Today's Slide Rock State Park is a popular, cool water, natural water slide along Oak Creek. The creek chute propels swimmers along this slick rock stretch for almost a third of a mile. This is the place to cool off from the hot desert sun and have a good time doing it.
The area was once home to the Pendley family. Their homestead took shape in the 1920s. Oak Creek's water was instrumental in growing crops and providing livestock with water in Arizona's arid conditions. Pendley had created a novel approach to irrigation with the his use of tunnels and chutes to channel the water. Pendley's wheel, shown here, was used in another experiment to provide electricity to the ranch. It remains unclear as to how his attempt to harness the power from Oak Creek turned out, but he was highly successful in his agricultural endeavor. His Arkansas Black apples made up the largest grove in the area and some of the grove still survives today. The valley was finally hooked up to the power grid in 1948.