Arizona Trivia & Tidbits - Page 12

Looking for Arizona trivia? Try our list Arizona little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney was born in Phoenix in 1929 and earned an education degree from the University of Arizona. The television program, which first aired in 1969, transformed children’s television by combining entertainment with education. Cooney received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995.

first appeared: 8/31/2003

When Lorna E. Lockwood of Douglas (pop. 14,312) was elected chief justice in 1965, she was the first woman to head the Arizona Supreme Court. Lockwood served on the court from 1961 to 1975; her father, Alfred C. Lockwood, served from 1925 to 1943.

first appeared: 8/24/2003

The Grand Canyon follows 277 miles of the Colorado River, from Lees Ferry to the Grand Wash Cliffs. Along the way, its deepest measurement is 6,000 feet from rim to river, and its widest is 18 miles. The trip to the canyon bottom and back up takes two days on foot or by mule.

first appeared: 8/17/2003

The gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone (pop. 1,504) took place Oct. 26, 1881, in a vacant lot near the corral. Doc Holliday and Morgan, Virgil, and Wyatt Earp faced off against Ike and Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury, and Billy Claiborne. The gunfight lasted 30 seconds, and left Billy Clanton and the McLaurys dead.

first appeared: 8/10/2003

Dolan Ellis has been the state’s official balladeer for more than 35 years, writing hundreds of songs that tell of the state and its history. An original member of the folk group The New Christy Minstrels, Ellis calls Ramsey Canyon home, in the Huachuca Mountains of southeastern Arizona.

first appeared: 8/3/2003

Percival Lowell founded the Lowell Observatory on Mars Hill near Flagstaff in 1894 in order to study Mars, which at the time was at one of its closest points to Earth. Significant milestones at the observatory include 1912, when V.M. Slipher found the first evidence that the universe was expanding, and 1930, when Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto.

first appeared: 7/27/2003

Jazz musician and bass virtuoso Charles Mingus, who wrote his first concert piece at the age of 17, was born in Nogales (pop. 20,878) in 1922. Mingus recorded more than 100 albums and wrote more than 300 musical scores during his lifetime.

first appeared: 7/20/2003

Parker Dam is the world’s deepest dam, with a total height of 320 feet—235 of which extends below the bed of the Colorado River. Built between 1934 and 1938, it spans the river between Arizona and California, 17 miles northeast of Parker (pop. 3,140).

first appeared: 7/13/2003

Parker Dam’s reservoir, Lake Havasu, can deliver 1 billion gallons of water a day to southern California, and 1.3 billion gallons a day to central and southern Arizona.

first appeared: 7/13/2003

The state adopted the ringtail as its official mammal in 1986, after schoolchildren chose the shy, nocturnal animal over other candidates that included the whitetail deer, desert bighorn sheep, and javelina. The ringtail resembles a raccoon, with a gray body and a bushy, black-and-white-ringed tail.

first appeared: 7/6/2003

Mountain Time is observed in Arizona throughout the year—except in the Navajo Nation, in the state’s northeast, which observes daylight saving time changes in spring and fall.

first appeared: 7/6/2003

Mail going to Supai (pop. 525), below the south rim of the Grand Canyon, still moves by mule train. The only access route for the town is an eight-mile trail, the first two miles of which are a series of switchbacks along the canyon’s cliffs. The mule train makes the three- to five-hour trip five days a week, typically carrying a ton of mail that consists of letters, food, supplies, and even furniture.

first appeared: 6/29/2003

One of the state’s desert plants appears lifeless for much of the year. The ocotillo, or coachwhip, has thin, spiny branches that sprout leaves only after a rainfall. In the spring, the plant flowers with an orange-red blossom pollinated by hummingbirds. The branches, when woven into mesh wire, can take root and form a living fence.

first appeared: 6/22/2003

When the Arizona Diamondbacks made their major league debut in 1998, first baseman Travis Lee was the team’s first player to steal a base, hit a single, score a run, drive in a run, and hit a homer. Thanks to our readers for pointing out that Lee was not a Diamondbacks’ pitcher at the time.

first appeared: 6/22/2003

The road that leads up Mount Lemmon, in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, passes through five of North America’s seven life zones in just 27 miles—the equivalent of driving from Mexico’s deserts to Canada’s forests. Mount Lemmon rises to 9,157 feet and receives about 120 inches of winter snow, making it the southernmost ski area in the continental United States.

first appeared: 6/15/2003

Colossal Cave, near Vail (pop. 2,484), is one of the world’s largest dry caverns. More than two miles of passageways have been mapped in an area measuring about 400 feet by 600 feet, but more remains unexplored. The cave is part of Colossal Cave Mountain Park, which includes the nearby Arkenstone Cave. Seven entirely new species of invertebrates have been identified there, three of which are known to exist only in Arkenstone.

first appeared: 6/8/2003

The Ramsey Canyon Preserve near Sierra Vista (pop. 37,775) is home to 14 species of hummingbirds, including the berylline and white-eared hummingbird. The 380-acre preserve features a sycamore-maple riverside corridor, more than 170 species of birds, and wildlife such as mountain lions, tree frogs, and rattlesnakes.

first appeared: 6/1/2003

The first airplane to land in Arizona arrived in Yuma on Oct. 25, 1911. Robert G. “Bob” Fowler was flying between California and Florida at the time, in his Wright model B, 30-horsepower, two-propeller biplane. He landed in a ballpark between First and Third streets on Fourth Avenue. When he left Yuma four days later, local residents helped push the plane up the Third Street hill so that it could have a downhill slope to aid lift-off.

first appeared: 5/25/2003

Casa Grande, or “Big House,” is believed to be the largest structure built by the Hohokam people of southern Arizona. Dating to the mid-1300s, Casa Grande was built of layers of caliche mud 4-feet thick at the base and probably rose to four stories. With holes in three walls, the building may have been used for astronomical observations. Today, it’s part of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, the nation’s first archeological preserve, near Coolidge (pop. 7,786).

first appeared: 5/18/2003

The state’s only Civil War battle took place in Picacho (meaning Peak) Pass, which runs between Picacho Peak and the Picacho Mountains near the town of the same name (pop. 2,793). In April 1862, troops from the Union’s California Volunteers skirmished here with a detachment of the Confederacy’s Texas Volunteers.

first appeared: 5/11/2003

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