Arizona Turns 100

[Steve Craig]

Some facts about the state of AZ on our 100th Birthday!

Here are some Arizona Facts!


1. Arizona has 3,928 mountain peaks and summits—more mountains than any one of the other Mountain States (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming).

2. All New England, plus the state of Pennsylvania would fit inside Arizona.

3. Arizona became the 48th state and last of the contiguous states on February 14, 1912.

4. Arizona’s disparate climate can yield both the highest temperature across the nation and the lowest temperature across the nation in the same day.

5. There are more wilderness areas in Arizona than in the entire Midwest. Arizona alone has 90 wilderness areas, while the Midwest has 50.

6. Arizona has 26 peaks that are more than 10,000 feet in elevation.

7. Arizona has the largest contiguous stand of ponderosa pines in the world stretching from near Flagstaff along the Mogollon Rim to the White Mountains region.

8. Yuma, Arizona is the country’s highest producer of winter vegetables, especially lettuce.

9. Arizona is the 6th largest state in the nation, covering 113,909 square miles.

10. Out of all the states in the U.S., Arizona has the largest percentage of its land designated as Indian lands.

11. The “Five C’s” of Arizona’s economy are:
Cattle, Copper, Citrus, Cotton, and Climate.

12. More copper is mined in Arizona than all the other states combined, and the Morenci Mine is the largest copper producer in all of North America.

13. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, two of the most prominent movie stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, were married on March 18, 1939, in Kingman, Arizona.

14. Covering 18,608 sq. miles, Coconino County is the second largest county by land area in the 48 contiguous United States.

15. The world’s largest solar telescope is located at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Sells, Arizona.

16. Bisbee, Arizona, is known as the Queen of the Copper Mines because during its mining heyday it produced nearly 25 percent of the world’s copper and was the largest city in the Southwest between Saint Louis and San Francisco.

17. Billy the Kid killed his first man, Windy Cahill, in Bonita, Arizona.

18. Arizona grows enough cotton each year to make more than one pair of jeans for every person in the United States.

19. Famous labor leader and activist Cesar Chavez was born in Yuma.

20. In 1912, President William Howard Taft was ready to make Arizona a state on February 12, but it was Lincoln’s birthday. The next day, the 13th, was considered bad luck so they waited until the following day. That’s how Arizona became known as the “Valentine State.”

21. When England’s famous London Bridge was replaced in the 1960s, the original was purchased, dismantled, shipped stone by stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it still stands today.

22. Mount Lemmon, in the Santa Catalina Mountains, is the southernmost ski resort in the United States.

23. Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch in Picacho, Arizona is the largest privately-owned ostrich ranch in the world outside South Africa.

24. If you cut down a protected species of cactus in Arizona, you could spend more than a year in prison.

25. The world’s largest to-scale collection of miniature airplane models is housed at the library at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in
Prescott, Arizona.

26. The only place in the country where mail is delivered by mule is the village of Supai, located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

27. Located on Arizona’s western border, Parker Dam is the deepest dam in the world at 320 feet.

28. South Mountain Park/Preserve in Phoenix is the largest municipal park in the country.

29. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, located about 55 miles west of Phoenix, generates more electricity than any other U.S. power plant.

30. Oraibi, a Hopi village located in Navajo County, Arizona, dates back to before A.D. 1200 and is reputed to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in America.

31. Built in by Del Webb in 1960, Sun City, Arizona was the first 55-plus active adult retirement community in the country.

32. Petrified wood is the official state fossil. The Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona contains America’s largest deposits of petrified wood.

33. Many of the founders of San Francisco in 1776 were Spanish colonists from Tubac, Arizona.

34. Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply military post Camp McDowell.

35. Rainfall averages for Arizona range from less than three inches in the deserts to more than 30 inches per year in the mountains.

36. Rising to a height of 12,643 feet, Mount Humphreys north of Flagstaff is the state’s highest mountain.

37. Roadrunners are not just in cartoons! In Arizona, you’ll see them running up to 17-mph away from their enemies.

38. The Saguaro cactus is the largest cactus found in the U.S. It can grow as high as a five-story building and is native to the Sonoran Desert, which stretches across southern Arizona.

39. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, grew up on a large family ranch near Duncan, Arizona.

40. The best-preserved meteor crater in the world is located near Winslow, Arizona.

41. The average state elevation is 4,000 feet.

42. The Navajo Nation spans 27,000 square miles across the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, but its capital is seated in Window Rock, Arizona.

43. The amount of copper utilized to make the copper dome atop Arizona’s Capitol building is equivalent to the amount used in 4.8 million pennies.

44. Near Yuma, the Colorado River’s elevation dips to 70 feet above sea level, making it the lowest point in the state.

45. The geographic center of Arizona is 55 miles southeast of Prescott near the community of Mayer.

46. You could pile four 1,300-foot skyscrapers on top of each other and they still would not reach the rim of the Grand Canyon.

47. The hottest temperature recorded
in Arizona was 128 degrees at Lake Havasu City on June 29, 1994.

48. The coldest temperature recorded in Arizona was 40 degrees below zero at Hawley Lake on January 7, 1971.

49. A saguaro cactus can store up to nine tons of water.

50. The state of Massachusetts could fit inside Maricopa County (9,922 sq. miles).

51. The westernmost battle of the Civil War was fought at Picacho Pass on April 15, 1862 near Picacho Peak in Pinal County.

52. There are 11.2 million acres of National Forest in Arizona, and one-fourth of the state forested.

53. Wyatt Earp was neither the town marshal nor the sheriff in Tombstone at the time of the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. His brother Virgil was the town marshal.

54. On June 6, 1936, the first barrel of tequila produced in the United States rolled off the production line in Nogales, Arizona.

55. The Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse desert in North America.

56. Bisbee is the Nation’s southernmost mile-high city.

57. The two largest manmade lakes in the U.S. are Lake Mead and Lake Powell—both located in Arizona.

58. The longest remaining intact section of Route 66 can be found in Arizona and runs from Seligman to Topock, a total of 157 unbroken miles.

59. The 13 stripes on the Arizona flag represent the 13 original colonies of the United States.

60. The negotiations for Geronimo’s final surrender took place in Skeleton Canyon, near present day Douglas, Arizona, in 1886.
61. Prescott, Arizona is home to the world’s oldest rodeo, and Payson, Arizona is home to the world’s oldest continuous rodeo—both of which date back to the 1880s.

62. Kartchner Caverns, near Benson, Arizona, is a massive limestone cave with 13,000 feet of passages, two rooms as long as football fields,
and one of the world’s longest soda straw stalactites: measuring 21 feet 3 inches.

[jwt]

You left out AZ has Joe Arpaio. We need more like him.

[Steve Craig]

Amen James!
I agree and i am proud of the man and all that he has done here ins this state.
While many dont like him, they are in the minority, as he always get reelected with around 70 to 80% of the vote!

[jwt]

I like your governor too! We need more who will take action against the illegals. Oops sorry. the undocumented workers

[Steve Craig]

James,
Do you know what Arizona City has the most Latino's?


Answer:

Tent City!

[GDS]

Where is: #63, state record Largemouth Bass measurements.
#64, Steve's Picture with the new State Record Largemouth Bass, and measurements!

[Steve Craig]

LOL!

#63 was just broken this last Jan and will not make it into the books until next years regs.
17.48 pounds!

#64 just might happen sometime this year. We will see! I will tell everyone i caught it on a JB2 on Spiderwire, and Berkely Big Game line for a reel backing, with a Penn Rod, and an Okuma Reel, with a Lund Boat, using a Honda motor, and a Minnkota trolling motor, with a Hummingbird Depth finder and a Lowrance GPS unit, and a Frabill landing net, and an Owner snap swivel, Using Shell Gasoline, and had Carhart jacket, and a Carhart Rain suit. Should be enough advertizers there to help me retire or at least semi retire for a few months when i catch that new state record or better yet, the new world record!

Gary, you bring up an interesting point. Why is it that so many Spoonpluggers catch so many fish, yet rarely break any records? Always found this strange.

[Fran Myers]

I only know of two. Both quite a while ago both Tiger Muskies. John Bales had an Indiana record for a short time. Then there is the Minesota state record Tiger musky. I think it still stands but I don't know.

[Jerry Borst]

Steve,
Very interesting facts, Love the state and seeing road runners, they sure can move!
Hey can you also add to your list of your record setting gear that you retrieved the record setting lure with a certain record setting "lure retriever", I could use the publicity, ha ha!

And while on the subject of records I'm sure many, many, have been set by spoonpluggers especially in the numbers category's, if there was one, lol. Seeing that picture recently of Buck, Terry and Vic and all those huge bass, there might not be a category for such a catch but holy crap! Is there any doubt?
http://www.fishhound.com/blog/opening-salvo-chicago-57

Most spoonpluggers like to keep their accomplishments in house, which makes going to the outings so cool! This reminds me, if no one minds of the time we caught a record walleye on Kinkaid lake in southern IL, so I was told by the lake's biologist. What always gave us a chuckle was the lakes record "muskie" was caught by a "tv personality" and you didn't have to look far to see his mug and his prize.

Granted most don't think of Kinkaid as a walleye factory but it's better than it gets credit for. One of our most memorable catches on this same 61/2 hrs away reservoir was when the kids and I caught a bunch of muskies, 96 in 3 consecutive weekends. While this catch was happening I still remember thinking, "what are the spoonpluggers limits? And just how many can be caught in a day?" However not for a single second then, and still today have I ever thought it couldn't be bettered.

Today we are more selective in our choice of days we spend on the water, weather and water related, we use to go any time, EVERY time! There was a reaction at the winter seminar when I stated we fished more than 30 lakes one year and spent 41 days on one of them.
I feel like to be a good spoonplugger you must experience all the weather and water conditions from ice out, to ice up, (if you get ice that is, right Steve?) 1st hand before you can get choosy. Today traveling is more costly making it more difficult, It may seem like decades ago but $1.20 gasoline was not that long ago.

I've always felt with the knowledge we have been given that on any given day, with good conditions and good seasonal timing a big catch or a record by any given good spoonplugger is never out of reach, now if they choose to tell anyone is another story.
Good luck to all in 12!

[Jim Shell]

Gary, you bring up an interesting point. Why is it that so many Spoonpluggers catch so many fish, yet rarely break any records? Always found this strange.

A little known fact... The Wisconsin State record carp was caught in 8-28-1966, 57lb's in Lake Wisconsin... on a spoonplug!
The fish was caught by Paul Prorock's brother. Paul started his fishing carreer as a student of Terry, and later he wrote a few articles for Fishing Facts. I guess if I caught the state record carp, I'd be low key about that one....!

[GDS]

LOL, Oh yea, the abuse you would take about the Carp Record would be..........awful!!!
It would stick with you to the grave, or longer, what they could do with your tomb stone!!!

[Steve Craig]

Hey,
I thought that banana guy from Ill. was the Carp King!???? Looks like he has some competition!

I remember Paul Prorocks articles.

"I've always felt with the knowledge we have been given that on any given day, with good conditions and good seasonal timing a big catch or a record by any given good spoonplugger is never out of reach, now if they choose to tell anyone is another story.
Good luck to all in 12!"

Well said and I agree!
Ice out? Whats that!
hey we actually do have an Ice out in the Northern AZ mountain lakes!
In fact, the ice just went off Lake Mary a couple weeks ago.
Water temps are about 40 right now there. Gotta get on it for some pike fishing!