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AZ 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). AZ also has 26 peaks that are more than 10,000
feet in elevation. Rising to a height of
12,643 feet, Mount Humphreys north of Flagstaff is the
state's highest mountain. The states average elevation, however, is 4,000
feet.
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All New England, plus the state
of Pennsylvania would fit inside AZ; and AZ is the 6th
largest state in the nation, covering 113,909 square miles. The state
of Massachusetts could fit
inside Maricopa County (9,922 sq. miles), which includes
Phoenix, which originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply military post
Camp McDowell.
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AZ's disparate climate can yield
both the highest temperature across the nation and the lowest temperature
across the nation in the same day.
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There are more wilderness areas
in AZ than in the entire Midwest. AZ alone has 90
wilderness areas, while the Midwest has 50. AZ also has the
largest contiguous stand of Ponderosa pines in the world stretching from
near Flagstaff to the White Mountains. There are 11.2 million
acres of National Forest in AZ, and one-fourth of the state is
forested.
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Yuma, AZ is the country's
highest producer of winter vegetables, especially lettuce. AZ also grows
enough cotton each year to make more than one pair of jeans for every person in
the United States.
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The Five C's of AZ's economy
are: Cattle, Copper, Citrus, Cotton, and Climate. In addition, more
copper is mined in AZ than all the other states combined, and the
Morenci Mine is the largest copper producer in all of North America.
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Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, were
married on March 18, 1939, in Kingman, AZ.
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Coconino County at 18,608
square miles is the 2nd largest county by land area in the 48
contiguous USA.
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The world's largest solar telescope
is located at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Sells, AZ.
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Bisbee, AZ is known as the
Queen of the Copper Mines because during its mining heyday it produced nearly 25%
of the world's copper and was the largest city in the Southwest
between Saint Louis and San Francisco.
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Billy the Kid killed his first man,
Windy Cahill, in Bonita, AZ.
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AZ became the 48th state and
last of the contiguous states on February 14, 1912. President William
Howard Taft was ready to make AZ a state on February 12, 1912, 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 AZ became known as
the Valentine State.
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When England's
famous London Bridge was replaced in the 1960s, it was
purchased, dismantled, shipped stone by stone and reconstructed in Lake
Havasu City, AZ, where it still stands today.
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Mount Lemmon, in the Santa
Catalina Mountains, is the southernmost ski resort in the United
States.
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Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch
in Picacho, AZ is the largest privately-owned ostrich ranch in
the world outside South Africa.
In the same area, the westernmost battle of the Civil War was fought
at Picacho Pass April 15, 1862
near Picacho Peak in Pinal County.
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The Saguaro (sa-wah-row) cactus is
the largest cactus found in the U.S. If you cut down a protected species
of cactus in AZ, you could spend more than a year in prison. It can
grow as high as a five-story building; it can store up to nine tons of water;
and is native to the Sonoran Desert, the most biologically diverse desert
in North America, stretching across southern AZ.
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The world's largest to-scale
collection of miniature airplane models is housed at the library at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in
Prescott, AZ.
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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.
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Located on AZ's western border,
Parker Dam is the deepest dam in the world at 320 feet. South Mountain
Park/Preserve in Phoenix is the largest municipal park in the
country.
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Palo Verde Nuclear Generating
Station, located about 55 miles west of Phoenix, generates more
electricity than any other U.S. power plant.
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Oraibi, a Hopi village located
in Navajo County, AZ, dates back to before A.D. 1200 and is reputed
to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in America. Out of
all the states in the U.S., AZ has the largest percentage of its
land designated as Indian lands. The negotiations for Geronimo's final
surrender took place in Skeleton Canyon, near present
day Douglas, AZ, in 1886. The
Navajo Nation spans 27,000 square miles across the states of Utah, AZ and New
Mexico, but its capital is seated in Window Rock, AZ.
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Petrified wood is the official state
fossil. The Petrified Forest in NE AZ contains America's largest
deposits of petrified wood.
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Rainfall averages for AZ range
from less than three inches in the deserts to more than 30 inches per year in
the mountains.
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Roadrunners are not just in
cartoons! In AZ, you'll see them running up to 17-mph away from their
enemies.
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The best-preserved meteor crater in
the world is located near Winslow, AZ. (Yes, the one of “standing on the corner…” fame.)
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The amount of copper utilized to
make the copper dome atop AZ’s Capitol building is equivalent to the amount
used in 4.8 million pennies.
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Near Yuma, the Colorado
River's elevation dips to 70 feet above sea level, the lowest point in the
state.
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The geographic center of AZ is
55 miles southeast of Prescott near the community of Mayer.
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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.
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The hottest temperature recorded
in AZ was 128 degrees at Lake Havasu City on June 29, 1994; and
the coldest temperature recorded in AZ was 40 degrees below zero
at Hawley Lake on January 7, 1971.
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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.
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On June 6, 1936, the first barrel of
tequila produced in the United States rolled off the production line
in Nogales, AZ.
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Bisbee, in SE AZ, is the Nation’s
southernmost mile-high city.
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The two largest man-made lakes in
the U.S. are Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both located in AZ.
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The longest remaining intact section
of Route 66 can be found in AZ, running from Seligman to Topock, 157 unbroken
miles.
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The 13 stripes on the AZ flag
represent the 13 original colonies of the United States.
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Prescott, AZ is home to
the world's oldest rodeo, and Payson, AZ is home to the world's
oldest continuous rodeo, both of which date back to the 1880's.
