> McClintock concluded that the name probably derived from a native place name that sounded like Aleh-zon or Ali-Shonak, which meant “small spring” or “place of the small spring.”

https://azlibrary.gov/collections/dazl/arizona-almanac/meani...

Humans have documented remains close to this village going back 4000 years, and likely were here much longer than that. The creek has (so far, even in the worst drought in 1200 years) never stopped flowing.