History
HISTORY OF TONTO NATURAL BRIDGE STATE PARK
The formation of the bridge has at least two and probably three explanations as to its formation. Suffice to say it took many years. Geologists (geology not being an exact science) estimate that the formation of the bridge took at least 5,000 years and is probably 5,000 years old. The base of the Pine Creek is made of Ryolite lava rock and the top and walls are Travertine which is dissolved limestone. The springs coming out of the aquifers on the east side of the park are heavy with calcium carbonate and form the Travertine as it flows into and over the bridge. Travertine is the only growing rock there is.
As to who lived here first we do have evidence found in caves near the bridge of the Hohokam Tribes. That period was from 500 to the 1400’s. From approximately 1500 to 1880’s the Apaches lived in the area. They entered the region below the Mogollon Rim and used the Pine Creek Valley, including the flat land above the natural bridge, as a seasonal encampment. They planted maize and hunted local game.
The first known white men to see the natural bridge were General Crook and a small detachment of USA troops from Fort Verde in 1870. While trailing a group of Apache Indians, they had stopped to water their horses along Pine Creek. The detachment noted the sighting but no claims on the site were made.
In 1877, David Douglas Gowan, a Scottish gold prospector and mountain man, came up Pine Creek looking for gold. Unknown to Gowan the hidden valley was a long-time favorite seasonal farming and encampment site for the Apache Indians. Fleeing their anger, Gowan dodged his way through Pine Canyon to the natural bridge. There he narrowly escaped discovery and death by hiding on a dark cavern ledge for three days.
Returning to the bridge in 1882 David Gowan filed a claim. He homesteaded the 160 surrounding acres, built a dwelling of mud and timber, grew a small garden and planted groves of walnut, apricot, peach, apple, cherry and pear trees. He also sustained himself by hunting game while he wandered about exploring for gold.
From late 1883 to the early 1890’s, Gowan built and worked a small, but profitable gold mine on the west bank of the East Verde River. During this time, Gowan met other settlers in the area and the story of his “discovery” of the natural bridge began to spread throughout the Arizona Territory. An English journalist traveling through Phoenix heard the story and when he returned to England wrote a newspaper article in the local paper. David Gowan’s nephew, David Goodfellow read the article and upon seeing the name David Gowan was reminded of a family story. Goodfellow’s uncle and godfather, David Gowan, had left Scotland to seek his fortune in other parts of the world. Believing that this prospector could be his uncle, David Goodfellow wrote a letter to Gowan. Amazingly the letter reached Gowan. Although Gowan was extremely fond of the natural bridge property, he wished to resume his nomadic lifestyle of exploring and prospecting. Gowan wrote back to Goodfellow and offered him the site on the condition that he and his family move to America and permanently settle the land.
In 1898, David and Lillias Goodfellow and their three children; David Jr. age 9; Henry, 7; and Lillias, 5, embarked on the long journey to Pine Creek Valley. By ship to New York, by train to Flagstaff and by freight wagon to the top of the valley they arrived to permanently live at the site. Mrs. Goodfellow, at her golden wedding anniversary in 1933 wrote, “I fervently wished that I had never come to Arizona. I honestly believed that I could never reach the cabin alive if I ever started down over the precipice; and I was sure if I ever did get there, I would never be able to climb out again.” There was no road down to the valley floor, only a steep, narrow three mile trail. By 1901 the Goodfellows began building a road with picks, shovels and wheelbarrows at a cost of $4000 and by 1908 finished a narrow and steep road (portions were 32% grade) that opened up the valley to visitors as well as allowing the family to travel to Payson.
The Goodfellows continued to improve the site to attract paying guest by building six small guest cabins, and in 1925-26 a modern new 10 room lodge with running water. Access was improved to the caves beneath the bridge. In 1928 a 125 foot long swimming pool was built by Andrew Ogilvie a relative who had settled in Star Valley.
Andrew’s daughter, Anna Mae, would become quite prominent over the years. Anna Mae was invited to live at the site when Lillias daughter died in 1923. As a small child she said it was one of the best times of her life. She later became a nationally recognized historian of the area, the weather person for the Payson area for 60 years and started the first women’s club of Payson. One of the trails is named after her for her efforts to keep the park open in the 1990s. Anna Mae related several stories of David Gowan as she knew him in his last years. She said he had become a “grouchy old man and did not want to talk to kids.” David Gowan died in 1926 at the age of 83. Remarkable age when you think of the mountain man life he lived.
David and Lillias Goodfellows celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1933, continued to promote their privately owned natural wonder until their deaths in 1936 and 1938 respectively. In 1948 their sons sold the property to the Glen Randall family an old pioneer family from Pine. Glen Randall with wife Eloise and their five children lived at the park for 21 years. Glen Randall died in 1967 and from that point on to 1990 the property went through several owners each trying to improve its tourist attraction. On October 12, 1990 the property was purchase by Arizona State and became the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. There had been several attempts in past years to have the site become a National Park without success.
