{"id":331,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:32:06","latitude":34.4542780000000021800588001497089862823486328125,"longitude":-111.379943999999994730387697927653789520263671875,"title":"Forest Service Road 300 and General Crook","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/d160b0efcada34d1ed16a5a3c1f4d869.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":14,"creator":["Robert M. Estrada, Northern Arizona University"],"description":"Located at the crest of the Mogollon Rim, the trail that became Forest Service Road 300 (FS 300) served as the primary path for engagements against the Tonto Apache. FS 300 traverses the 2,000 feet above the Verde Valley on the Colorado Plateau. There are several historical landmarks along the route, such as the &#039;13 mile rock&#039;, military telegraph lines, and the grave of Andres Moreno of &#039;E&#039; Company. Thirteen miles from Fort Verde, near the ridge of the Colorado Plateau, is an original rock carving, marking the troopers&#039; ascent from the Verde Valley. A quarter of a mile onto FS 300, there are white insulators scattered in the forest, from the original nineteenth century telegraph lines. One mile from Hwy 87 is the grave of Andres Moreno who served in the 1st Arizona Infantry, under the command of Lieutenant Primitivo Cervantes in 1865. In 1887, teamster Knox Lee murdered Moreno. Lee plead guilty for manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn 1871, Crook used this route as he began the unenviable mission of  attempting to separate native Apache on the Colorado Plateau from white settlers in the Verde Valley. According to Lt. John G. Bourke, “Our line of travel was due east--at the base of the great Mogollon range to Camp Verde.” General Crook was usually the first man to &#039;saddle-up&#039; each morning onto his mule &#039;Apache&#039;.                                                                                    <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn April that year, following raids on early homesteaders, Crook&#039;s men routed a band of over twenty Tonto Apache.  The after action report recorded thirty one “Indians killed”, no wounded, and two captured. Apache oral history states that the incident was a “massacre” by the Army.  The lack of any &#039;wounded Indians,&#039; along with no record of the commanding officer, leads to suspicion over the circumstances of the engagement.  Crook recorded, “One of the difficulties in managing such Indians is that you must delegate your powers and depend upon others to execute. There are questions constantly arising which require prompt action, even if the most summary punishment should be melted out to them.” Unfortunately, General Crook&#039;s legitimate concerns over junior officers implementing his concerns over restraint, landed on General Sheridan&#039;s desk, who supported the “extermination” of the Indians. In August 1871, the Apache&#039;s retribution may have resulted in the killing of farmer Joseph Burroughs, a homesteader in the &#039;Rio Verde.&#039;                                                                                                     \t <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn 1875, General Crook departed the Department of Arizona to report to the Department of the Platte. Many of  his concerns with the Apache remained unresolved, but his route became FS 300,  a well- established supply route to the Colorado Plateau and the White Mountains.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"Brigadier General George R. Crook (September 8, 1828 -March 21, 1890)  is popularly recognized as the quintessential &#039;Indian Fighter&#039; of the late nineteenth century. In the Apache Campaign, Crook&#039;s troopers frequented the Mogollon Rim above Fort Verde in central Arizona Territory on the path to engage the Tonto Apache. This crest trail is designated as Forest Service Road 300.","website":"<a href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recarea/?recid=55312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recarea/?recid=55312</a>","related_resources":["Bourke, John G. On the Border with Crook. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1891.","Bowman, Eldon. A Guide to the Crook Trail. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona Press, 1978.","Captain Gerald Russell. April 16, 1871. After Action Reports. United States War Department, (Fort Verde: Fort Verde State Park Archives).","Englekirk, Allan and Cathie M. “Volunteer Soldiers Enlisted from Sonora Sought to Bring Calm to Arizona Territory.” (Prescott: Charlotte Hall Archive) Days Past, February 6, 2016.","Letter to General Sheridan from General Crook, 1872, (Fort Verde: Fort Verde State Park Archives).","Lightbourn, Til. By the Banks of Beaver Creek. Napanee, IN: Evangel Press, 1989.","Thrap, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biographies. Vol. II ed., 1988, p. 1014."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/d160b0efcada34d1ed16a5a3c1f4d869.jpg":{"id":1397,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"General Crook and William Alchesay","description":"General Crook aboard his mule, White Mountain Apache Scout William Alchesay on the right, and an unknown Apache scout on the left. Taken in Apache Pass near Fort Bowie. | U.S. Army Photo. <a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Crook_1.jpg\">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Crook_1.jpg</a> | U.S. Army Photo","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/d160b0efcada34d1ed16a5a3c1f4d869.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/f065f42fe44e6a6570e3a37c440dd4a0.jpg":{"id":1490,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Mile Marker 32","description":"Mile marker thirty-two which was &#039;blazed&#039; into a ponderosa pine by Crook&#039;s troops in the 1870&#039;s. | Photographed by Robert Estrada, 2019.","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/f065f42fe44e6a6570e3a37c440dd4a0.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/a8defd7533cb5eb50d69e46cccf8296a.jpg":{"id":1492,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Andres Moreno Headstone","description":"The headstone of Private Andres Moreno who was murdered by a teamster in 1887. | Photographed by Bill Cowen, 2017.","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/a8defd7533cb5eb50d69e46cccf8296a.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/92c55cf3a4f74bdb70bc8d928a24dc67.jpg":{"id":1493,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Trail Head Monument","description":"Trail Head Monument located near the parking lot at Fort Verde State Park. | Photographed by Robert Estrada, 2019.","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/92c55cf3a4f74bdb70bc8d928a24dc67.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/1a188fb7fd59cf381b4791cba2c3d60f.jpg":{"id":1494,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"DSCN8884.JPG","description":"Forest Service archaeologists utilizing ultrasound to locate the remains of Pvt. Andres Moreno.","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/1a188fb7fd59cf381b4791cba2c3d60f.jpg"}}}