Kinishba Ruins in
Gila County, AZ

Welcome to the
Kinishba Ruins

Kinishba is 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above a pine-fringed alluvial valley, west of Fort Apache, in the White Mountain Apache Tribal community of Canyon Day.

Long known to the Apache people of the region and alleged to have been visited by Conquistadors, the site was first written about in English in 1892, when pioneering archaeologist Adolph Bandelier described the ruins. In 1964, the NPS designated the site as a National Historic Landmark. It had long been abandoned and fallen into disrepair. The ruins received limited cleanup and restoration in 2005-2007.

The Kinishba pueblo has 600 rooms and is composed of nine major building mounds, the remains of masonry room blocks, some of which were originally three stories tall. There were two large apartment blocks, and several smaller buildings, with two communal courtyards.

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Check the Forest Service prior to going and make sure the roads are open.

Learn More From The White Mountain Apache Tribe

About the Kinishba Ruins

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