Apex, Arizona Archaeology Project

Director: Dr. Emily Dale

Collaborating Institution: Kaibab National Forest

Project Information

From 1901 to 1968, the Grand Canyon Railway carried tourists, goods, and resources along the 64 miles between Williams, Arizona and the Grand Canyon. One of the main functions of the railroad was to supply ranching, mining, and logging camps and move the extracted resources to larger towns for use or sale. The Saginaw and Manistee Logging Company established a new headquarters at Apex, Arizona, 52 miles from Williams along the Grand Canyon Railway and in the middle of Arizona’s largest ponderosa pine forests, to harvest the timber for railroad ties, building materials, and other wood goods. In operation from 1928 to 1936, Apex was host to a railroad siding, logging spurs, maintenance buildings, homes, and a schoolhouse.

The Apex, Arizona Archaeology Project explores how the building platforms, domestic trash scatters, railroad beds, and privies still at the site reveal evidence of the Scandinavian logging employees and Mexican railroad workers and their families, providing important and largely unaddressed evidence of life in northern Arizona during the Great Depression. We are also committed to educating the public on the site, the associated timber and railroad industries, and historical archaeology in general.

Summer 2025 Field School

Applications for our 2025 field season are now open! Click here for an application and instructions for applying for a tuition and fee stipend. Contact Dr. Emily Dale (emily.dale@nau.edu) for any questions about this summer’s field work.

Learn More

Check out selected highlights of our recent publications, media coverage, and student research! And don’t forget to follow our artifact blog! Each month, we highlight different artifacts and how they relate to the 1920s and 1930s, the Great Depression and Prohibition, the men, women, and children who lived and worked at Apex, and the lumber and railroad industries of Northern Arizona.

Support and funding for this project is provided by the Northern Arizona University Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, the Kaibab National Forest, Arizona Humanities, and the Grand Canyon Historical Society.