Flagstaff, Arizona

Good early morning, my friends! We're here in Flagstaff, Arizona, this morning, moving on to Boulder City, Nevada, before the end of the day. 

I'm pretty sure I told you we were going to Fredonia, Arizona, in yesterday's post. As it turns out, we had to reroute ourselves while on the road yesterday. And, by the way, yesterday's drive was downright harrowing. It was very heavy traffic from just north of Phoenix all the way to Flagstaff. There was no apparent reason for that, and we presume it was people trying to escape the city for the three-day weekend. When we lived in Phoenix, and we had no money nor time, we used to do the same thing. It's a lovely place, home of Northern Arizona University. There are probably some good quilt shops here too, but we're just here for the night. We'll be moving on in a few hours.

As for the rerouting, it's my habit to check the weather ahead. It's good to know what's coming down the pike. Knowing the weather forecast helps us plan our sight-seeing and our travel. And, oh boy...when I checked the weather in Fredonia yesterday, I was shocked to discover snow in the forecast for Tuesday, our last day there. Yikes! We never want to be towing a trailer in the snow. Not only that, but temperatures were forecast into the teens, and we don't even have heavy coats with us. 

Looking ahead to our overnight in Ely, Nevada, we found even more snow and colder temps. Okay. Clearly, we needed to make a change. So I spread out my road maps and checked Google maps right there as we headed down the road, and rerouted us through Boulder City and Tonopah, Nevada, then on to Winnemucca, which has us back on our original route and back on schedule. I'm just glad I looked ahead.

So that happened. Let's see...what else happened? It wasn't a particularly interesting road, but we found ourselves traveling through Florence, Arizona. 

I tried to capture the image below as we passed through, but wasn't quick enough:

The "historic" part of that sign caught my attention, and so I inquired of my friend, The Google. Wow...Google didn't let me down this time. What an interesting place. We didn't actually enter the city, but turned off and headed west at that point. The images that follow were taken by others, and were available on Creative Commons. So let's just take a look, shall we?

As it turns out, Florence is the county seat of Pinal County and it's one of the oldest towns in that county. It is regarded as a National Historic District with over 25 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The area where the current town of Florence is located was once inhabited by the Hohokam, ancestors of the O'odham people. Prior to the establishment of the town, the Gila River served as a part of the border between the United States and Mexico. Really???? In 1853, the Gadsden Purchase extended American territory well south of the Gila.

Levi Ruggles, a veteran of the American Civil War, founded the town of Florence on the south bank of the Gila River. He came to Arizona Territory in 1866 as a U.S. Indian Agent. Recognizing the agricultural potential of the valley, he found an easily fordable crossing on the Gila River and surveyed a townsite there. With the aid of Governor R.C. McCormick, he secured a post office in August of the same year. Florence became the county seat in the newly formed Pinal County. Silver was discovered in 1875 in the nearby mountains which led to the creation of the famous Silver King Mine. It was the richest silver mine in Arizona, and it produced an estimated $42 million worth of silver ore between 1875 and 1900.

Below is an image of the second Pinal County Courthouse:

("Second Pinal County Courthouse Florence, Arizona" 

by cmh2315fl is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

It was built in 1891. It was the site where the trials of three notorious women were presented. They were Pearl Heart, Eva Dugan and Winnie Ruth Judd, known as the "Trunk Murderess". Pearl Heart (birth surname: Hart) was an outlaw of the American Old West. She committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the United States; her crime gained notoriety primarily because of her gender. She was tried in 1899 and was acquitted, however the judge ordered a second trial and she was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. (Double jeopardy, anyone?)

In the 1930s Eva Dugan was convicted of murder. She was sentenced to be executed by hanging. However, it resulted in her decapitation and influenced the State of Arizona to replace hanging with the gas chamber as a method of execution. Kind of a dubious way to cement your place in history, don't you think?

Winnie Ruth Judd was a Phoenix medical secretary who was found guilty of murdering and dismembering her friends Agnes Anne LeRoi and Hedvig Samuelson over the alleged affections of her lover Jack Halloran. (Just another example of how a man can make a good woman go bad.) The jury found her guilty of first-degree murder on February 8, 1932. An appeal was unsuccessful. Her trial was marked by sensationalized newspaper coverage and suspicious circumstances. Judd was sentenced to be hanged February 17, 1933, and sent to the Arizona State Prison in Florence. The sentence she received raised debate about capital punishment. Her death sentence was overturned after a ten-day hearing found her mentally incompetent; she was then sent to Arizona State Asylum for the Insane on April 24, 1933.

Okay, and aside from notorious crimes and criminals, there are some interesting structures there. This is the Old Silver Hotel.

("Old Silver King Hotel; Florence, Arizona" by cmh2315fl is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

The sign in the image below tells more about it.

("Old Silver King Hotel (Florence, Arizona)" by cmh2315fl is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

In my internet sleuthing, I found the two images below of some historic homes. They're windows and walls kinds of places, and I thought you would enjoy seeing them as much as I did.

("Historic Florence, Arizona." by minniemouseaunt 

is licensed under CC BY 2.0)

("Historic Florence, Arizona" by minniemouseaunt 

is licensed under CC BY 2.0)

And how about this story: One of the most notable gunfights in the Old Southwest occurred in Florence. Sheriff Pete Gabriel hired thirty-nine year old Joseph (Joe) Phy as his deputy in 1883. Gabriel decided to not run for sheriff in 1886 and supported his deputy Phy for the job. Later Gabriel withdrew his support because of personal differences with Phy. The two friends became bitter enemies and had a confrontation on May 31, 1888 in the Tunnel Saloon. A gunfight ensued and spread to the street. Both men received gunshot wounds. Phy died a few hours after the gunfight, but Gabriel survived the encounter and died 10 years later. 

Okay, so that was interesting. And note that the town was founded partially because of its agricultural potential. West of town on the way to Coolidge, Arizona, we found fields of cotton! Who knew they grew cotton in Arizona?

Okay, and that was the most interesting part of yesterday's journey. 

In an hour or so, I would become completely absorbed in trying to find new places for us to stay along our way home. We stopped off at a rest area. I'd only just five minutes earlier learned that the tree below is a palo verde tree. They bloom with a yellow flower in spring. When we parked in the rest area, there was one right in front of us.

From there, we were approaching Phoenix, our old stomping grounds during the first three years of our marriage. We could see the downtown area. 

I used to work in the Arizona Title Building, 111 West Monroe. It was a shrimpy building compared with some of these newer, taller structures. I looked it up online. It has a new name and a new facade. More than 40 years later, I doubt I would recognize the place. 

If I were going to work, I would have turned off at Van Buren, in the image below. 

We were traveling south to north on the Black Canyon Freeway. On our last trip through Phoenix, we were traveling north to south. If you're interested, I went on a little trip through time in an old blog post. You can read it right here. Just scroll down about halfway to read my memory musings. I'll tell you about our first cat, Benjamin.

As we approached Flagstaff, we'd traded Saguaro cactus for Ponderosa pines. This area reminds me of Bend, Oregon.

We made a quick stop at a grocery store just before arriving at the RV park. We note they're preparing for snow in Flagstaff too, as this fire hydrant would indicate.

We noticed some of the permanent residents of the RV park are putting skirting around the bottom of their RVs as well. We'll be hitting the road again in a few hours. With snow in the forecast, it's time to get out of Dodge, er, Flagstaff.

With our change of plans, we've had to cross off the last two sight-seeing spots on our itinerary. It's fine. We're both about sight-seen out at this point. It's been a long trip, and our eyes are full. We'll spend three days in Boulder City, a town we like very much, and then head north to Tonopah for one night. After that, we'll be back on our route and headed for home.

Before I close today, I want to thank the many of you who have left comments along the way. I haven't been able to reply to all of you, but I have appreciated your kind comments and personal recollections. Thank you. Our travels are always made more interesting when friends come along for the ride.