The Tonto Basin, also known as Pleasant Valley, covers the main

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of Tonto Creek and its tributaries in central

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, at the southwest of the

Mogollon Rim The Mogollon Rim ( or or ) is a topography, topographical and geological feature cutting across Northern Arizona, the northern half of the U.S. state of Arizona. It extends approximately , starting in northern Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapa ...

, the higher elevation '' transition zone'' across central and eastern Arizona. Although the word ''tonto'' means ''silly'' or ''foolish'' in Spanish, this place name is derived from the Apache word, ''Koun’nde'', which means ''wild, rough people'' and refers to the indigenous Dilzhe’e Tonto Apache.White Mountain Apache Tribe, 1998. ''Western Apache-English Dictionary: A Community-Generated Bilingual Dictionary.'' Tempe, Arizona, Arizona State University, Bilingual Review Press, 485 p. Tonto Basin is mostly north-south trending and outflows into the Salt River at the extensive canyon reservoir called Theodore Roosevelt Lake.

Arizona Route 188 State Route 188 is a state highway located primarily in Gila County, Arizona, Gila County in the U.S. state of Arizona. Route description The route, also known as Apache Trail at its southern end, starts at U.S. Route 60 (Arizona), U.S. Rout ...

traverses the lower Tonto Basin on the southwest side of Theodore Roosevelt Lake; it then merges at the water divide northeast of the Mazatzals, with State route 87 which proceeds to Payson and further to Kohls Ranch and Christopher Creek at the basin headwaters at the foot of the

Regional geography

The Tonto Basin is Y-shaped at its headwaters. East are the Sierra Ancha range, part of the Mogollon Rim, and Tonto Creek draining from the northeast. West lies the Mazatzal Mountains and a ridgeline of hills on the north, the ''Limestone Hills'' on the south-side of the East Verde River; this is the water divide at the west of the Y-shape, a much shorter drainage basin, dwarfing the major upper Tonto Creek drainage.

References

External links

lower Tonto Creek, Tonto Basin, (Four Peaks, Mazatzal Mountains)Map
{{Coord, 33.8317111, -111.294575, display=title Mogollon Rim Landforms of Gila County, Arizona Valleys of Arizona Watersheds of the United States

Regional geography

See also

References

External links