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Tonto Basin
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<p>The Tonto Basin, also known as Pleasant Valley, covers the main <a href="/facts/Drainage_basin/lzsx0XJS">drainage basin</a> of <a href="/facts/Tonto_Creek/PcSfdPAk">Tonto Creek</a> and its tributaries in central <a href="/facts/Arizona/6ayM3swJ">Arizona</a>, at the southwest of the <a href="/facts/Mogollon_Rim/gzM7d4YJ">Mogollon Rim</a>, the higher elevation <i><a href="/facts/Arizona_transition_zone/dIwPNXrb">transition zone</a></i> across central and eastern Arizona. Although the word <i>tonto</i> means <i>silly</i> or <i>foolish</i> in <a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a>, this place name is derived from the Apache word, <i>Koun’nde</i>, which means <i>wild, rough people</i> and refers to the indigenous Dilzhe’e Tonto Apache. </p><p>Tonto Basin is mostly north-south trending and outflows into the <a href="/facts/Salt_River_(Arizona)/fAlEbWet">Salt River</a> at the extensive canyon reservoir called <a href="/facts/Theodore_Roosevelt_Lake/URDIBCzl">Theodore Roosevelt Lake</a>. </p><p><a href="/facts/Arizona_State_Route_188/mpo0AyX1">Arizona Route 188</a> traverses the lower Tonto Basin on the southwest side of Theodore Roosevelt Lake; it then merges at the <a href="/facts/Water_divide/47p3QtJU">water divide</a> northeast of the Mazatzals, with <a href="/facts/Arizona_State_Route_87/cP0bUalQ">State route 87</a> which proceeds to <a href="/facts/Payson%2c_Arizona/M4mMmLuE">Payson</a> and further to <a href="/facts/Kohls_Ranch%2c_Arizona/dl7w7qaU">Kohls Ranch</a> and <a href="/facts/Christopher_Creek%2c_Arizona/qHs0C8KB">Christopher Creek</a> at the basin headwaters at the foot of the <a href="/facts/Mogollon_Rim/gzM7d4YJ">Mogollon Rim</a>. </p>