Arizona Trivia & Tidbits - Page 9

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

A Chandler city inspector visiting a new residential development made a mammoth discovery in July 1997. The bones that he noticed in a ditch turned out to be those of Columbian mammoths, which lived in the area toward the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago.

first appeared: 10/24/2004

Although the Vulture Mine near Wickenburg (pop. 5,082) produced gold worth $200 million between 1863 and 1942, it never produced enough profit to repay its investors. “Highgrading”—the theft of high-grade ore by workers—was part of the problem.

first appeared: 10/10/2004

In 1966, while working as a miner in the Cerbat Mountains, artist Roy Purcell—with the support of local residents—painted a 2,000-square-foot series of colorful Modernist murals on rocks outside Chloride, near Kingman (pop. 20,069). The murals, titled The Journey, can still be seen, opposite American Indian rock carvings.

first appeared: 10/3/2004

Visitors to the Singing Wind Bookshop near Benson (pop. 4,711) must navigate a dirt road and a cattle gate before ringing the ranch dinner bell to let owner Winifred Bundy know they’ve arrived. The bookstore, located on a cattle ranch, stocks one of the nation’s most extensive collections of books on the American Southwest and was founded more than 25 years ago.

first appeared: 9/19/2004

The International Dark-Sky Association named Flagstaff (pop. 52,894) its first-ever “International Dark-Sky City” in 2001, recognizing the city’s commitment to lighting measures that reduce the “light pollution,” or sky glow, that communities create. Preserving a dark sky makes it easier for astronomers and residents to stargaze.

first appeared: 9/12/2004

The 38-mile Verde Valley Railroad from Clarkdale (pop. 3,422) to Drake was built between 1911 and 1912 to service the copper mining industry. Clarkdale was named for William A. Clark, who financed the $1.3 million railroad, and now is home to the Verde Canyon Railroad, a rail tour that spans half of the old route.

first appeared: 9/5/2004

One of the world’s largest camera obscuras—weighing 500 pounds and featuring a 40-inch lens—can be found at the Gov Aker Observatory in Safford (pop. 9,232), where it projects an inverted image of Mount Graham onto a 12-foot screen. A camera obscura, or “dark chamber,” is a darkened box or room with a small opening that allows light and images to enter.

first appeared: 8/29/2004

Marshall Trimble, who was raised in Ash Fork (pop. 457), is the state’s official historian. A folk singer, college history professor, and author of 19 books, Trimble dedicated his life to stories of the American West after a 1968 visit to the site of Custer’s Last Stand in Montana.

first appeared: 8/22/2004

In October 1775, Juan Bautista de Anza—captain of the Spanish presidio, or fort, at Tubac (pop. 949)—set off with more than 240 soldiers and settlers to found a presidio and mission near San Francisco Bay. Today, the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail spans 1,200 miles and two states, from Nogales (pop. 20,878) to San Francisco.

first appeared: 8/15/2004

Willcox Playa, a dry lakebed that covers about 50 square miles near Willcox (pop. 3,733), is home to dust storms and mirages during summer. Once used as a military training range, it becomes a shallow lake after heavy winter rains, attracting thousands of migrating sandhill cranes and other water birds.

first appeared: 8/8/2004

The 1797 church of the Mission San Xavier del Bac, located near Tucson, is one of the nation’s finest examples of mission architecture. Also known as the “white dove of the desert,” the building’s brilliant white construction combines Byzantine, Mexican Renaissance and Moorish styles and includes parapets, spires, towers and a dome.

first appeared: 8/1/2004

More than 220 feet deep, Canyon Diablo between Flagstaff (pop. 52,894) and Winslow (pop. 9,520) was named in 1853 by a survey party looking for a railroad route. When railroad construction stopped at the canyon in the early 1880s, awaiting bridge construction, the town of Canyon Diablo was created. It quickly earned a lawless reputation but faded into a ghost town after the bridge was completed in 1890.

first appeared: 7/25/2004

Country music artist Tanya Tucker was born in Seminole, Texas (pop. 5,910), on Oct. 10, 1958, but spent her early years in Willcox (pop. 3,733) before moving to Phoenix in 1967. She recorded her first hit, Delta Dawn, when she was 13, and by age 15, had a greatest hits collection, a Grammy nomination, and appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

first appeared: 7/18/2004

Arizona’s first spring training baseball game took place in Phoenix on March 26, 1929, when the Detroit Tigers played an exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Regular spring training began in 1947, after Bill Veeck brought the Cleveland Indians to Tucson and Horace Stoneham brought the New York Giants to Phoenix, thus creating the Cactus League.

first appeared: 7/11/2004

George W. P. Hunt, the state’s first governor, is buried in a white pyramid-shaped building that overlooks Papago Park in Phoenix. Born in 1859, Hunt settled in Globe (pop. 7,486) in 1881, eventually becoming one of the state’s wealthiest residents. He died in 1934, having served seven terms as governor.

first appeared: 6/27/2004

The San Pedro River—a rare example of a desert river—flows north from Mexico, between the Huachuca and Mule mountain ranges, to join the Gila River near Winkelman (pop. 443). A national conservation area protects the riverside ecosystem of the San Pedro for 40 miles between St. David (pop. 1,744) and the U.S. border.

first appeared: 6/20/2004

Artist Robert McCall, who lives in Paradise Valley (pop. 13,664), has been called America’s visual space historian for his work chronicling the U.S. space program. His projects include a 27,000-square-foot mural titled “Tour of the Universe” at the Challenger Space Center in Peoria, Ariz., along with a series of U.S. Postal Service stamps featuring space subjects, and paintings for films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey.

first appeared: 6/13/2004

At 90 feet across, the 45-year-old sundial in Carefree (pop. 2,927) is one of the world’s largest. The copper-coated steel structure boasts a gnomon—the portion that casts the shadow—that stands 35 feet above the base, or plaza, and extends out 72 feet.

first appeared: 6/13/2004

Located west of Phoenix, Goodyear (pop. 18,911) was named for the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which bought 16,000 acres of land there in 1916 to grow Egyptian cotton that was used in tire-making.

first appeared: 6/6/2004

During an average weekend of a NASCAR Nextel Cup race, the Phoenix International Speedway estimates that spectators consume more than 30,000 hot dogs, enough to go around the 1-mile oval track three times.

first appeared: 5/30/2004

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