The desert's environmental extremes are daunting even in the age of air conditioning and pavement. For the ancient Hohokam Indians, who farmed, hunted and lived in the Cave Creek area, the desert was resource-rich. Game was plentiful. The Hohokam harvested desert plants for food and shelter and they learned to control the land by farming. Utilizing a variety of watering systems that culminated in an extensive irrigation system still visible in the area, their populations expanded.
On rock walls, petroglyphs mark ancient passages. Artifacts such as baskets, textiles, musical instruments and pottery speak of an artistic sophistication. For unknown reasons, the Hohokam disappeared around 1450 A.D., long before Europeans arrived.
The Cave Creek area story resumes in 1870 with the arrival of soldiers sent to control the Tonto Apaches. Troops rode from Fort McDowell, past the imposing boulders in what is now Carefree, skirted the north side of Black Mountain and rested by shady, grassy springs just west of Cave Creek.
Prospectors, taking advantage of the safety provided by the military, explored the hills and mountains. A modest gold boom fired imaginations and filled a few pockets, although many believe more money was made manipulating gold shares than digging gold ore.
Cattle ranching proved lucrative, drawing families to the area. By 1886, enough children had arrived to support a one-room schoolhouse. Later, sheep were raised but extended droughts and overgrazing made both cattle and sheep ranching risky.
In the 1920's and 1930's, Cave Creek hosted a number of rustic tuberculosis camps that dotted the roads and hillsides. People with lung ailments hoped that Arizona sunshine and dry air would cure them.
The town took on a rowdier character in the 1930's when it became a recreational and supply base for workers building Horseshoe and Bartlett Dams. A more genteel element arrived in the 1940's and 1950's when dude ranches (Spur Cross, Rancho Manana and Sierra Vista) lured well-heeled greenhorns to the beauty of the Sonoran Desert. The town of Carefree, begun as a planned community, evolved from plans drawn on a cocktail napkin.
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