Mattie Earp Gravesite, Vandals Spark Preservation of Historic Pinal Cemetery
The historic Pinal Cemetery, ca. 1880 to approximately 1920, served the residents of Pinal and the mill workers from Silver King Mine. Following the mine closure in 1888, Pinal was depopulated but the cemetery was still used by the residents of the new copper camp, Superior. With the establishment of Superior’s own cemetery in 1916, use of the … Read more...
Southern Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Declared “Hidden Gem”
Arizona’s natural, diverse landscape has garnered international acclaims and attention, yet many scenic parks continue to fly under the mainstream radar. One such spot – the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Ajo and Why – is getting a much-deserved shout out by Country. The magazine’s 2013 June/July issue is showcasing the Top 10 … Read more...
Did Camels Ever Roam Wild in Arizona?
Excerpt from Valley 101: A Slightly Skewed Guide to Living in Arizona, a collection of Clay Thompson’s columns for The Arizona Republic. (Originally published October 7, 2001.) Q: We just moved here from the Midwest. My son came home from his new school the other day and said there are wild camels living in the desert. Is this true? A: Your … Read more...
Mining Engineer Decorates the Community of Oracle in Southern Arizona
ORACLE -- Martin Salter wasn't a trained artist, but his work is highly regarded in this community. Salter was a mining engineer who loved art and wanted his town to be a place of culture, so he created art objects and placed them at strategic sites. He designed a mural for a wall that surrounds the parking lot at the Oracle Public Library, then … Read more...
Know the Origin of the Frog Boulder near Cherry?
Some creative landmarks dot the landscape around Yavapai County – the Hwy 89 frog, the SR 96 duck and the Date Creek skull. Each delicately painted boulder is visible roadside. The latest landmark on our radar is this frog rock located near the ghost town of Cherry. Arizona Oddities reader Mary-Ann Johnson brought this artistic endeavor to our … Read more...
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Mining Engineer Decorates the Community of Oracle in Southern Arizona
ORACLE — Martin Salter wasn’t a trained artist, but his work is highly regarded in this community. Salter was a mining engineer who loved art and wanted his town to be a place of culture, so he created art objects and placed them at strategic sites.
How Much Water Does My Swimming Pool Lose Through Evaporation?
Q: How much water do I lose from my swimming pool through evaporation? A: This is a question that comes in a lot, evaporation from swimming pools or from Tempe Town Lake. It seems to be preying on the minds of many of you. I actually found an equation for this…
Two Stashes of Gold Loot Remain a Mystery Near Flagstaff
Not all of Arizona’s lost treasures are mines. Somewhere near Happy Jack, a small lumber town between Flagstaff and Clints Well, lies a quarter million dollars in gold coin taken during a stage robbery. Back in 1879 a stagecoach carrying a secret shipment of gold from Santa Fe to Prescott, was waylaid…
Know the Origin of the Frog Boulder near Cherry?
Some creative landmarks dot the landscape around Yavapai County – the Hwy 89 frog, the SR 96 duck and the Date Creek skull. Each delicately painted boulder is visible roadside. The latest landmark on our radar is this frog rock located near the ghost town of Cherry.
Featured: Small Town Scene
Creepy Curiosities Found at The Bisbee Mini Museum of the Bizarre
Have you ever seen a two-headed squirrel? A shrunken human head? Perhaps a mold of Bigfoot’s footprint? Those oddities and more can be found at The Bisbee Mini Museum of the Bizarre.
Tribute to Melvin Jones on U.S. 70
There are very few distractions along U.S. 70 as it winds its way through the cotton fields and flatlands at Fort Thomas in southeastern Arizona. Mount Graham is a blue-gray mass on the horizon and a few other peaks rise gently from an otherwise level landscape. But suddenly, on the western edge of the community, a spire rises more than 50 feet above the semi-desert. What makes it unusual is that it’s standing there all by itself, with no church attached. A quick stop for an inspection reveals that it’s a memorial to Melvin Jones. Since a 50-foot obelisk doesn’t just pop out of the ground all by itself, this raises the question…
Arizona Place Names (Pt. 2): Origins from Prominent People, Patriotism in Old Arizona
Patriotism was the motivating factor in the naming of one of northern Arizona’s most prominent cities. A party of immigrants bound for California camped at the foot of the San Francisco Mountains on July 4, 1876. To honor the nation’s centennial, they raised the colors. To celebrate the occasion they called the site Flagstaff.
A group of miners in Santa Cruz County wanted to call their new town “American Flag,” but the idea was nixed
Move Over Chicago, Best Franks Found at Jimmy’s Hot Dog Company in Bisbee
BISBEE – The iconic Chicago hot dog: an all-beef frank topped with tomato, pickles, relish, onions, sport peppers, mustard and celery salt, all encased in a poppy seed bun. Seems simple enough, but any Chicagoan will tell you that us Arizonans just can’t master this highly acclaimed recipe. Yet unbeknownst to most Windy City transplants
Winslow Chamber of Commerce Housed in Old Arizona Trading Post
WINSLOW — Most Chamber of Commerce office buildings are just that — office buildings. But the structure that houses the Winslow Chamber of Commerce is an important slice of history.
Featured: Dose of History
Captain John Hance Impresses Early Grand Canyon Tourists with Tall Tales
Another Arizona character who delighted locals and visitors alike was John Hance. In the old days they used to say that anyone who visited the Grand Canyon and didn’t meet Captain John Hance had missed half the show. For some 20 years, Cap Hance provided lying and lodging for the tourists. His brand of humor was a windy nature. The dudes never knew just how much of Cap’s stories to believe, for he always led them down the paths of plausibility…
How Did Phoenix Get Its Name?
Arizona’s capital city might have been called “Salina,” “Stonewall,” or even “Pumpkinville,” had it not been for a spurious English “Lord” named Darrell Duppa. Duppa was a well-educated world traveler who, it was rumored, was given a substantial allowance by his wealthy English relatives to remain permanently at large.
His raucous lifestyle, highlighted by epic bouts with dipsomania was, no doubt, a source of embarrassment to his relatives and contributed to his banishment to Arizona. It was said “Lord” Duppa was fluent in seven languages. Unfortunately for his listeners, the erudite eccentric spoke all seven in the same paragraph.
Duppa was a member of a committee chosen to select a name for the new settlement on the banks of the Salt River one sunny October day in 1870.
Lieutenant Amiel Whipple’s Good Deed Saved 47 Lives
On a hot afternoon in 1849 not far from the Yuma River Crossing, a small party of Army Topographical Engineers came upon a young Indian girl wandering in the desert. She was nearly dead from exposure, hunger and thirst. Many would have left the youngster to her fate. It was a tough, unforgiving land where the strong survived and the weak perished.
The officer in charge was a kind, thoughtful man from Massachusetts, named Amiel Weeks Whipple. He’d only been in the Southwest a short time but had already developed a deep respect for the customs and culture of the native residents.
Whipple shared his canteen with the youngster, then gave her some food. Before she departed he presented her with a small mirror—a simple token of friendship and also something any young lady would surely cherish. She smiled and left to return to her people. Lieutenant Whipple went back to his job—that of surveying a boundary between Yuma and San Diego, marking the new land won in the recent war with Mexico.
Wickenburg’s Botanical Incarcerator
Right in the middle of downtown Wickenburg, there’s an old mesquite tree that folks around town say has been there longer than anyone can remember. Local historians who check into such things say it’s more than 200 years old, and claim they have evidence to prove it. They also say it once served as the community’s only jail.
The Story of J Goldwater & Bros: Commerce on the Colorado River
“Gold!” The word spread like wildfire. The emotional pitch generated by that single cry sent normally sane men and women scurrying up hundreds of canyons and river beds to wash away nameless mountains—a shovel load at a time—over the riffles of a sluice box.
