Arizona Trivia & Tidbits - Page 15

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

Arizona’s Sonoran Desert National Monument in the south-central part of the state encompasses three mountain ranges (the Maricopa, Sand Tank, and Table Top mountains), saguaro cactus forests, and remains of historic trails from the early days of the region’s exploration.

first appeared: 9/22/2002

Skydive Arizona, in Eloy (pop. 10,375) midway between Phoenix and Tucson, is the world’s largest skydiving center, according to the U. S. Parachute Association. The center covers almost 350 acres of flat, uninhabited land and houses the largest fleet of turbine airplanes in the world. The location ensures more than 340 flying days a year in sunny skies.

first appeared: 9/15/2002

The film version of Zane Grey’s Call of the Canyon was shot on location in 1923 in Sedona (pop. 10,192).

first appeared: 9/8/2002

Mystery Castle, seven miles south of downtown Phoenix, is an 18-room, three-story dwelling constructed of native stone, sand, cement, and salvaged materials, including Stutz Bearcat wire-rim wheels and petroglyphs. Boyce Gulley, originally from Seattle, built the house for his daughter between 1929 and 1945.

first appeared: 9/8/2002

Kitt Peak National Observatory in the Quinlan Mountains southwest of Tucson provides the world’s greatest concentration of telescopes for star, sun, and planetary research. Scientists there discovered a monstrous black hole 50 million light years from Earth that has swallowed up matter equal to 2 billion times our sun’s mass. Kitt Peak Mountain is named for the sister of a surveyor who came to the Arizona Territory in 1874.

first appeared: 9/1/2002

Fort Verde State Historic Park at Camp Verde (pop. 9,451) offers visitors a look at life at the Army fort from 1865 through 1890. Three historic house museums display the commanding officer’s quarters, bachelors’ quarters, and doctor’s quarters. All three are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

first appeared: 8/25/2002

Part of Oracle State Park near Tucson was once a wildlife habitat. In 1976, Lucille Kannally donated her desert foothills ranch of 4,000 acres to Defenders of Wildlife. In 1985, the group deeded the property to the state, which developed the original ranch’s woodlands and deep arroyos into an environmental education center.

first appeared: 8/18/2002

Known as the “Padre on Horseback,” the tireless and well-traveled Father Eusebio Francisco Kino made his mark on the Arizona Territory when he established missions in the area in the late 1600s. Tumacácori, established by Kino in January 1691, is the oldest mission site in the state and is now part of Tumacácori National Historic Park.

first appeared: 8/11/2002

In 1974, two young cave explorers in the Whetstone Mountains felt air coming out of a ground crack and crawled inside. They found a pristine cavern full of extraordinary colors and rock formations, which they explored for four years before telling anyone of their discovery. The state later bought the site, and the resulting Kartchner Caverns State Park is now open to visitors seven days a week.

first appeared: 8/4/2002

On July 4, 1876, our nation’s centennial, a group of settlers around what is now Flagstaff stripped the bark from a tall pine log to use as a flagpole, which remained standing and became a trail marker. In 1881, when a post office was established, the settlers decided to name their town Flag Staff.

first appeared: 7/28/2002

The beginnings of Route 66 within the state date back to the early 1800s, when Army officials charged Lt. Edward Beale with building a wagon road along the 35th Parallel between Fort Smith, Ark., and the Colorado settlement. Travelers along that trail gradually settled in certain spots, creating small towns in Arizona like Seligman, Horsehead Crossing (Holbrook), Brigham City (Winslow), and Flagstaff.

first appeared: 7/21/2002

William Lee “Flame” Delhi was the first Arizona native to play major-league baseball. He joined the Chicago White Sox in 1912—the year Arizona became a state—after a stint in the minor Pacific Coast League. “Flame” picked up his nickname after a sportswriter reported he had a blazing fast ball.

first appeared: 7/14/2002

Ernest W. “Mac” McFarland (1894-1984), “Father of the G.I. Bill” and founder of the Arizona State Parks system in 1957, served Arizona as U.S. senator, governor, and state Supreme Court justice—the only known American to have served his state in these capacities.

first appeared: 7/7/2002

At the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, visitors can get their exercise while observing animals and plants native to the desert in their natural habitat. Almost two miles of paths wind through the 21 acres of Sonoran Desert in the museum and botanical garden combined. Visitors get up-close views of Gila monsters, hummingbirds, a limestone cave, and more than 140 species of desert cacti.

first appeared: 6/30/2002

The Coronado Trail Scenic Road, passing through the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, takes travelers through terrain ranging from semi-desert communities to sub-alpine areas. Scenic views embrace the White Mountains, Blue Mountains, and area rivers the Black, Blue, San Francisco, and Little Colorado. The scenic byway takes its name from Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who led an expedition through the region in 1540 to find the Seven Cities of Cibola. The fabled cities of riches were never found.

first appeared: 6/23/2002

Williams (pop. 2,842) is named for mountain man Bill Williams, a famed fur trapper who traversed Arizona’s mountains in the mid-1800s. Every year the town remembers its heritage with Rendezvous Days, an event that includes an authentic 1840s camp in Buckskinner Park, in the shadow of Bill Williams Mountain.

first appeared: 6/16/2002

The highest point in Arizona is 12,633-foot Humphreys Peak in the San Francisco Mountains north of Flagstaff. A hike to the top along the strenuous, 4.5-mile trail leads to views of the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Verde Valley, and Oak Creek Canyon.

first appeared: 6/9/2002

The Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado (pop. 1,505)—the oldest continuously operating trading post on the Navajo Reservation—was opened by John Lorenzo Hubbell in 1878. It remained in the Hubbell family until 1967, when it was sold to the National Park Service, which maintains the post’s tradition of offering American Indian crafts and groceries.

first appeared: 6/2/2002

Famed film stars Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their wedding night at the historic Oatman Hotel in Oatman on March 29, 1939, after being married in nearby Kingman. Visitors to the hotel can view the Clark Gable-Carole Lombard suite and even spend the night there. The two-story adobe hotel, built in 1902, celebrated its 100th anniversary in March.

first appeared: 5/26/2002

In the late 1600s, Spanish Jesuits established colonial missions in the area now known as Tumacacori National Historical Park in the upper Santa Cruz River Valley of southern Arizona. Later the Franciscans administered the missions, building a church at Tumacacori in the early 1800s that has been preserved to show what life was like there 200 years ago.

first appeared: 5/19/2002

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