TORTILLA FLAT – For more than a hundred years, thirsty travelers have flocked to Tortilla Flat. Once a popular stagecoach stop along the Apache Trail, the saloon anchoring this tiny and resilient community still serves up libations to tourists seeking a slice of Old Arizona.
Paula, an Arizona Oddities reader, recently inquired about the history and creation of Roosevelt Dam. While that’s quite a long story with several sides, we’ve done our best to summarize a few key points in a short blog post.
Whenever I have questions like this about Arizona history, I go to Arizona Oddities contributor and all-around-AZ-expert Marshall Trimble. I asked him for the story behind Roosevelt Dam, and this is what he told me:
Roosevelt Dam was the first major Reclamation Project in the West and was probably the most significant event in the entire history of the Salt River Valley because it provided a reservoir of life-giving water that would make it possible for people to live here. Up until then, the settlers would have to leave during times of drought.
