Some Interesting facts about Arizona

[Pirate Dirty Jack Rackham]

Found on Google, thought some may enjoy this:

* The Capitol building of Arizona has a roof with copper construction. The amount of copper that was utilized to make the roof is equivalent to that used in 4,800,000 pennies.

* The law of the state of Arizona states that it is illegal to keep a donkey in your bathtub.

* If you are a citizen of Arizona, never refuse a person a glass of water, because it is illegal to do so.

* If you are being attacked by a criminal, you are permitted to use the same weapon that is being used by the attacker in
self-defense.

* Citizens are not permitted to ride their horses up the stairs of the county courthouse in Prescott.

* In Arizona, a misdemeanor is felony, if one is wearing a red mask.

* In Globe, Arizona, a game of cards cannot be played in the street with Native Americans.

* Earlier, camels were used as mode of transport in Arizona.

* Phoenix, the state's capital, was started as a hay camp.

* If you cut down a cactus, you may face 25 years of imprisonment.

* To spray paint in Tempe, Arizona, one has to be more than 18 years old.

* In Tuscon, it is illegal for women to wear pants.

* One of the hilarious laws that was passed in Arizona was in Tombstone. The law stated that it is illegal for people above 18 years of age to smile and reveal less than one missing tooth.

 

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[pojotex]

I think you need to check your facts again, because a few of them are WRONG!

 

[bzbadger]

Just for shitz and giggles but how is he WRONG? Apparently he took the time and looked it up or someone did and he is passing it along. I have heard and seen the crazy laws written and those that are still on the books. Hey, they're still being written just look at what's being called a president today and what he has put in as law. Funny thing though, has put a bunch of nonsense into law but hasn't put in a budget yet and is the only president on our HISTORY not to do so. Sure glad we've stopped putting idiots in power who write stupid laws like those posted.

Get your facts first, then distort them as you please-Mark Twain

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

Stupid Laws in Arizona

 

[JeromeAz]

That pretty much covers most of them.

 

[NightStalker45b]

Ill bet these are out of date laws that can still be found but have not been enforced for many years. Just my 2 cents

 

[Scurvyhash]

Hysterical.

 

[Holyground]

Here's another amazing fact about Arizona you may oy may not know: I was born in Phoenix in 1955, at 2pm, in the middle of August. It was 114° in the shade, and no shade around. As I was being born, it began to snow, leaving 12 inches deep, in no time. That's how cool I am.

 

[Terry Soloman]

By CHARLES B., 1915

I am submitting herewith a history of the finding and working of the first gold mines of Yavapai County.

In July 1863, I left San Francisco in company with Dr. John R. Howard and J. W. Beauchamp to go overland to Mexico. At Los Angeles, we met some men who had just returned from Lynx Creek and Rich Hill.

Dr. Howard had known the Walkers and other members of the Walker party in Contra Costa County where the party was organized. We concluded to take in the new strike, as it was not much off the direct road to Mexico.

When we got to Rich Hill we made the acquaintance of a man named A.J. Mayhan, who had been six years prospecting in Mexico and who wished to go to the Walker diggings and we were glad of his company.

We traveled to the Hassayampa (River) and camped the first night just above the Walnut Grove dam site. Following the stream, we did a little prospecting for placer gold but found nothing attractive until we struck a quartz boulder near a tank of water, where Dr. Howard had taken the horse to water. The boulder showed some free gold. Beauchamp, who had prospected in Nevada and California, at once became interested. While the doctor returned to camp with the horses, Beauchamp began tracing float up the steep mountainside. In two or three hours, he came to camp with his hat full of nice gold quartz.

We located the ledge for the four of us. Dr. Howard suggested the name of the new find as Montgomery, that being his hometown in Alabama.

We had brought pick, pan, shovel, and horn spoon from Weaver, near Rich Hill, and at once set to work on the new find. Howard did not stay long, as he was anxious to meet the Walkers. He took a copy of our location notice to John Pennington, who kept the records of the placer locations, and had it recorded. Pennington was camped under a juniper tree about three miles above us on the creek.


The First Railroad and the "Battle for Prescott"
By Eleanor Gilley

As the railroad left Prescott on the west side, it began its slow ascent for nine miles to the summit of the Sierra Prieta Mountains at Prieta, elevation 6,108 feet. The view from the top was breathtakingly beautiful with the black range of mountains, the Mogollan Rim and the surrounding scenery. The line then descended for 14 miles past Iron Springs and Ramsgate Hill around twisting, winding 12 degree curves and challenging three percent grades to Skull Valley, elevation 4,240 feet.

And so it was on the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway, affectionately called the "Peavine" by the locals. It was called an engineering masterpiece. There were many fills, deep cuts and long timber trestles. Near Devil's Gate, a cut of 57 feet was required through solid rock. A 25 foot deep hole was drilled and loaded with powder to produce the largest discharge ever executed by a single shot in this territory. Fortunately, the workers had been asked to leave camp because one large rock went through a tent with such force that if it had not bounced, it would have buried itself.

Why build a railroad through such difficult country, you might ask?

Before the Peavine, one of the biggest problems was the cost to transport ore by wagon from the mines in Congress and Yarnell. A cheaper mode of transportation had to be found. At that time, the Atlantic and Pacific Railway crossed the 35th parallel in northern Arizona Territory, making the possibility of a railroad more of a reality.

Before the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway was developed, the first attempt to build a railroad was made by a group of local businessmen in Prescott. The Central Arizona Railway was organized in Prescott on May 10, 1884. Mapping and surveying were quickly done on land between Prescott and the mainline of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway, but it was soon realized that there was not enough capital locally to build the line.

About this time, two warring groups interested in building a railroad were emerging in Prescott. One group formed a second Central Arizona Railway Company headed by Thomas S. Bullock, a local businessman who represented a New York syndicate. The second group, the Minneapolis syndicate, supported by Nathan Oakes Murphy, organized the Arizona Central Railway. (Murphy was soon to be the 10th acting Governor of the Arizona Territory.) The "Battle for Prescott" was a bitter one and neither side would compromise. At this time, the Atlantic and Pacific Railway was very anxious to see a railroad built from its mainline, and offered its support if the two groups would "mend their fences" and consolidate. Reluctantly, this was done and the two railroads were consolidated on July 16, 1885, and formed the Prescott and Arizona Central Railway Company with Bullock having almost complete control after forcing Murphy and two other officers out of the company. The line from Prescott to Seligman was quickly built and completed by December 31, 1886.


From the beginning, the new line was plagued by problems. Engines were too small and could only pull a half-dozen cars; roadbeds were easily washed out; and there was no turntable built in Prescott so trains had to back from Prescott all the way to Seligman. The line was in constant disrepair and trains and shipments were almost always late. The line was a disaster making local business men realize the importance of having a well run railroad to Prescott.

Through the determined efforts of Frank M. Murphy, brother to N.O. Murphy, a local real estate broker and entrepreneur with financial connections in Chicago, The Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway was incorporated on May 27, 1891. The new line connected with the Santa Fe Railway near Ash Fork and traveled through Chino Valley, Granite Dells and into Prescott.

It was a difficult line to build. There was considerable rock work which had to be done by hand tools and manual labor. The laborers had to deal with bad weather and there was a high desertion rate because of the dangerous work. Engineers and surveyors had a difficult time deciding whether to run the line over the deep chasm, Hell Canyon, or to veer west over the rugged, mountainous area near Rock Butte. The Board of Directors made their decision for them, choosing the western route through treacherous but beautiful country. This route earned the railway the title of "The Scenic Railway of Arizona".

When 18 miles of the line were completed, Frank Murphy and several railroad officers traveled over the rail south of Ash Fork and one of the passengers was heard to remark that the curving, twisting line much resembled a pea vine. The name "peavine" stuck and became a popular one.

Despite the adversities building the Peavine, the first train to leave Prescott on the completed line did so on April 24, 1893. (Almost nine years after the original construction, the line was rerouted over Hell Canyon, building a steel bridge that measured 165 feet high and 647 feet long. This type of construction was then not as expensive as it had been nine years earlier. This bridge is still in service.)

Work had already been started on the Peavine south of Prescott and it suffered some of the same problems as the northern section. Work progressed slowly, but the line was finally completed and a commemoration was held March 4, 1895. It had taken four years to build the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway at a cost of nearly $5,000,000.


1858 Gold Rush in Arizona

The Spanish came to Arizona in the 1500’s looking for legendary cities of gold but found only mud-walled adobe villages. Mexicans mined some areas of Arizona in the 1700’s and the fierce Apaches soon drove them out. After the 1849 California gold rush began, Americans traveled through Arizona on their way to California.

Eleven years later, in 1858, Jake Snively discovered gold on the Gila River in the southwestern part of the state and, suddenly, Arizona was noticed. Frontiersman Pauline Weaver made another major strike in 1862, a little farther north along the Colorado river, at La Paz. With the second discovery, every miner who had not struck it rich in California headed for Arizona. Almost overnight, Arizona was awash with would-be millionaires.
Henry Wickenburg reached Arizona in 1862. He was believed to be an Austrian or German immigrant, and had probably been a farmer. Some tales of Wickenburg’s origins say that his real name was Heinrich Heitzel; some say he was running from the law in Europe. Whatever the reason, Wickenburg ended up in California during the gold rush.where he learned how to prospect and pan for gold. Henry was probably a part of Pauline Weaver’s exploration party which traveled along the Hassayampa River. One version says this was when he spotted the quartz outcropping which later became the Vulture Mine.

Wickenburg initially worked the mine by himself, but began to sell the gold ore to other prospectors. By 1866, Henry Wickenburg had had enough of gold mining. He sold eighty percent of the mine to a man named Benjamin Phelps, who represented some eastern investors. The Vulture Mining Company was born.

The Vulture Mining Company announced plans to introduce modern mining methods, and to build a twenty-stamp mill on the Hassayampa River. The stamp mill site was to be twelve miles to the northeast, about one mile north of an existing settlement on the river. This settlement had already attracted merchants eager to provide the Vulture with goods and services. Henry Wickenburg retired from mining and established a farm near this settlement. The settlement became known as Wickenburg.

Henry Wickenburg, for his 80% interest, received $20,000 in cash, and a note for $65,000. The new owners soon claimed that Wickenburg didn’t have a clear title to the property, and refused to pay the remainder of the price. Wickenburg spent most of his $20,000 trying to collect on his note, but never succeeded.
In 1868, Wickenburg funded an ex-Confederate soldier in a new project that eventually changed Arizona history forever. That project was called the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company conceived by Jack Swilling of nearby Prescott. Swilling started the project that very year and by 1869, water flowed from the old Hohokam canals for the first time in 400 years into the waiting fertile soil. The town's name was Phoenix.

 

[Rookster]

That's really funny true or not.