History of Arizona

Phoenix is born when a committee of citizens along Swilling's Ditch, formed after adventurer Jack Swilling organized a plan to use the ancient Hohokam canals to irrigate the Salt River Valley, meets to select and name a townsite. Phoenix officially was recognized by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors on May 4, 1868, and it was incorporated in 1881. (AZ Central, 2016)

Cattle ranching in Arizona dates back as far as 1690, when the first cows were introduced to the region by Spanish settlers. Technological innovations following the Civil War brought the infrastructure necessary for wide-scale growth, and the first permanent ranch in the territory was established in 1872. The industry took off and, by 1890, more than 1.5 million heads of cattle called the region home. (“Cattle Ranching in Arizona,” 2017).

On February 23rd 1883 United Verde Copper Company was incorporated under New York law. The small mining camp next to the mine was given a proper name, 'Jerome.' The town was named after the family which had invested a large amount of capitol. In 1885 Lewis Williams opened a copper smelter in Bisbee and the copper boom began, as the nation turned to copper wires for electricity. The arrival of railroads in the 1880s made mining even more profitable, and national corporations bought control of the mines and invested in new equipment. Mining operations flourished in numerous boom towns, such as Bisbee, Jerome, Douglas, Ajo and Miami. ("History Of Arizona", N.D.).

As early pioneers settled in Arizona’s Salt River Valley in the nineteenth century, they developed a haphazard series of canals to feed the settlements’ agricultural needs. Toward the turn of the twentieth century,
settlers were confronted with alternating droughts and floods, and they realized they needed a way to supply a consistent source of water.9 Arizona farmers were instrumental in lobbying the federal govern- ment for help.
The National Reclamation Act, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, authorized a financ- ing mechanism for local organizations in the West to borrow money from the federal government
to build water storage and delivery projects. This new federal law provided the support Arizona needed. (AZ Chamber Foundation, N.D).

Arizona's Constitutional Convention opened on Oct. 10, 1910, and ran for 60 days, producing what was then considered either "one of the most progressive" constitutions of any state, or "socialistic and undemocratic." It did not include voting rights for women but did include the initiative, referendum and recall, including the recall of judges that President William Howard Taft had warned he would never approve. While some in Arizona, including its newspapers, claimed the entire effort was "all for naught" because of the recall, voters loved the constitution, passing it on Feb. 9, 1911, by 12,534 to 3,920.

Taft upheld his promise and vetoed the constitution, telling the Arizona Territory it would never be admitted with that provision. Arizona responded like an obedient child, removing the recall of judges and going back to voters, who approved the sanitized constitution.

On December 9, 1911 Arizona voters approved a revised version of the Constitution which did not contain the recall provision. (Boomersbach, 2012)

Arizona was approved for statehood but would face one more disappointment. It had hoped to be admitted on Feb. 12, the birthday of President Lincoln, who remained a state champion for making it a territory in the first place. But Taft was busy then and didn't sign until Valentine's Day on Feb. 14, 1912. Arizona became the 48th state. It was the last to be admitted until the 1950s, when Alaska and Hawaii joined the Union. (Boomersbach, 2012)

By 1869 Americans were reading John Wesley Powell's reports of his explorations of the Colorado River. In 1901, the Santa Fe Railroad reached Grand Canyon's South Rim. With railroad, restaurant and hotel entrepreneur Fred Harvey leading the way, large-scale tourism began that has never abated. The Grand Canyon has become an iconic symbol of the West and the nation as a whole. ("History Of Arizona", N.D.).
The Grand Canyon had a long and arduous road to becoming a national park, beginning in the 1880s with several failed congressional bills. After making multiple visits to the area, Theodore Roosevelt declared the Grand Canyon a National Monument in 1908. The bill to grant national park status to the area was passed in 1919 and signed by then-President Woodrow Wilson. (National Park Foundation, N.D).

Citrus arrived in Arizona in the 18th century, courtesy of Spanish settlers, but it wasn't until the 1920s and 1930s that it became a leading cash crop. In 1935, more than 1.2 million boxes of grapefruits were produced in the state, and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, grapefruits reigned supreme until about 1942.
Citrus crops were initially limited to Maricopa and Yuma counties because of good climate (Arizona's fifth C), and by 1939, grapefruits occupied some 13,800 acres of land. Oranges came in second, with 7,300 acres. Lemons and tangerines have since trumped grapefruits and oranges as the state's leading citrus products. However, tangerines still rank third in the United States. Grapefruits and oranges rank fourth behind Florida, California and Texas, but the production output is so low, the USDA no longer accounts for the number of grapefruits and oranges produced in Arizona. (Ritchie, 2020).

The Bureau of Reclamation began planning the Colorado River Storage Project following the compact, and spent the next several years researching several spots for dams. Initially, the Bureau chose Echo Park as the site for the dam. Conservationists strongly objected to this site because part of the area which would be flooded was part of a national park. After winning the battle against the dam in Echo Park, the conservationists did not fight against the decision to dam Glen Canyon until the last minute. Gary Topping wrote, "Glen Canyon was lost through a choice by the Sierra Club and other conservation organizations to put their efforts into saving Echo Park, which they regarded as savable from a similar doom and to ignore (and thus sacrifice) Glen Canyon, which they thought they could not effectively defend... The sacrifice of Glen Canyon in other words was a sin of omission by conservationists rather than a sin of commission by the Bureau of Reclamation." (Topping, 1991). Since the building of the Glen Canyon Dam, the Sierra Club and other conservationist groups have strongly fought against the dam and have argued that Lake Powell should be drained.
On April 11, 1956, the Colorado River Storage Project authorized the building of Glen Canyon Dam. Seven years and three hundred million dollars later, a dam 710 feet high was built. In 1963, the Glen Canyon was closed and Lake Powell, the world's largest lake was created. (Glen Canyon Dam: Political History, N.D).

Arizona, formerly part of the Territory of New Mexico, was organized as a separate territory on this day in 1863. The United States had acquired the region under the terms of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War, and through the 1853 Gadsden Purchase. (Glass, 2016)