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

Ever since man first set foot in this land called Arizona, he has felt compelled to name every river, waterhole, mountain pass and trail. Inspiration was usually drawn from great natural spectacles and awesome beauty, but not always. Among Arizona’s fabulous mineral laden mountains lie the skeletal remains of storied ghost camps of yesteryear, born in boom and died in dust, the fragile wooden walls, concrete ruins, monuments to hopes and aspirations that didn’t always pan out.

These ghostly reminders of the past were generally populated by a variety of boisterous, rough and tumble miners generally characterized as unmarried, unchurched, and unwashed. They named their temporary abodes after former hometowns or countries, girlfriends, local geography, dappled with a liberal touch of tongue-in-cheek humor.

For better or for worse, it is not “What is Legend City?” but “What was Legend City?” That 58-acre chapter in the Valley’s pop culture history closed in 1983, but there remains a certain age group of Valley residents who hold its memory in fond regard.

Legend City was an amusement park that stood near 56th and Washington streets. Actually, it was originally planned more as a Wild West theme park than an amusement park by investors who dreamed of a Disneyland on the desert. There was a steam locomotive running on a 1-mile track, an Indian village, a ghost town, a Mexican village, miniature golf, a roller coaster and other rides.

t was not the cow that made the cowboy; it was the horse. In the early days, it was a range mongrel known as the mustang, those sturdy, unpampered descendants of the Spanish breed that were the greatest contributors to a cowboy’s self-image. There was an aura of aristocracy, shared by the fraternity of horsemen, that bridged all cultures.