CLARKDALE – Around 1,000 AD many of these stones were first put into place by the Sinagua, an ancient Native American tribe of agriculturists that once frequented today’s Verde Valley. Now called Tuzigoot (Too-zee-goot), this remarkable 110-room village is nearly intact.

Once a month, Arizona Oddities is featuring a Q&A with a talented Arizona artist who is influenced by our state’s people, places and history. This month, Ellen Jo Roberts shares her light-hearted collection inspired by the Southwestern landscape, old motels and vintage cars.

The old West was fading from reality into the realm of myth by the mid-1920s. Most of the bonafide gunfighters were gone and Hollywood took up the chore of telling how it really was. Tom Mix was earning over $17,000 a week performing super-human feats from atop his famous horse, Tony, and the public loved ...