TUBAC – More than 150 years ago – five decades before statehood – Arizona’s first newspaper hit the printing press in Tubac.
At the time, Tubac was among the territory’s more active presidios with 400 residents. The Gadsden Purchase had just been ratified five years earlier…
Two Arizona sites listed as oddities have fallen victim to wind, rain and fire.
The little church that Loren Pratt built to honor his late wife – the Mini Taj – was severely damaged by an Arizona thunderstorm. It stood in the open fields at Dome and welcomed visitors and curious passersby since 1996, but succumbed to the storm in early September. The winds tore the roof off and left only a couple of walls standing.
The genesis of Galeyville, on the eastern side of the Chiricahua Mountains, was similar to many other short-lived boom towns in Cochise County.
In this case, it all started in 1880 when John Galey arrived from Pennsylvania to promote a silver mine. Since the prospect was only 60 miles, as the crow flies, from Tombstone’s bonanza, Galey visualized himself as the next silver king of Arizona. He secured some financial backing and laid out a townsite. Before long, Galeyville boasted 11 saloons and some 30 other various and sundry enterprises.
The boom lasted only about a year. The silver played out and Galeyville became another metropolis that didn’t quite metropolis. The story of old Galeyville might have ended right there, had not a pack of outlaws led by Curly Bill Brocius decided to take up residence.
SAHUARITA — The Titan Missile Museum here isn’t really scary like a haunted house, but when you stop to consider the damage that one of those things could have done, it goes way beyond frightening.
Fortunately, it never happened.
During the Cold War, several Titan missiles armed with nuclear warheads were planted in deep holes and aimed at the Soviet Union as a matter of precautionary defense. None were ever fired, so nobody knows for certain what the consequences would have been. The site/museum here was originally known as Site 571-7, and was one of 54 sites in three states to be spared after nuclear disarmament treaties were signed. Now the complex is a museum that reflects on something that never happened.
YUMA — This city is so proud of its sunshine that it has always been willing to be on it. According to the Guinness World Record book, Yuma is the sunniest place on earth, with bright skies prevailing an average of 4,055 hours out of a possible 4,456 hours every year. That’s 91 percent of the time. Or 350 days per year.
More than a century ago, Yuma hotels backed up the sunshine boast by offering free board to visitors every day the sun didn’t shine. Times have changed, but there are still freebies.
