THE ARIZONA STORY

began when the sea covered everything and the land was an ocean floor. As the water receded and the earth's crust began to dry and settle, volcanoes spouted hot lava and mountain rages were pushed high into the air. Remaining waters became rivers and streams cutting deep canyons, and some areas became so dry, deserts were formed.

This process of land formation took millions of years, and when the earth ceased its restlessness, it left a pattern of great variety and contrast.

The southwest corner of the state became desert, with craggy, barren mountains rising abruptly from its level floor. In the southeast corner, rolling hills with sparse vegetation and the "Wonderland of Rocks" developed.

Sweeping from the eastern border and curving northward through the center of Arizona a cool, green mountain and valley wonderland was formed. Its altitudes vary from 2,000 to 8,000 feet and are sharply cut by the Mogollon Rim, a sheer cliff extending for more than 200 miles and itself rising to heights of 7,500 feet.

Here lakes and streams were formed and the greatest stand of ponderosa pine in the nation grew. Above the Rim, near Flagstaff, a part of the earth was pushed up to a height 12,670 feet to form San Francisco Peaks, the highest elevation in the state. The peaks are snow-clad much of the year.

In the northeast corner, a vast desert-like plateau emerged. Millions of years ago its edge to the south was a part of a vast forest. Through the years, it was buried beneath volcanic ash, water, sand and mud and then uncovered again to become today's Petrified Forest National Monument, with fallen trees and now turned to varied-colored stone.

Farther north, the plateau was carved into strange rock formations and canyons which now bear unusual and picturesque names such as: Ear of the Wind Arch, Spider Web Arch, Monument Valley, Totem Pole, Mitten Buttes. Today this is the home of the Navajo and Hopi Indians.

To the west of the Navajo land, the elements seem to have made a last furious fling and left the Colorado River flowing a mile deep through the rainbow hued, wondrous Grand Canyon.

Man lived in this area 20,000 years ago. Traces of early agricultural civilizations are found throughout the state. High, almost inaccessible cliff dwellings still stand in silent evidence of another prehistoric race. Even the vast irrigation system surrounding Arizona capital city, Phoenix, follows an ancient patterns of canals used to irrigate the Hohokam farmlands with water from the Gila and Salt Rivers.

From tree rings studied, we know that from 1276 to 1299 A.D. there was a great drought which ended the prehistoric civilization. When Columbus discovered America, Arizona was inhabited by ancestors of present day Indians. The written history of Arizona began when the Spaniards sent exploration parties northward from Mexico. The first was a Franciscan priest named Marcos de Niza, who entered the territory in 1539.

Other Spanish missionaries followed and established missions to bring Christianity to the Indians. Tumacacori Mission, north of Nogales, was founded by Padre Kino at the center of an Indian settlement. This mission is now a National Monument. Padre Kino also laid the foundations for San Xavier del Bac Mission on the outskirts of today's Tucson, still used for regular services by the Tohono O'Odham Indians who live nearby.

After Kino's death, Spanish development of this area came to a halt. In 1821 Mexico declared its independence from Spain and eventually went to war with the United States. This war ended in 1848, and the land north of the Gila River became United States territory. In 1853 the rest of the area was acquired by the Gadsen Purchase.

Then the great westward movement of our early pioneers began, and Arizona entered the phase of its history which has provided so much story material for books and movies.

Men came West to seek their fortunes - adventurers, prospectors, farmers, businessmen, builders. To protect them against the Indians who fought fiercely to keep back this change in their land, the army also came and built its forts. Only the most brave and hardy pioneers came until the last of the Indian uprisings were finished and final peace won in 1886. Development of the state then surged forward.

Back in the ages of its creation, there had been formed in Arizona land great deposits of gold, silver, copper and other minerals which were now uncovered by the prospectors. Lusty new towns sprang up near the mines.

Great fortunes were made and lost, sometimes in a single 24 hours. While prospectors were "striking it rich," other pioneers saw their fortunes of the future in another aspect of Arizona land aspect of Arizona land. Farmers cultivated crops along rivers and streams as had the Indians before them. Others brought in cattle to roam the range land. Still others saw Arizonans an ideal place to raise sheep.

Law and order were slow to catch up with the sudden growth of the frontier. Bitter gun battles broke out between the cattlemen and sheepmen, each wanting the grazing land and water rights.

With the leadership of the pioneers themselves, United States Marshals finally made a peaceful territory of Arizona, where crops, cattle and sheep, as well as mining, all became important in building the future of the state.

In 1912, its lawless, boisterous frontier days behind it, Arizona became the 48th state to join the Union and its modern advance began.

Origin of the City

In 1867, Jack Swilling of Wickenburg stopped to rest his horse at the foot of the north slopes of the White Tank Mountains. He looked down across the expansive Salt River Valley and his eyes caught the rich gleam of the brown, dry soil turned up by the horse's hooves. He saw farmland, predominantly free of rocks, and beyond the reach of heavy frost or snow. All it needed was water.

By 1868, he and others from Wickenburg had dug a short canal from the Salt River and founded a small farming colony approximately four miles (6 km) east of the present city (about 22 miles west of Mesa, which was already a city of 1,000 people; and a few miles northwest of a similar farming community at Hayden's Ferry, which would become Tempe.

The area was named Swilling's Mill in his honor. It would later become Hellinwg Mill,

Mill City, then East Phoenix. As for the town that was to be built, Swilling, a former Confederate soldier, wanted to name it Stonewall, after Stenwall Jackson; others suggested Salina.

Darrel Duppa recommended the name Phoenix, memorializing the birth of a new civilization from the ruins left by the Hohokam.

The town of Phoenix was officially recognized on May 4, 1868, when the Board of Supervisors of Yavapai County (which at the time encompassed Phoenix), formed an election precinct there. The Phoenix post office was established June 15, 1868, with Jack Swilling as postmaster.

The area was surveyed in 1870 and mass meeting of the citizens of Salt River Valley was held on October 20, 1870, to select a suitable piece of unimproved public land for a town site. They recommended the North 1/2 of section 8 Township 1 N., Range 3 E. and that the town be called Phoenix.

On February 12, 1871, the territorial legislature created Maricopa County, the sixth in the state, by dividing Yavapai County. Maricopa county gave up portions in 1875 and 1881 to help form Pinal and (A river that rises in western New Mexico and flows westward through southern Arizona to become a tributary of the Colorado River) Gila counties, respectively. The first county election in Maricopa County was held in 1871, when Tom Barnum was elected the first sheriff of Maricopa County.

The first public school in Phoenix opened on September 5, 1872, in the courtroom of the county building. By October 1873, a small adobe school building was completed on Center Street (now Central Avenue), a short distance north of where the San Carlos Hotel now stands. Miss Nellie Shaver, a newcomer from Wisconsin, was appointed as the first female schoolteacher in Phoenix.

On April 10, 1874, President Grant issued a land patent for the present site of Phoenix. The total cost of the Phoenix Townsite of 320 acres (1.3 km2) was $550, including all expenses for services.

By 1881, Phoenix had outgrown its original townsite-commissioner form of government. The 11th Territorial Legislature passed the Phoenix Charter Bill, incorporating Phoenix and providing for a mayor-council government. The bill was signed by Governor (United States explorer who mapped much of the American west and northwest (1813-1890) John C. Fremont

on February 25, 1881. Phoenix was incorporated with a population of approximately 2,500, and on May 3, 1881, Phoenix held its first city election, in which Judge John T. Alsap defeated James D. Monihon, 127 to 107, to become the city's first Mayor.

Prosperity and modernity

The coming of the railroad in the (The decade from 1880 to 1889)

1880s was the first of several important events that revolutionized the economy of Phoenix. Merchandise now flowed into the city by rail instead of wagon. Phoenix became a trade center with its products reaching eastern and western markets. In recognition of the increased tempo of economic life, the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce was organized on November 4, 1888.

In early 1888, the city offices were moved into the new City Hall, built where the downtown bus terminal now stands. This building also provided temporary offices for the territorial government when it moved to Phoenix from (A town in central Arizona) Prescott in 1889.

In 1902, President (26th President of the United States; hero of the Spanish-American War; Panama Canal was built during his administration; said `Speak softly but carry a big stick' (1858-1919) Theodore Roosevelt signed the National Reclamation Act making it possible to build dams on western streams for reclamation purposes.

Valley of the Sun residents were quick to supplement this federal action by organizing the Salt River Valley Waters Users' Association on February 4, 1903, to assure proper management of the precious water supply. It functions to this day as the major agency for controlled use of irrigation water in the Valley.

On May 18, 1911, the Theodore Roosevelt Dam, then the largest masonry dam in the world, began operation. It created Roosevelt Lake, expanded irrigation of land in the Valley for farming, and increased the water supply for the growing population.

On February 14, 1912, President (27th President of the United States and later chief justice of the United States Supreme Court (1857-1930)William Howard Taft approved Arizona's statehood, making Phoenix the state capital.

In 1913, Phoenix changed its form of government from mayor-council to council-manager. Phoenix was one of the first cities in the United States to have this form of city government.

In 1924, President (Elected Vice President and succeeded as 30th President of the United States when Harding died in 1923 (1872-1933) Calvin Coolidge sold 13,000 acres (53 km²) of South Mountain to the city of Phoenix for $17,000. At its present size of 16,500 acres (67 km2), South Mountain Park is the largest metropolitan park in the world, and it entertains 3 million visitors each year year.

Phoenix began to grow into a young metropolis. By 1920, Phoenix had a population of 29,053 inhabitants, which by 1930 had grown by 60%, to 48,118.

1940 marked another turning point, as the war changed Phoenix from a farming center to a distribution center. Phoenix rapidly turned into an embryonic industrial city with mass production of military supplies. Luke Field, Williams Field and Falcon Field, coupled with the giant ground-training center at Hyder, west of Phoenix, brought thousands of men into Phoenix.

In 1950, 105,000 people lived within the city limits and thousands more lived in adjacent communities and depended upon Phoenix for their livelihoods. The city had 148 miles (238 km) of paved streets and 163 miles (262 km) of unpaved streets, a total of 311 miles (501 km) of streets within the city limits.

Phoenix has been selected four times since 1950 as an All-America City, rare among larger cities. The hallmark of an All-America City is the extent to which its private citizens get involved in the workings of their government. Thousands of citizens have served on various city committees, boards and commissions to assure that major decisions are in the best interest of the people.

By: Absolute Astronomy/encyclopedia.

More About Arizona

Arizona Wildlife Owl, Javelina, Coyote ...

Arizona Storyclub presents the history, lore, legends and scenic attractions of Arizona. The author says 6,000 people a week are moving to Arizona who don't know anything about it, and this is an easy way to learn.

Homolovi State Park serves as a center of research for the late migration period of the Hopi from the 1200's to the late 1300's. While archaeologists study the sites and confer with the Hopi to unravel the history of Homolovi, Arizona State Parks provides the opportunity for visitors to visit the sites and use park facilities including a visitor center and museum, various trails and a campground. Several covered picnic tables are located throughout the park. Pullouts provide the opportunity to observe wildlife in this park of over 4,000 acres at an elevation of 4,900 feet.

Camelback, Sacred Mountain of Phoenix website of the Arizona Historical Foundation at ASU, founded by Barry Goldwater.

Arizona Highways Online electronic edition of the wonderful magazine.

Nature songs

Arizona Images - Beautiful photos!

The name "Arizona" - Historians disagree about who gets credit for naming the state. Some attribute Arizona to an O'odham phrase, "Ali Shonac," meaning shallow, brackish water or spring. More recent writings attribute the name to a Basque phrase,

"Aritz ona," meaning the good oak tree or trees. The name was first applied to a huge silver discovery southwest of Nogales, where oak rees grow. Or it could be a pima word meaning "place of little springs." An Aztec word "arizuma," meaning "silver-bearing" could be the origin? !

GemLand® Take a virtual tour of the Valley of the Sun without leaving your chair! GemLand’s unique map accesses nearly 100 different scenic views around the Phoenix and Scottsdale areas, allowing you to check out the landscape in any part of the Valley. * Geologic explanations are available in pop-up windows, and each scene can be sent as an e-postcard to your friends. *

Mystery Castle near South Mountain:

Boyce Gulley built the castle for his daughter, MaryLou, as in 1930 Gulley was diagnosed with TB and left his family for not wanting to burden them. Gully spent 16 years building the castle. In 1945, he sent MaryLou a letter about the castle and why he had left. MaryLou and her mother moved in after Boyce Gulley's death. Reel Life is making a documentary of the castle.


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