Joseph City, Arizona

Joseph City (elevation 5,000 ft) is an unincorporated community located in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. It is located on Interstate 40 about eighty miles east of Flagstaff and about thirty-five miles west of Petrified Forest National Park. In 2010, there were 1,386 inhabitants.[4]

Joseph City was settled in 1876 by colonists from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This band of 73 pioneers was led by Captain William C. Allen.[5] They traveled to the Little Colorado River basin of Arizona. Joseph City was one of four Little Colorado River colonies.[6] The other colonies were Brigham City, Sunset, and Obed. Joseph City is the only remaining colony.[7]

The hardest trial for the new colonists was trying to get water for their crops. This meant that they had to try to tame the Little Colorado River. This was difficult due to the flooding season that would destroy dams along the river. The first dam was built in 1876, shortly after the colonists arrived in the area. For the next eighteen years the colonists built ten more dams. The eleventh dam was built in 1894. This dam lasted for twenty-nine years. In 1923, the eleventh dam was destroyed and the colonists were forced to build a new dam. This dam still currently stands and directs water to the inhabitants still in the city.[8]

Dateland, Arizona

Dateland began as a road stop in the 1920s. During World War II, Dateland was home to Dateland Air Force Auxiliary Field. After the closure of the airfield, the land was subdivided in the 1970s. The developers of one subdivision on the former airfield, El Camino Del Sol, were convicted of fraud in 1977.[6][7] Most of Dateland consists of undeveloped lots.[8]

This area has a large amount of sunshine year round due to its stable descending air and high pressure. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Dateland has a desert climate, abbreviated "Bwh" on climate maps.[9]

Gila Bend, Arizona

Gila Bend (/ˌhiːlə ˈbɛnd/; O'odham: Hila Wi:n), founded in 1872, is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The town is named for an approximately 90-degree bend in the Gila River, which is near the community's current location.[5] According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 1,922.[3]

The town of Gila Bend is situated near an ancient Hohokam village. Father Eusebio Francisco Kino was the first European to visit in 1699 on his first journey of exploration to the Colorado River. The Hohokam site along fertile banks of the Gila River had been abandoned and other tribes, lived in the vicinity. 132 Pima people lived in a rancheria called Oyadaibuc or as Kino named it San Felipe y Santiago del Oyadaibuc, near the modern town, and other Pima lived in three rancherias up river to the north mixed with the Cocomaricopa or Opa. During one of his three visits to Gila Bend, Kino counted 960 Opas living in their own rancherias down river to the west of Oyadaibuc as far as a few miles beyond Agua Caliente.[6]:26–27 The Opa and Pima used the flood waters of the river to irrigate their crops. Oyadaibuc was also visited by Juan Bautista de Anza, commander of the Presidio at Tubac and founder of the city of San Francisco, and by Father Francisco Tomas Garces in 1774.[7] As late as the 1820s Maricopa were living at Gila Bend. After the 1820s, the Maricopa, under relentless pressure from the Yuma and other tribes, and population loss from epidemics, had been compelled to leave the Gila Bend and join the Pima in the Middle Gila region. By the time of the California Gold Rush the Maricopa villages, were all located east of the Sierra Estrella, on the Gila River, below the Pima Villages.[6]:111–112

During the Mexican–American War, the expeditions of Kearny (1846), Cooke (1847) and Graham (1847) passed through the area but found no village. Only Graham found corn stubble on the riverside with which to graze his cattle.[8]:21–22 From 1849 what became the Southern Emigrant Trail passed through the area which by 1854 had acquired the name Tezotal or Tesotal, from name of the scientific name of the desert ironwood tree, (Olneya tesota) given it in the botanical report of the Boundary Survey along the Gila River led by William H. Emory.[9]:117,132

Paradise Valley, Arizona

Paradise Valley is a small, affluent town in Maricopa County, Arizona. It is the wealthiest municipality in Arizona.[4] The town is known for its luxury golf courses, shopping, and restaurant scene.[citation needed] According to the 2010 census, the population of the town was 12,820.[2] Despite the town's relatively small area and population compared to other municipalities in the Phoenix metropolitan area, Paradise Valley is home to eight full-service resorts, making it one of Arizona's premier tourist destinations. It is also known for expensive real estate.[5]

It should not be confused with Paradise Valley Village, an official municipal designation, in northeast Phoenix. For instance, Paradise Valley Community College, Paradise Valley High School, Paradise Valley Hospital, Paradise Valley Mall, and Paradise Valley Golf Course are all located several miles to the north of the town, in Phoenix. The town's name along with all the other various entities bearing the same name comes from the expansive area known as Paradise Valley, that spreads from north of the Phoenix Mountains to Cave Creek and Carefree on the north and the McDowell Mountains to the east.

The Paradise Valley Unified School District is one of the largest in the state, though like many other institutions with the name Paradise Valley, it refers to the Phoenix village, and not to the town.

Carefree, Arizona

Characterised as an upscale[5] residential area, Carefree was conceived in the mid-1950s by business partners K.T. Palmer and Tom Darlington as a master-planned community. Land sales commenced in 1955 and homebuilding started in 1958. Carefree was incorporated in 1984 to avoid annexation by neighboring Scottsdale.[6]

The Carefree sundial, designed by architect Joe Wong and solar engineer John I. Yellott,[7] was erected in the Sundial Circle plaza in 1959 and claims to be the "third largest sundial in the Western Hemisphere". The sundial, which points to the North Star, is made from a steel frame and covered in anodized copper. It measures 90 feet (27 m) in diameter. The metal gnomon, the shadow-casting portion of the dial, stands 35 feet (11 m) above the plaza and extends 72 feet (22 m).[8]

Carefree was the long-time home of Southwestern Studios, originally built in 1968 as Fred Graham Studios by actor, stunt man, and Arizona Film Commissioner Fred Graham. The sprawling 160-acre (0.65 km2) desert property adjacent to North Scottsdale featured three state-of-the-art soundstages, edit bays, 35mm screening room, make-up, production facilities, western street and back lot. In the early 1970s, Stage 1 of the studio was used for The New Dick Van Dyke Show starring Dick Van Dyke, Hope Lange, Fannie Flagg, and Marty Brill. Stage 1 also was used for the filming of one of Orson Welles' last films, The Other Side of the Wind, with John Huston, Oja Kodar, Susan Strasberg, Bob Random and Peter Bogdanovich.[9]

Mohave Valley, Arizona

Mohave Valley ('Amat' 'Analy Uuhwely[3] in Mojave) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. The population was 13,694 at the 2000 census. It is geographically connected to Needles, California, Fort Mohave, Arizona, and Bullhead City, Arizona.

The first recorded European to come through Mohave Valley was Melchor Díaz. He documented his travels in northwestern Mohave County in 1540.[4] He recounts meeting a large population of natives who referred to themselves as the Pipa Aha Macav, meaning "People by the River".[5] From "Aha Macav" came the shortened name "Mojave" (also spelled "Mohave"). While Mohave Valley and Mohave County use the modern English spelling, the tribe retains the traditional Spanish spelling "Mojave". Both are correct, and both are pronounced "Moh-hah-vee".[6][7]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 45.4 square miles (118 km2), of which, 45.3 square miles (117 km2) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km2) of it (0.35%) is water.

Page, Arizona

Unlike other cities in the area, Page was founded in 1957 as a housing community for workers and their families during the construction of nearby Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. Its 17-square-mile (44 km2) site was obtained in a land exchange with the Navajo Nation. The city is perched atop Manson Mesa at an elevation of 4,300 feet (1,300 m) above sea level and 600 feet (180 m) above Lake Powell.

After the dam was completed in the 1960s, and was officially incorporated (March 1, 1975), the city grew steadily to today's population of over 7,000. Because of the new roads and bridge built for use during construction, it has become the gateway to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Lake Powell, attracting more than 3 million visitors per year. Page is also the home of two of the largest electrical generation units in the western United States. Glen Canyon Dam has a 1,288,000-kilowatt capacity when fully online. The other power plant to the southeast is the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired steam plant with an output capability of 2,250,000 kilowatts.

Page is located at 36°54′51″N 111°27′35″W / 36.91417°N 111.45972°W / 36.91417; -111.45972 (36.914296, -111.459717).[5] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.6 square miles (43 km2), of which 16.6 square miles (43 km2) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km2), or 0.12%, is water.

Congress, Arizona

Congress is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. Once a gold-mining center and then a ghost town, Congress now serves as a retirement and bedroom community for nearby Wickenburg. The population was 1,717 at the 2000 census.

Gold was discovered at Congress in 1884. By 1893, the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway passed within three miles of the mine, at Congress Junction. Congress boomed, and remained prosperous until the mid-1930s, when the mines closed. Total gold production at the Congress Mine exceeded $8 million, at the then-current price of $20.67 per ounce — or about $400 million, at the 2007 price.[3]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 37.7 square miles (98 km2), of which, 37.6 square miles (97 km2) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km2) (0.08%) is water.

Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station

The Palo Verde Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located near Tonopah, Arizona,[5] in western Arizona. It is located about 45 miles (72 km) due west of downtown Phoenix, Arizona, and it is located near the Gila River, which is dry save for the rainy season in late summer.

The Palo Verde Generating Station is the largest power plant in the United States by net generation.[6] Its average electric power production is about 3.3 gigawatts (GW),[5] and this power serves about four million people. The Arizona Public Service Company (APS) operates and owns 29.1% of the plant. Its other major owners include the Salt River Project (17.5%), the El Paso Electric Company (15.8%), Southern California Edison (15.8%), PNM Resources (10.2%), the Southern California Public Power Authority (5.9%), and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (5.7%).[7]

The Palo Verde Generating Station is located in the Arizona desert, and is the only large nuclear power plant in the world that is not located near a large body of water. The power plant evaporates the water from the treated sewage from several nearby cities and towns to provide the cooling of the steam that it produces.

Elgin, Arizona

Elgin is located along the Babocomari River at 31°37′45″N 110°34′19″W / 31.62917°N 110.57194°W / 31.62917; -110.57194 (31.629095, -110.571951).[2] The Babocomari is known to harbor a unique species of fish, belonging to the family Characidae. They are incredibly rare and little is known about them. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 5.9 square miles (15.4 km2), all of it land.[1]

As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 309 people, 123 households, and 86 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 6.4 people per square mile (2.5/km²). There were 153 housing units at an average density of 3.2/sq mi (1.2/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 91.59% White, 2.91% Native American, 3.24% from other races, and 2.27% from two or more races. 13.59% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 123 households out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.2% were married couples living together, 4.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.3% were non-families. 24.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.00.