Roadside Historical Markers

SNYDER-CAVANAUGH SHOOTOUT
In 1878, the Snyder-Cavanaugh Gang, led by Bill Cavanaugh, came to this spot in present-day Eagar after robbing a man of $12,000 in gold and killing him. As the story goes, the gang members couldn’t agree on how to divvy up their loot, so they started shooting at each other. In the end, as many as seven of the outlaws died; the rest of the gang rode north to the small ranching community of St. Johns, where residents were armed and waiting. A few more gang members were killed there, and the rest headed south to Springerville, where they met the same fate. Today, the bodies of three unidentified gang members are in a grave to the left of the historical marker.
County: Apache  Location: The marker is on River Road, 0.1 miles south of Central Avenue (State Route 260), in Eagar.
 

GERONIMO SURRENDER MONUMENT
Geronimo’s fourth and final surrender was in Skeleton Canyon on September 6, 1886. General Nelson A. Miles took the credit. One of the conditions of the surrender was that the free Chiricahua Apaches would get to see their families upon arrival in Florida, where they were being imprisoned. However, President Grover Cleveland was still expecting an unconditional surrender. Unbeknownst to the Chiricahuas, Miles had decided that since Geronimo had broken his prior conditions of surrender, all agreed-upon terms were null. On the marker, Geronimo is misidentified as a “chief” — he was a warrior, but not a chief.
County: Cochise  Location: The marker is near Milepost 406, north of Skeleton Canyon Road, on State Route 80.
 

JACOB LAKE LOOKOUT TOWER
This lookout tower was built in 1934 to help spot wildfires in the surrounding national forest. It stands 100 feet tall and has a 49-square-foot cab on top. In the first years after the U.S. Forest Service was established in 1905, fireguards patrolled the forests on horseback. The earliest form of a lookout structure was a simple platform mounted in a tree. Eventually, permanent lookout stations and towers were established on prominent points. This tower was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on December 30, 1996.
County: Coconino  Location: The marker is 1.2 miles south of U.S. Route 89A on State Route 67, near Jacob Lake.
 

SALT RIVER BEFORE THE DAM
The Salt River begins in the White Mountains as runoff from melting snow, which finds its way into streams and creeks that eventually form the White and Black rivers. The confluence of the two rivers marks the official start of the Salt River, which was dammed in the early 20th century. Construction on Theodore Roosevelt Dam began in 1903 as part of an effort to control the Salt River and gather its water for irrigation. The dam’s namesake, President Theodore Roosevelt, dedicated the structure on March 18, 1911, by pressing a button that began the collection of water in the reservoir. Seven decades later, from 1989 to 1996, the dam underwent a major modification project. The dam forms Theodore Roosevelt Lake, which has approximately 128 miles of shoreline.
County: Gila  Location: The marker is at Inspiration Point, an overlook near Milepost 242 of the Apache Trail (State Route 88).
 

ODD FELLOWS HOME
In June 1920, the State Lodge of Odd Fellows and Rebekahs announced that a home for orphans and senior citizens would be built on the Beebe family’s 13-acre homestead in Safford. For 25 years, the facility served as a home for elderly convalescents, along with 33 orphans and half-orphans. Garden crops, an orchard and farm animals were tended on the grounds. After 1953, the building was used as a meeting and social hall, then as a library. The Tudor Revival-style home, which was designed by William Bray and features an arched arcade porch, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
County: Graham  Location: The marker is on the front porch of the building, which is at 808 S. Eighth Avenue in Safford.
 

CLIFTON CLIFF JAIL
The first jail in the small mining town of Clifton was built in the early 1880s to hold some of the West’s most desperate outlaws. Its two jail cells were carved into the steep rock, giving it the appearance of a barred-window catacomb. Ironically, the jail’s first occupant is said to have been its builder, Margarito Verala. As the story goes, he celebrated the completion of his handiwork by tanking up on too much firewater and shooting up a local dance hall. He was promptly arrested and locked in his own hoosegow.
County: Greenlee Location: The marker is at Milepost 164 on U.S. Route 191 (Coronado Trail) in Clifton.
 

IN MEMORY OF HUALAPAI ANCESTORS
After defeat at the hands of the U.S. Army in the Hualapai Wars of the 1860s, the Hualapai survivors were led to a camp on the Colorado River. In 1874, orders were issued to relocate them to another place. The forced march to La Paz was physically exhausting, and the route through the mountains of Western Arizona was rough. During the Hualapais’ internment, many died due to disease and lack of food. The marker reads: “We greet the spirits of our ancestors and embrace their strength, their dignity, and above all else, their will to survive this holocaust. The Hualapai People’s strength and cultural survival endures for all future generations to come.”
County: La Paz  Location: The marker is near Milepost 3 on Mohave Drive, 6 miles north of Interstate 10, near Ehrenberg.
 

THE OLD VERDE RIVER SHEEP BRIDGE
The original Verde River Sheep Bridge was constructed at this location in the 1940s by the Flagstaff and Howard sheep companies, which had been grazing sheep in the Bloody Basin area of the Tonto National Forest since 1926. After the bridge was constructed, the 11,000 sheep that wintered on three nearby grazing allotments — authorized by the U.S. Forest Service — could safely cross from one side of the Verde to the other. The suspension bridge was approximately 350 feet long but only 30 inches wide, with high wooden sides. A new bridge, reminiscent of the original, stands at the site today.
County: Maricopa, Location: The marker is approximately 20 miles northeast of Carefree and can be accessed via Cave Creek Road (later Seven Springs Road/Forest Road 24) and Forest Road 269. A high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicle is required.
 

TAMING THE COLORADO
From this marker, visitors can look into Black Canyon and a narrow, river-like portion of Lake Mohave. To the left, about 59 miles downstream, is Davis Dam, which has a crest length of 1,600 feet and a top width of 50 feet. A 1944 treaty with Mexico required the United States to construct Davis Dam for regulation of water to be delivered to Mexico. To the right, 11 miles upstream, is Hoover Dam. The massive structure, which was dedicated in 1935, was built at a cost of $49 million; when adjusted for inflation in 2026, that would be approximately $1.6 billion. The U.S. government built these dams to help control the periodic flooding of the Colorado River, to provide irrigation during dry periods and to generate electricity.
County: Mohave  Location: The marker is at the Lake Mead Scenic View pullout, at Milepost 13 on
U.S. Route 93.
 

"SHOW LOW AND YOU WIN THE RANCH"
In 1876, according to legend, Corydon E. Cooley and Marion Clark, two ranchers who were partners in managing 100,000 acres of land at the northwest edge of the White Mountains, determined that the land wouldn’t support two families. Neither man was willing to buy the other out. To settle the matter, the legend goes, Cooley and Clark engaged in a friendly game of seven-up played at the kitchen table of Cooley’s two-story home atop the hill directly south of this monument. As the game neared completion, Cooley needed just one point to win. With nothing else to lose, Clark, holding a three, said, “Show low and you win the ranch.” Cooley drew the deuce of clubs; he then supposedly renamed the ranch Show Low, and the main street through town became known as the Deuce of Clubs.
County: Navajo  Location: The marker is at the intersection of Cooley and 11th streets in Show Low.
 

PREHISTORIC ROCK ART
Rock art is found throughout the world, including in Saguaro National Park. Most rock art in the Southwest predates written history and originated hundreds, or even thousands, of years ago. Prehistoric occupation of Saguaro National Park spans the Archaic and Hohokam periods. Evidence of the Archaic Period in the park, which may go back as far as 5000 B.C., is limited to temporary camps and hunting sites. The Hohokam people were farmers, gatherers and hunters who lived in the river valleys and deserts of Southern Arizona from about A.D. 300 to 1450, and most of the rock art in the park appears to be from this period. The rock art here is primarily petroglyphs (carved into the rock), rather than pictographs (painted on the rock). 
County: Pima  Location: The marker is at Signal Hill Picnic Area, at the intersection of Signal Hill and Golden Gate roads, in Saguaro National Park West.
 

GADSDEN PURCHASE
Known in Mexican history as the Sale of the Mesilla Valley, the Gadsden Purchase transferred 29,640 square miles of northern Mexico (La Mesilla) to the United States in exchange for $10 million. The sale was initiated, in large part, by robber barons intent on building of a transcontinental railroad — and the most practical route was south of the Gila River, in the newly acquired land. The purchase was negotiated by the U.S. minister to Mexico, James Gadsden. Under the agreement, residents of the territory were given the same protections as those given to residents of the land ceded to the United States in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Today, the Gadsden Purchase accounts for 24 percent of Arizona’s total land mass.
County: Pinal  Location: There are identical markers at the eastbound and westbound Interstate 10 rest areas just north of State Route 387, near Casa Grande.
 

FRAY MARCOS DE NIZA
On April 12, 1539, a Franciscan monk by the name of Marcos de Niza crossed into the San Rafael Valley in a place now known as Arizona. He was searching for the fabled “Seven Cities of Cibola,” which were said to be rich beyond description. From Arizona, he moved northeast to the Zuni villages in New Mexico, which he saw in the light of a golden setting sun. To the pious monk, weary and tired, they appeared as golden villages. He backtracked to Mexico, told his story and inspired the 1540 expedition led by the haughty conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. It was Marcos de Niza, however, who is thought to have been the first European to set foot in the land west of the Rocky Mountains. And those steps are said to have occurred near this marker.
County: Santa Cruz  Location: The marker is on Duquesne Road, a half-mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border, near Lochiel.
 

PECAN LANE RURAL HISTORIC LANDSCAPE
Pecan Lane gets its name from the rows of pecan trees that dominate the area. Those trees played a significant role in the agricultural history of Camp Verde. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the community served as the breadbasket for several towns in Yavapai and Coconino counties, including Jerome, Prescott and Flagstaff. In 1926, Noah Haydon purchased the property and moved there with his son Carl and daughter-in-law Eva. The next year, Eva began planting pecan seedlings to introduce a new cash crop nourished by water from the Eureka Ditch. The seedlings developed into the majestic trees that distinguish Pecan Lane today.
County: Yavapai  Location: The marker is on Montezuma Castle Highway, 2 miles north of State Route 260, near Camp Verde.
 

CASTLE DOME MINING DISTRICT
In 1863, Jacob Snively, founder of Gila City and a right-hand man to Sam Houston, arrived in the Castle Dome Mountains of Western Arizona. Within 15 years, Castle Dome City’s population rivaled that of nearby Yuma. The Castle Dome Mine, which had seven shafts, was patented in 1876. Two years later, the mine operators built what’s said to have been the world’s largest wagon, one with a capacity of 20 tons — and that required a team of 40 horses or mules to pull it. In the 1940s, during World War II, the government’s need for lead brought another boom to the area, and more than 9 million pounds of lead ore was mined. It’s been said that the mining effort made the area a target of the Japanese during the war, but the Japanese military didn’t have planes that could fly that far.
County: Yuma  Location: The marker is at the Castle Dome Mining Museum, off U.S. Route 95 northeast of Yuma.