Montezuma Castle
Reading edition
MONTEZUMA CASTLE NATIONAL MONUMENT ARIZONA
A guide to discovery of the Castle, its Builders, and Neighbors.
$1.00
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Courtesy Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott
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April, 1894
“We rode along and finally Montezuma Castle loomed up.... I was very much excited and filled with awe. We just sat and gazed. Finally I got my little wooden camera out and took a picture of the Castle from horseback.”
F. G. Steenberg
The Settlers
Many early visitors thought this cliff dwelling was a “castle” built by Aztec refugees for their emperor, Montezuma—thus the name!
Today
Thanks to the archeologist, a more realistic story is beginning to unfold. The setting is a prehistoric one, meaning the people involved left no written history. They are believed to be the ancestors of some present-day Southwestern Indians.
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