde tarantulas are among the more common species you can see along the trails. Introduced crayfish are also present in Palm Lake and in the river channels.

Reptiles and amphibians are often conspicuous during the warmer months, including zebra-tailed, desert spiny, tiger whiptail, ornate tree, and common side-blotched lizards, Gilbert’s skink, regal horned-lizard, Gila monster, western diamondback rattlesnake, California kingsnake, gophersnake, long-nosed snake, Sonoran coralsnake, variable sandsnake, Sonoran mud turtle, Sonoran Desert tortoise, lowland leopard frog, and Couch’s spadefoot, Woodhouse’s, Arizona, and Great Plains toads. Watch your step while walking the trails in warmer months to avoid stepping on rattlesnakes! In addition to seeing frogs in the water, you’ll likely see our native fish species, the longfin dace. Palm Lake also has introduced mosquito fish, catfish, and red-eared sliders (pond turtles).

Mammals are among the most sought-after animals by visitors to the Preserve, with our native species including ringtail (a relative of raccoons and coatis), raccoon, gray fox, coyote, javelina, badger, skunk, mule deer, bobcat, pocket gopher, rock squirrel, kangaroo rat, pocket and deer mice species, several bat species, and occasionally mountain lions. Special ranger-led night walks offered once or twice a month are often a good opportunity to see nocturnal mammals like ringtails, raccoons, and foxes (see “Events” listing for upcoming public programs including the “Creatures of the Night Walks”). When fences are knocked down by floods or falling trees, cattle (cows) from adjacent grazing leases trespass into the Preserve until the fences can be repaired and the cattle rounded up by the ranchers.

The Early Settlers

Prehistoric Era. Early Native American tribes lived along the Hassayampa River for several hundred years, including the Hohokam and Yavapai peoples. There is evidence of these cultures farming and living in structures along the river. It is thought that they may have planted crops in the spring, headed to nearby mountains to hunt and gather food during the heat of summer, then escaped the mountain cold in fall and winter, and harvested the crops that grew over the summer.

1866 – 1911. Frederick Brill, a Prussian immigrant, settled on the land in August 1866. He farmed the land growing corn, barley, and an extensive fruit orchard that is reported to be the first one in Arizona. There were also beef and dairy cattle on the property. In 1881, Brill imported carp from California, which he raised in spring-fed ponds, on the property. The remains of one of these ponds still exists beside the Mesquite Meander Trail. This was the first fish farming done in Arizona. In 1875 (or 1877), Brill married Isabella O’Rourke and they had three children: Cora, Frederick and Louis. Isabella died in 1882 and is reported to be buried in the gravesite beside the driveway. Frederick Brill, owned the ranch for approximately 45 years until he passed away in 1911.

1913 – 1917. John S. and Frances Sanger bought the Brill Ranch for $14,700. The retired physician from New York opened it as the Garden of Allah dude ranch for those who wanted the dude ranch experience, and for those who thought desert air would cure their ills. The name, Garden of Allah, came from a popular novel of the time and was inspired by the palm trees, well established by this time. The Garden of Allah has been called the first dude ranch in Wickenburg, and Wickenburg soon styled itself as the “Dude Ranch Capital of the World”. The Sanger Building was built at this time, and was believed to be bunkhouse for ranch help.

Allah Station. After the Walnut Creek flood of 1890, Henry Wickenburg gave the Santa Fe Railroad permission to build its line through his property -- the railroad’s preferred route -- rather than the back-up route by Vulture Mountain to the west. In conjunction with Wickenburg, Brill also gave his permission for the river route, since the land was no longer suitable for farming. By the time Sanger established the Garden of Allah, this was an important development. Visitors were able to come by train and get off at the Allah Station, across the river near where the Lykes Lookout Trail is now. This was a “flagged stop”, so the railroad needed to be informed if a passenger was arriving or departing. There were “whistle posts” where the engineer indicated the train’s arrival, so that someone could cross the river to pick up any passengers and bring them to the ranch.

1919. Property sold at a tax sale with Sanger’s name on the deed. After the tax sale, the property was eventually sold to a Chicago resident, Alden Thomas, of the Quaker Oats company who used it as a winter home until he leased it to others.

1935 – 1943. Lebbeus (Leb) Chapman – ran the property as the Lazy RC Ranch.

1960. Wickenburg Springs Association purchased the property in hopes of turning it into a retirement community. The plan was to make this a retirement community and the pond now known as Palm Lake was excavated for swimming, boating, fishing and water skiing.

1974. Before the property passed on to Norman Lykes, it had become the Shady River RV Park and significant deterioration of the habitat had occurred. Visitors to the park swam, fished, and picnicked at Palm Lake. Large trash piles accumulated and some trailers became dilapidated. A small fire in the 1980s burned through part of the palm grove due to a car engine fire.

1986. The property was up for sale and being considered for purchase by a gravel company. However, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) recognized the unique features of the riparian ecosystem still present and purchased the property. TNC spent a year restoring vegetation and removing garbage before they reopened it to the public in 1987. They continued to restore native riparian vegetation in the early years of the Preserve and briefly drained Palm Lake in the attempt to remove non-native fish, crayfish, and bullfrogs.

2004. The nearly 330-acre preserve was nearly doubled in size with a gift from the estates of Norman Lykes’ wife, Dorothy. The purchase of other smaller parcels increased the preserve to its current 770 acres.

2017. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) enters into an agreement with Maricopa County Parks & Recreation Department to manage the Hassayampa River Preserve under a conservation easement. This is the first step in larger plans for the adjacent, planned sister park of which the Preserve will be a unit, the 71,000-acre Vulture Mountains Recreation Area. Maricopa County Parks hires a park supervisor, interpretive ranger, office and maintenance staff to manage the Preserve. Renovations to the Visitor Center and improvements to the trails are completed, including a new restroom building by the main parking lot and a site for volunteer park hosts to stay at. Many of volunteers that had helped the Preserve under TNC continue under Maricopa County Parks and the Friends of Hassayampa group continues to support public programs for the Preserve. With more staff, volunteers, and resources, the Preserve is able to increase the programs it offers to the public and increase awareness of its unique natural and historic resources.

To learn the rest of the story, please stop by the Visitor Center. For information on programs, hours of operation, and news updates, please check out the rest of our page and visit our website for the Preserve. We hope you’ll join us for this next chapter of the Hassayampa River Preserve!