History

Chances are, you haven’t heard of Virgil Carrell. But if you’ve spent any time at all on America’s highways, his work is as familiar as McDonald’s golden arches. Although Carrell’s achievements ranged widely, the U.S. Forest Service’s iconic signs became his legacy — they’ve endured, unchanged, for six decades.

Carrell was born to railroad workers who spent their lives in remote parts of the Pacific Northwest, so it isn’t surprising that he earned a degree in forestry. During his long career with the Forest Service, he raised his own family in similar conditions.

Championships are rare in Arizona. Arizona State and the University of Arizona have won a few. And the Arizona Diamondbacks won a World Series in 2001, but that wasn’t the first big win for a ball team. That honor belongs to a women’s softball team. The Phoenix Ramblers, whose official name was the Peterson Brook Steiner and Wist (PBSW) Ramblers, captured the Amateur Softball Association championship in 1940. At the time, fast-pitch softball was a popular pastime in Arizona. Although the Ramblers were an amateur team, there was no shortage of spectators to watch the women play.

There’s some debate about the inception and original ownership of Granite Dells Resort, which was a prime vacation spot in the Prescott area from the early 1900s to the 1970s. The Weekly Arizona Journal-Miner listed the resort’s grand opening in 1903, but an article in the Prescott Journal-Miner from May 1907 announced another opening four years later. Several articles reference the “original” owner being a businessman named Ed Shumate, who reportedly sold the property in 1905 after investing a large amount of money in upgrading the facilities.

It was halftime in the 1973 AA state basketball tournament semifinals, and Flagstaff’s Coconino High School Panthers found themselves down 20 points and receiving a stern lecture from head coach Stan Townsend. “You guys picked the worst time to play your worst game,” he said. “You seniors, this is your last chance. You guys need to get together and figure it out.”

Golf fans from around the world are familiar with the raucous crowds at the Phoenix Open. And the rock ’n’ roll atmosphere of the 16th hole. The state’s 300-plus golf courses are well known, too. And so are some of the “19th holes.” But there’s a piece of golf history that few have ever heard of.

Maybe you’ve spent a night or two in one of the cabins, or maybe you’ve stopped in for a dozen cookies or a jägerschnitzel dinner. But if you’ve so much as visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, you know about Jacob Lake Inn, which marks a century in business this year. And while its location at the top of the North Rim Parkway (State Route 67) has been key to that longevity, so has the determination of the family running the place.

Jay Datus was only 23 when he got the opportunity of a lifetime: to paint murals inside the Arizona State Library in the 1930s. It was an important milestone in the career of Datus, who was born in Michigan in 1914 and became known as an “Arizona muralist” for his vivid depictions of the state’s history and culture.

In a city that’s seen so many changes over the years, it’s hard to say what part of town has changed the most. South Phoenix would be on the list. In the 1950s, the landscape down there looked dramatically
different, including the stretch of Baseline Road between 32nd and 48th streets, which was lined with flower farms owned by Japanese-American families who had purchased the land after World War II. Seven families operated what were known as the “Japanese flower farms.” Today, only one family remains: the Nakagawas.

Picture this: An elaborate, expensive tramway is built across the Grand Canyon, allowing a rare resource to be harvested from a remote cave below the North Rim. The resource? A nitrogen-rich animal byproduct: guano. Today, the idea sounds bat-dung crazy. But in the mid-20th century, when this ambitious scheme unfolded (and then folded), guano was highly sought for use as fertilizer. So, after the cave was discovered 650 feet above the Colorado River in the 1930s, attempts to harvest the guano began.

From showers and baths to sinks and dishwashers, water is something we often take for granted. But the challenges of maintaining a feasible water supply in Arizona’s desert landscape have existed since people started living here. The Hohokam people were the first to design and build irrigation systems in the area, starting as far back as A.D. 200, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. That tradition continues today with the Central Arizona Project, which delivers water to more than 80 percent of the state’s population.