Arizona Firsts, Facts, and Trivia
Arizona Famous Firsts, Arizona Interesting Facts, Arizona Trivia
Arizona Highway?
Jefferson Davis, while he was the Secretary of War, proposed that camels
could be used in the southwest as pack animals and for military use. An
explorer named Beale implemented his idea in order to create the first
highway in the southwest.
More Arizona Firsts, Facts, and Trivia
- Arizona is a right-to-work state. The law states no person shall
be denied the opportunity to obtain or retain employment because of
non-membership in a labor organization.
- The Arizona trout is found only in the Arizona.
- The saguaro cactus blossom is the official state flower. The
white flower blooms on the tips of the saguaro cactus during May and
June. The saguaro is the largest American cactus.
- Arizona leads the nation in copper production.
- Petrified wood is the official state fossil. Most petrified wood
comes from the Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona.
- The bola tie is the official state neckwear.
- The Palo verde is the official state tree. Its name means green
stick and it blooms a brilliant yellow-gold in April or May.
- The cactus wren is the official state bird. It grows seven to
eight inches long and likes to build nests in the protection of
thorny desert plants like the arms of the giant saguaro cactus.
- Turquoise is the official state gemstone. The blue-green stone
has a somewhat waxy surface and can be found throughout the state.
- Arizona is home of the Grand Canyon National Park.
- The ringtail is the official state mammal. The ringtail is a
small fox-like animal about two and one-half feet long and is a shy,
nocturnal creature.
- The amount of copper on the roof of the Capitol building is
equivalent to 4,800,000 pennies.
- Arizona observes Mountain Standard Time on a year round basis. The one exception is the Navajo Nation, located in the northeast corner of the state, which observes the daylight savings time change.
- The battleship USS Arizona was named in honor of the
state. It was commissioned in 1913 and launched in 1915
from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
- World War II brought many military personnel to
train at Luke and Thunderbird fields in Glendale.
- The Castilian and Burgundian flags of Spain, the
Mexican flag, the Confederate flag, and the flag of the
United States have all flown over the land area that has
become Arizona.
- In 1926, the Southern Pacific Railroad connected
Arizona with the eastern states.
- The geographic center of Arizona is 55 miles (89
kilometers) southeast of Prescott.
- Arizona's most abundant mineral is copper.
- Bisbee, located in Tombstone Canyon, is known as the
Queen of the Copper Mines. During its mining history the
town was the largest city between Saint Louis and San
Francisco.
- The state's most popular natural wonders include the
Grand Canyon, Havasu Canyon, Grand Canyon Caves, Lake
Powell/Rainbow Bridge, Petrified Forest/Painted Desert,
Monument Valley, Sunset Crater, Meteor Crater, Sedona
Oak Creek Canyon, Salt River Canyon, Superstition
Mountains, Picacho Peak State Park, Saguaro National
Park, Chiricahua National Monument, and the Colorado
River.
- The Arizona tree frog is the state official
amphibian. The frog is actually between three-quarter to
two inches long.
- Once a rowdy copper mining town, Jerome's population
dwindled to as few as 50 people after the mines closed
in 1953.
- The original London Bridge was shipped
stone-by-stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City.
- The capital of the Navajo Reservation is Window
Rock.
- The state's precipitation varies. At Flagstaff the
annual average is 18.31 inches; Phoenix averages 7.64
inches; and Yuma's annual average is 3.27 inches.
- Crops include 2%; pastureland 57%; forests 24%; and
other uses are 17% in land-use designation.
- The Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake is perhaps the
most beautiful of all eleven species of rattlesnakes
found in Arizona.
- The colors blue and gold are the official state
colors.
- Located in Fountain Hills is a fountain believed to
be the tallest in the world.
- Four Corners is noted as the spot in the United
States where a person can stand in four states at the
same time.
- The age of a saguaro cactus is determined by its
height.
- The Apache trout is considered a threatened species
under the federal Endangered Species Act.
- Arizona, among all the states, has the largest
percentage of its land set aside and designated as
Indian lands.
- Rising to a height of 12,643 feet, Mount Humphreys
north of Flagstaff is the state's highest mountain.
- The Hopi Indians of Arizona are noted for growing
their multicolored corn.
- Barry Goldwater, a famous public official, senator,
and presidential candidate was born in Phoenix.
- In 1939 architect Frank Lloyd Wright's studio,
Taliesin West, was built near Phoenix.
- Oraibi is the oldest Indian settlement in the United
States. The Hopis Indians founded it.
- Grand Canyon's Flaming Gorge got its name for its
blazing red and orange colored, twelve-hundred-foot-high
walls.
- Grand Canyon's Disaster Falls was named to
commemorate the site of a previous explorer's wreck.
- Grand Canyon's Marble Canyon got its name from its
thousand-foot-thick seam of marble and for its walls
eroded to a polished glass finish.
- Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912.
- The world's largest solar telescope is located at
Kitts Peak National Observatory in the city of Sells.
- At one time camels were used to transport goods
across Arizona.
- Between the years 1692 and 1711 Father Eusebio Kino
focused on area missionary work. During the time many
grain and stock farms began.
- A person from Arizona is called an Arizonan.
- Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply
Camp McDowell.
- The famous labor leader, Ceasar Estrada Chavez, was
born in Yuma.
- Tombstone, Ruby, Gillette, and Gunsight are among the ghost towns scattered throughout the state.
Experience the World Book Difference!
For over 80 years, World Book has been committed to publishing encyclopedias and references that meet the highest standards of editorial excellence while keeping pace with the technological developments that define the computer age. This commitment has culminated in the publication of the number-one selling print encyclopedia in the world, World Book, and market leading electronic products such as World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia and World Book Online. Recent publications include World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia, a new Childcraft-The How and Why Library, and Animals of the World. |
