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Updated: June 11, 2025
The enormous precipice of red rock west of our camp at Lloyd's corral hid Honanki from view at first, but we soon found a trail leading directly to it, and during our short stay in this neighborhood we remained camped near the cottonwoods at the entrance to the canyon, not far from the abandoned corral.
The main ruin of Honanki is one of the largest and best preserved architectural monuments of the former people of Verde valley that has yet been described.
The names of several persons scratched on the face of the cliff indicate that Americans had visited Honanki before me. The majority of the paleoglyphs at both Palatki and Honanki are of Apache origin, and are of comparatively modern date, as would naturally be expected.
Throughout this region I saw, as had been expected, no change in the character of the ruins great enough to indicate that they originally were inhabited by peoples racially different. Stopped from further advance by a barrier of rugged cliffs, I turned westward along their base until I found similar ruins, which were named Palatki and Honanki.
It would likewise appear that the middle part was higher than the two wings, which would increase the number of chambers, so that with these additions it may safely be said that this part of Honanki alone contained not far from twenty rooms.
On the first evening at this camp we sighted a bear, which gave the name Honanki, "Bear-house," to the adjacent ruined dwellings.
This range of houses is situated on a lower foundation and at a lower level than that of the main quarter of Honanki, and a trail runs along so close to the rooms that the whole series is easily visited without much climbing. No woodwork remains in any of these rooms, and the masonry is badly broken in places either by natural agencies or through vandalism.
It was necessary to carry our drinking water with us from Oak creek, which fact impeded our progress and limited the time available in our reconnoissance. There was, however, in the pool near the ruins of Honanki enough water for our horses, and at the time we were there a limited amount of grass for fodder was found.
The existence of these grinding stones implies the use of maize as food, and this evidence was much strengthened by the finding of corncobs, kernels of corn, and charred fragments at several points below the surface of the débris in the chambers of Honanki. One of these grinding stones was found set in the floor of one of the rooms in the same way that similar metates may be seen in Walpi today.
Possibly in former times it was accessible by means of a ladder from the roof, whence communication with other portions of the structure was also had. A short distance beyond the westernmost rooms of Honanki, almost covered with bushes and adjoining the base of the cliff, there is a large ash heap in which are many fragments of pottery and the bones of various animals.
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