Contact Us:
Emily Dale: emily.dale@nau.edu
Rachael O'Hara: reo44@nau.edu
Timothy Maddock: maddockts1@gmail.com
Check out our Monthly Artifact Blog!
September 2025: Stepping Through Time to Apex Footwear Artifacts, by Fran Maiuri
August 2025: Passport in Time Projects at the Apex Site, by Adrienne Dale
July 2025: California Dreamin': Apex - Los Angeles Connections, by Emily Dale
June 2025: Just Add Water: How Early Advertising Shaped Cocoa Powder Diversity at Apex, Arizona, by Zulia DeWire
May 2025: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Boy Toys from Apex, by Devony Martell
April 2025: Apex Flotation Sample Analysis, by Allyana Marshall
March 2025: Lithic Look-Alikes: A Glimpse into the Souvenir Trade in Northern Arizona, by Caroline Boerger
February 2025: The Rise of Flashlights in Apex, Arizona: A Technological Shift from Lanterns, by Alex Mason
January 2025: Local Brews: Beer, Brewing, and Prohibition at Apex, by Rachael O'Hara
December 2024: Faces of the Past: Exploring Beauty at an Historic Logging Camp, by Sarah O'Donnell
November 2024: Sweat, Stink, and Self-Care: Health and Hygiene at Apex, by Madeleine Levesque
October 2024: A Halloween Blog: Meet the Jack-O-Canterns of Apex, by Makenzie Long
September 2024: O Can-ada: The Geography of Apex's Canned Meat, by Emily Dale
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.
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.
Articles and Reports Accordion Closed
Catch up on the latest articles and reports on Apex!
Two Years of Public Archaeology at Apex, 2025 Grand Canyon History Symposium Proceedings, by Emily Dale and Timothy Maddock
Apex, Arizona Archaeology Project Field Report—Year Two, 2023 Forest Service Report, by Emily Dale and Timothy Maddock
Apex, Arizona Archaeology Project Field Report—Year One, 2022 Forest Service Report, by Emily Dale
Public Engagement and Collaborative Archaeology at Apex, Arizona, 2022 Ol’ Pioneer: The Magazine of the Grand Canyon Historical Society, by Emily Dale and Margaret Hangan
Presentations Accordion Closed
Watch one of our presentations!
“To Learn About History of the Area”: Two Years of Public Archaeology at Apex, 2023 Grand Canyon History Symposium, by Emily Dale and Timothy Maddock
Archaeology at Apex, Arizona, 2023 Arizona Preservation Foundation Webinar Series Presentation, by Emily Dale
Collaborative Archaeology of Apex, Arizona and the Grand Canyon Railroad, 2021 Grand Canyon Historical Society Virtual Outing Presentation, by Emily Dale and Margaret Hangan
Posters Accordion Closed
View our conference posters!
Two Years of Public Archaeology at Apex, Arizona: Life and Work in a Depression-Era Company Town, 2023 Pecos Conference Poster, by Emily Dale and Timothy Maddock
A 250% Increase in Jack-o-Canterns, 2024 Pecos Conference Poster, by Emily Dale and Rachael O’Hara
Student Research Accordion Closed
Read work done by our outstanding graduate and undergraduate researchers!
Just Add Water: How Early Advertising Shaped Cocoa Powder Diversity at Apex, Arizona, 2025 NAU Undergraduate Research Symposium Poster, by Zulia DeWire; Listen to Zulia talk about her poster
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Boy Toys in the 1930’s Apex Logging Camp, 2025 NAU Undergraduate Research Symposium Poster, by Devony Martell
Notions of Health and Hygiene in the Great-Depression Era United States: Apex, Arizona, 2025 Arizona History Convention Poster, by Madeleine Levesque
“We Sure Weren’t Dry”: Uncovering Apex’s Culture of Alcohol in the Prohibition Era, 2025 Arizona History Convention Poster and Viewer’s Choice Winner at NAU Graduate Poster Symposium, by Rachael O’Hara
Apex Archaeology Project: Digging Up the History of Vanished Lumber Town in Arizona’s Kaibab National Forest, 2024 Story Map, by Anna Foley
Life, Work, and Identity at Apex, Arizona: The Archaeology of a Twentieth-Century Logging Camp and Company Town, 2024 Master’s Thesis, by Timothy S. Maddock
Notions of Health and Hygiene in the Depression-Era United States: Apex, Arizona, 2024 NAU Undergraduate Research Symposium Poster, by Madeleine Levesque
Catch-and-Release Archaeology- A Path Towards Solving the Curation Crisis, 2024 Pecos Conference Paper Presentation, by Sarah O’Donnell; Second Place Cordell/Powers Prize Competition
Visitor’s Experience at the Apex Archaeology Field School, 2022 NAU Undergraduate Research Symposium Poster, by Joey McCauley
Public Outreach Accordion Closed
Check out the media coverage and public outreach materials about our project!
Earth Notes: Apex Archaeology Project, 2025 KNAU News Talk Article, by Rose Houk
Historical Archaeology in Arizona, 2024 Educational Brochure, by Sean White, Emily Dale, Ashley Mlazgar, Charlie Webber, and Timothy Maddock
Archaeology on the Grand Canyon Railway, 2024 Educational Brochure, by Sean White, Emily Dale, Ashley Mlazgar, and Timothy Maddock
Local Science Spotlight: Archeology at the Apex, Arizona Logging Camp, 2023 Flagstaff Festival of Science Insights Blog, by Emily Dale and Timothy Maddock
NAU and Kaibab National Forest partner to open archaeological field school at historic logging camp near Grand Canyon, 2022 Williams-Grand Canyon News article, by Joseph Giddens
One Man’s Trash is an Archaeologist’s Treasure, 2022 NAU Review Article and Video, by Carly Banks
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.