26 August, 2010 Montezuma Well

Montezuma Well is a limestone sinkhole fed by warm natural underground springs.

The remains of 800 year old Sinagua Indian villages that once surrounded the well are littered across the site

and cling precariously on the cliffs inside the walls of the well.

The Swallet Ruins are inside the well near to the water

and are daubed with now historic graffiti, I didn’t actually find one that said ‘Kilroy was here’.

Water from the sinkhole takes about 7 minutes to flow about 150ft underground through a underground stream called a swallet and come out on the other side of the mountain.

Even today scientists don’t know the source of the underground springs that supply the well.

The water flows out in a hand carved limestone irrigation canal created by the Sinagua to take water to their fields.

It must’ve taken a lot of hard labour to create this canal.

Why this apparently fertile area was abandoned in the early 1400’s is a still a mystery.

Have fun, we are!