Roosevelt Dam Provides Water to Arizona Homes

Without water, much of central and southern Arizona would still be arid desert, instead of home to a plethora of vibrant cities and towns where luxury Arizona homes and real estate are part of the fabric of life. Centuries ago, Native Americans started the first irrigation and canal systems, and in more modern times, the capture, storage and distribution of water has continued to play a central role in the growth of Arizona.

Roosevelt Dam is located about 76 miles northeast of the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. According to Arizona Oddities, at the time the dam was built, the area had more than 13,000 square miles of watershed from the mountains and the Mogollon Rim. No other large valley in the West came close to the magnitude of watershed available, and that’s why, following the National Reclamation Act of 1902, this particular location was chosen for Roosevelt Dam. Named for President Theodore Roosevelt, construction on the dam began in 1905 and was completed in 1911 at a cost of $10 million. The debt to the federal government was repaid in full in 1955.

Roosevelt Dam was the first major reclamation project in the West and was probably the most significant event in the entire history of the Salt River Valley. Before the dam was built, settlers would often have to leave during times of drought, but the dam’s creation provided a reservoir of lifesaving water.

Once the world’s highest masonry dam, Roosevelt Dam forms Roosevelt Lake which has a shoreline of 128 miles and a length of just over 22 miles. Its capacity is approximately 1.6 million acre-feet and its surface acreage, when full, is about 21.5 acres. The maximum depth of Roosevelt Lake is 188 feet.*

The Salt River Project (SRP), a quasi-governmental agency, manages the dams and lakes. In 1996, SRP completed a $430 million modification project on Roosevelt Dam, expanding Roosevelt Lake’s storage capacity by 20 percent.

(*Source: www.srp.net)

Arizona’s Home to Camels and Cacti

If you’re interested in real estate or Arizona homes for sale, chances are you’re also interested in learning some of the history of the Grand Canyon State. Arizona is a land filled with not just magnificent scenery and beautiful homes and real estate for sale, but also dramatic legends – some based on fact, some based on fiction and some based on dreams. The story that many people have heard about camels making a home in Arizona and carousing across the desert is, in fact, based on facts.

Let’s start out in Quartzsite, Arizona, about half-way between Phoenix and the California border along I-10. Quartzsite is located about 125 miles from Phoenix and almost 300 miles from Tucson. The town is now home to a wealth of winter residents, and it’s also where numerous well-attended gem and mineral shows take place every year. But over one hundred years ago, Quartzsite was where camels met cacti.

According to Arizona Oddities, the thing most people notice right away when they enter the Quartzsite Pioneer Cemetery is a stone pyramid topped by a copper camel, and there’s quite a story behind its presence. The cairn marks the gravesite of a famed camel driver known as “Hi Jolly,” whose birth name was Philip Tedro, a Greek born in Syria. As an adult, Tedro had converted to Islam and changed his name to Hadji Ali.

Hadji Ali came to the United States in the 1850s or 1860s (various reports have different dates) to act as a camel driver for the U.S. Army which was in the midst of an ill-fated attempt to use the animals as “beasts of burden” for military purposes in the deserts of the Southwest. Once here in Arizona, the locals had a ton of trouble pronouncing “Hadji Ali” so they shortened it to Hi Jolly.

Hi Jolly served with the Army until the camel experiment was abandoned and the camels were either sold off to private enterprises or turned loose in the desert. One of camels became known as the Red Ghost, and legend has it that when Hi Jolly died, he was out in the desert hunting for the renegade animal. No one knows for sure if that’s true, but it does make for an interesting story.

Hi Jolly died near Quartzsite in 1902, and in 1934, in recognition of his service to the U.S. Army, the Arizona Department of Transportation erected a monument over his grave. His memory is preserved every year when Quartzsite stages Hi Jolly Days and Camelmania in his honor.

Apache Junction is Lovely Arizona Real Estate

Warm in spirit and generous in hospitality, Apache Junction is a lovely little Arizona real estate community nestled against the majestic red-rock cliffs of the Superstition Mountains. Located about 35 miles east of Phoenix on Highway 60, Apache Junction got its start as a mining and transportation-based town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the 1950s, this history-filled Arizona town was spreading slowly but surely, with the old Superstition Inn as the area’s chief focal point and most businesses springing up along the Apache Trail.

Over the decades, Apache Junction has continued to grow in both population as well as size. The entire area, which borders the city of Mesa to the west and extends past Gold Canyon to the east, is made up of about 150 square miles of often-rugged geography. The Apache Junction region has about 140,000 residents who call the area home year-round, with more than 30,000 “snowbirds” also flocking here each fall and winter.

Apache Junction includes the subdivisions of Gold Canyon, Peralta Road, Queen Valley, Mountain Brook Village and Superstition Mountain. Many of these communities feature luxury real estate including a number of stunning homes, villas and mansions tucked in the shadows of the nearby mountains. Horse properties are also common here and some residents own working ranches with livestock.

Although Apache Junction has enjoyed fairly rapid and consistent growth over the years, the town has managed to maintain an ambience of old-fashioned cowboy charm with plenty of wide-open spaces for everyone. Visitors often feel like they have stepped back in time to the days of the Wild West, with popular attractions such as the Goldfield Ghost Town and The Superstition Historical Museum on Highway 88 helping to add to this sense of history. If you continue east along Highway 88 (and don’t mind a lot of twists and turns and breathtaking views straight down), you’ll arrive at Tortilla Flat, an Old West stagecoach stop complete with wooden sidewalks and a candy and ice cream shop serving up scrumptious treats to hungry visitors.

There is no shortage of things to do in and around Apache Junction, for example, there are many well-manicured golf courses, campsites and horseback trails. If hiking is more to your liking, the Superstition Mountains offer trails for all ages and abilities, and who knows—maybe you’ll even stumble upon the Lost Dutchman gold mine during your outdoor adventure. The legendary gold mine has been missing since the late 1800s, and every year the town honors the mystery of its history with the Lost Dutchman Days celebrations.

Goodyear Arizona Houses Colorful History

Twenty miles West of Phoenix is the city of Goodyear, Arizona. Goodyear has a rich and colorful history. In 1916, during World War I, the Goodyear Rubber Company (headquartered in Akron, Ohio) was searching for a new location to grow cotton to help in the manufacturing of this highly versatile fiber. Their current supply was coming from Egypt and was being slowly destroyed by the boll weevil, which is a cotton-eating insect. Executives from the Goodyear Company had heard that the Arizona real estate and climate was similar to the Egyptian desert, so they sent one of their up-and-coming executives, Paul Litchfield, to scout out the area.

Litchfield, a Boston native and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had helped develop the modern cord tire and was considered an expert in the design and production of tires. Litchfield purchased 36,000 acres of sprawling real estate that stretched from Chandler to the White Tank Mountains horizontally and from the Estrella Mountains to Thunderbird Road vertically. Goodyear moved its headquarters to the area where Litchfield Park (named after Paul Litchfield) is today. Because they were growing Egyptian long-fiber cotton, the town was originally known as Egypt, but the community and cotton ranch soon became known as Goodyear Farms.

During World War II, a division of the Goodyear Rubber Company built the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation next to what had become the Litchfield Naval Air Facility. The company built canopies and other various parts for Navy airplanes, as well as the “air balloons” that led to the famous Goodyear blimps. The Litchfield Naval Air Facility housed 132 Navy blimps that were used for coastal defense, and the blimps were often used as early warning radar stations and also as convoy escorts. After the war, the plant continued to produce blimps and missile components, soon becoming Goodyear Aerospace. Through mergers and divisional sell-offs, Goodyear Aerospace became Loral Defense Systems and eventually evolved into Lockheed Martin.

In 1946, the town of Goodyear, with a population of 1,500, was incorporated adjacent to the Naval Air Facility. By 1980, the population had doubled, and in 1985 the residents voted for their town to become a city. Currently, Goodyear encompasses approximately 130 square miles of prime real estate dotted with a variety of homes and home-styles ranging from middle-income to high-end estates. Right now, over 60,000 people call Goodyear home.

Gold Canyon Arizona Offers Laid Back Upscale Lifestyle

Rising majestically 3,000 feet above the floor of a desert wilderness, the Superstition Mountains stands guard, separating urban hustle and bustle from the desert stillness, protecting a veritable horde of ancient treasures -- artifacts of the long-ago Pima and Apache Native Americans, remnants of the Spanish conquistadors, and most notably, the unimaginable fortunes locked deep inside Jacob Waltz’s long-lost gold mine, a cache of riches that still waits to be discovered.

Thousands still search for that Lost Dutchman Gold Mine, but thousands more know the real treasures to be found today lie in Gold Canyon, the aptly-named upscale Arizona real estate community that’s home to no fewer than five championship 18-hole golf courses, a burgeoning, active arts community, and growing neighborhoods with exceptional homes to accommodate a range of lifestyles and prices.

These neighborhoods fit snugly within the foothills of the mountains, a protected preserve to remain unsettled forever. Homeowners revel in daily life that presents incomparable views from every perspective, along with incomparable choices in outdoor activities. There are ghost towns and historical museums to explore, vast, wide-open hiking and riding trails among the sage and saguaro, outstanding golf courses to challenge, boating or fishing at nearby Canyon Lake and Apache Lake, driving the wonderfully scenic Apache Trail that leads to Apache Lake and Roosevelt Lake, or luxuriating in the pampering of a resort pool or day-spa.

Gold Canyon’s Arts Council presents regular exhibitions and an annual festival featuring local and regional artists, and shopping is plentiful and easily accessible along U.S. 60. Arizona’s annual Renaissance Festival, held every February and March, enlivens Gold Canyon with music and medieval revelry under the watchful eye of the magnificent mountains.

Life in Gold Canyon is laidback, easy and accented with the electric blue of the infinite Arizona sky, ideal year-round weather that affords time for a wealth of outdoor enjoyment, and the most spectacular crimson-hued sunsets that, daily, give way to a shimmering starry sky above.

Gilbert Arizona Real Estate Has Small Town Feel

Modern-day Gilbert Arizona is a study in contrasts, with a few farmhouses that hearken back to its days as an agricultural haven to marvelous master-planned Arizona real estate communities that pay tribute to days gone by – and those who lived there – through their names, such as Morrison Ranch and Finley Farms.

According to the Gilbert Historical Museum, the most recent, rich history behind Gilbert began around the early 1890s, when the first homesteaders consisted of four women and six men. Some of the land in the area was given away free of charge to homesteaders willing to remain on the land for a minimum of five years, while other land was sold for as little as 50 cents an acre. Back then, farm work was done with a horse, roads weren’t paved, and everyone swam in irrigation ditches to stay cool.

While the exact date of the town’s founding isn’t clear – according to the museum, the earliest homestead was purchased in 1893, but the town’s website says it was developed in the late 1890s – Gilbert was established around the turn of the century as a train station. The story, according to the town website, is that around 1902, area homesteader William “Bobby” Gilbert allowed the Arizona Eastern Railway to establish a rail siding on his land for a line between Phoenix and Florence. Gilbert grew from there, although the town wasn’t officially incorporated until 1920.

In the meantime, the charming little farming community was flourishing, in fact, the museum website notes the first school opened in 1900. The first grocery store, Ayer’s, came along in 1910 and became the site of the local post office two years later. In 1913, Gilbert’s own railroad depot was constructed; everything from cattle to sheep to watermelons went through it. Also that year, an elementary school known as “the Alamo” was built at Gilbert and Elliot roads; today, that old schoolhouse – which only went out of service in 1977 – houses the Gilbert Historical Museum.

Gilbert remained a small farming hub on the outskirts of Phoenix for decades. Then, in the 1970s, the Town Council annexed 53 square miles of county land and the town’s size and outlook changed. To wit: In 1970, Gilbert had a population of 1,970. But by 1980, that figure had risen to 5,717; by 2009, it was approximately 215,000. Yet, in spite of its rapid growth, the town has managed to honor its past, celebrating small-town goodness and a family-friendly focus.

Interesting factoid: One of Gilbert’s most notable achievements was being dubbed the “alfalfa hay capital of the world”, a moniker that was given to the town in about 1918. Indeed, during World War I, Gilbert was a main hay supplier for the U.S. Army’s horses.

Flagstaff Houses Old West History

Visitors come from around the world to experience Flagstaff’s sense of the Old West, outdoor adventures and the town’s amazing history, architecture and eclectic culture. Known as the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff Arizona real estate rests along the foothills of the San Francisco Peaks, an intimate and cozy town rich in Western and Native American history. Home to Northern Arizona University, internationally renowned Lowell Observatory, several museums and half a dozen parks, Flagstaff overflows with a plethora of possibilities in recreation, entertainment and culture.

The iconic scenery of the American West frames life in Flagstaff -- the high desert accented with oak, elm and pine trees provides a stunning backdrop for skiing to snowboarding, shopping to symphonies, canyon-rafting to rock-climbing, hiking to biking and so much more. Bordered by the famed “Mother Road,” Route 66, Flagstaff’s ambience neatly weaves an energetic emphasis on a magnificent four-seasons with an innate artistic presence.

Annual celebrations contribute greatly to Flagstaff’s community energy, drawing residents and tourists alike to activities such as movies on the square on warm summer evenings, the Festival of Science featuring exciting presentations from Lowell Observatory on heavenly skies and stars, and Route 66 days recalling the great era of road travel. In addition, there’s the wildly popular New Year’s Eve Pinecone Drop, which is the prelude to Winterfest, a grand month-long celebration of snow incorporating art, dining, music and every possible snow-time adventure, including sled-dog races.

Panoramic mountain meadows and endless sunny days and star-filled nights combine with Flagstaff’s active sense of small-town community to sing an enticing siren song of relocation. Flagstaff real estate offers many impressive homes set against marvelous mountain landscapes, as well as private, gated communities with a multitude of luxurious options.

A little history: Flagstaff got its beginning in 1871 when Edward Whipple, the first known settler in the area, arrived and began to operate a saloon. The next known settler wouldn’t arrive until 1876, when F.F. McMillen settled in the area north of present day Flagstaff. A few months later, a group of scouts and settlers who were traveling from Boston came across an open valley with a lone pine tree which they turned into a makeshift flagpole for their American flag. The group continued westward, but the flag staff from which the city would later get its name remained. In 1891, Flagstaff was named the seat of Coconino County; it was incorporated as a town in 1894 and as a city in 1928.