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COLLIER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA gives the following information concerning the "well" and the ancient Indian ruins nearby, known as Montezuma's Castle:

     "MONTEZUMA, CASTLE - (Arizona; 1906; 842 acres), 60 miles south of Flagstaff, contains a 5-story, 20-room cliff dwelling, 90 percent intact, built high in a limestone cliff that borders Beaver Creek for half a mile. In the same cliff are ruins of several other prehistoric dwellings. Occupancy probably ended about

A.D. 1450. Visitors were formerly permited to enter the castle, but the damaging effects of such use compelled its discontinuance. The character of the structure is shown in a small museum at the base of the cliff.

     "Seven miles from the castle is a detached area, known as Montezuma Well; its principal feature is a limestone sink containing a pool fed by a SPRING which yields 1.5 MILLION gallons daily. In its walls are small cliff dwellings whose inhabitants used the spring's waters for irrigation; the ditches, cemented by water-deposited lime, are still plainly visible.  Research on Montezuma's Well led to the following interesting facts.

     "The well, which lies to the north-east of the Castle, has been penetrated to a depth of over 50 feet by scuba divers, but nothing of significance was reported found. The well from ground level seems only to be a hill, but as one walks up its slope they would not imagine that when reaching the top, they would find a large crater, filled with water to form a deep pond, around which can still be found the remains of Indian ruins circling the inside slope. Geologists theorize that the Well was formed after the collapse of the roof of a LARGE CAVERN beneath the hill. The topographical map of the area shows, just west of the well, a large depression or "sink" (i.e. a ‘sink hole’- a sure sign of underground cavities, according to Speleologists - Branton) shaped like a large "S", suggesting that a cavern may have existed (or does still) beneath the area.