RE:RE:RE:EVIDENCE?
Tonto means stupid in Spanish? O.k. but that is not where the name comes from. In the radio series, the producers wanted to create a sidekick for the Lone Ranger after it had already been on the air for a number of years. One of the writers pulled out a map of Arizona and in scanning it, fell upon a location called Tonto Basin. He thought that sounded very Indian, and so it is. In Apache, it means wild or wild one or wild place. Tonto Basin is north of Lake Rosevelt, our largest reservoir in the state. It was Apache country, and before that other cultures lived in the basin and in cliffs surrounding the basin.
There is a spectacular country around there. I've hiked much of the area and surrounding mountains for pleasure or to examine mining history, archaeological sites, and abandoned Indian Wars Army posts.
https://www.tontobasinchamber.org/
VP in AZ