Mohave Museum of History & Arts

Northwest Arizona is a land of pine forested mountains, deep canyons, fertile river valleys, and high cactus covered deserts.  It is rich in a variety of minerals: gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, turquoise and other gemstones.  The region is inhabited by shy bighorn sheep and deer, snakes, scorpions and tarantulas as well as quail and cactus wrens, antelope, coyotes and the inevitable jack rabbits. 

The history of the area is as varied.  It was peopled originally by “The Forgotten Ones” and of late by the Mohave, Hualapai, Chemehuevi, Havasupai and Paiute Indians.  It attracted soldiers, missionaries, steam boaters, ranchers, railroaders, miners, merchants, schoolteachers and all of the others who helped to settle the area.  Fleet-footed Mohave Indians blazed trails or followed the ones left by their ancestors or animals.  Missionaries and Spanish soldiers searched for souls to save or gold to mine.  Wagon trains rolled through, filled with people seeking land or a new way of life.  Herds of cattle were driven through to feed the military or the new settlers.  All of these people left their footprints in time and changed the face of the land.