History Adventuring

If you live in the Phoenix area, like I do, and have ever wondered why a city was built "way out in the middle of the desert", you need to take a second look at the geography. Phoenix is on the edge of a desert. The map above shows a satellite view of the Sonoran Desert. To the lower left is the Gulf of California, and at right are the uplifted areas of Arizona. The arrow shows the Salt River Valley, which is where Phoenix is. So, from a geographical point of view, Phoenix is in a wonderful position to take advantage of the annual runoff from the uplifted areas. The water flows from northeast to southwest, and empties out into the ocean at the Gulf of California. It may not feel like it when you're driving around Phoenix, but Arizona tilts towards down (towards sea level) southwest. The main advantage that the pioneers saw in the Salt River Valley was the fertility of the soil, watered annually by flooding. The trick was, and is, how to control that flooding, ca

If you've learned about politics from comedy shows, memes, and posts on Facebook, I really can't blame you if you're confused, and possibly angry and frustrated, with the government. It just looks like random stuff happening. But if you're genuinely interested in learning about how the United States government works, here are some suggestions: • Learn the difference between a Democracy and a Republic. The United States isn't, and never has been, and Democracy. It's a Republic. Start with understanding how representative government works and you're more than half-way there. • Find out about how the United States was formed, and how other governments work. Take a look at Humanism, and the Enlightenment. The United States government was a revolutionary idea at the time, as it didn't rely on the authority of a King. • Read up on what Presidents do. Just pick any president that comes to mind. I kind'a like Theodore Roosevelt. Or maybe you can r

OK, I'll admit it, I love mountain views and wide open spaces. That's part of why I live in Arizona, with its sweeping views and majestic vistas. And, at the risk of sounding like the Chamber of Commerce, there is still a lot of it, just minutes from Phoenix. You can get in your car, and in a few miles, you are seeing stuff that looks like a photo from Arizona Highways. But attitudes about mountain views and open spaces have changed in the past few generations. If you drive around the Phoenix area, you see that mountains in the past were just convenient places for practical stuff, like radio towers, and water tanks. Open spaces were torn up by off-road vehicles, or digging for gold. The photo above shows the owner of the Spur Cross Ranch, Francis Shaw, in 1905, and what the Spur Cross Conservation Area looks like nowadays. Back when Shaw owned the land, its value was for for the gold and silver that could be dug up. He would have laughed at the thought that the land and

When I started working for Valley National Bank in 1990, I was already familiar with the term "National Bank". It seems like every other bank that I had ever heard of had the word "National" in it. But national banking, that is, banking across state lines, was illegal before 1996. And I got to watch a company gamble on the chance that the law would change. That company was Bank One. The reason that banks couldn't be national had to do with their fragility after the Wall Street crash of 1929. By law, banks had to be contained in states. And that meant that if a bank failed, it would only affect that particular state, not the entire country. But in 1996, true "national banking", what we take for granted today, became legal. And in preparation for that, Bank One had been buying up banks all over the country, including Valley National Bank of Arizona. The four years that I watched Bank One make the transition from being some kind of distant &q

When you go looking for the earliest churches in the Phoenix, Arizona area, you just have to remember that a church is not a building, it's a congregation. Wherever two or more of you are gathered in His name. And among the many things that the Phoenix pioneers needed to survive in such a harsh place was faith. So, to find the earliest churches, you have to find the earliest settlers. My personal favorite is the group that began with John P. Osborn (yes, the guy with the farm that they named the road after), his wife Pauline, the Reverend Lewis Hedgpeth, his wife Margaret, and their families. To find this church, in addition to traveling back 130 years, you would have to go waaaay north of town to the Osborn farm, which was between Central and 7th Street, and, obviously, on Osborn Road. There you would find the tiny congregation meeting in the little schoolhouse. Then it moved to a building which was donated by Edna Smith, originally called Smith's Chapel, and then Bethe

I'm interested in history, and collect old photos of Phoenix and post them on the web. And nothing gets more attention than photos that show the price of gasoline. The price of gas in Phoenix in 1914, allowing for inflation, equivalent to about four dollars a gallon nowadays. Of course, a common mistake that most people make is not taking inflation into account. That is, if you see the price something in, say, 1901, you have to consider how much money was worth back then. My favorite example is that you could have gotten a shave-and-a-haircut for "two bits" in 1901, which makes 25 cents  in 1901 worth about twenty bucks today. But even taking all of that into account, the price of gasoline in Phoenix started out as being wildly expensive, and then it fell dramatically in the 1950s. In 1915, when automobiles were still fairly rare in Phoenix, gasoline, like everything else in Phoenix, was very expensive. It had to be brought in on trains, and those were the d

The 1920s are so long ago that no one I know of can think of Paradise Valley as ever being anything but an expensive, and exclusive, community. But before reliable water was brought in, it was just a place of random shacks in the desert. Just dust and Gila Monsters, not even reliable groundwater. The article above is from 1921. And yes, that was Paradise Valley. By comparison, life was good to the south of Camelback Mountain, and the Phoenix Mountains, because there had been reliable water, through the Arizona Canal, since 1885. And since the valley slants southwest, and water doesn't run uphill, the area north of the canal had no water. Yes, you could have purchased all of the land that you wanted, for cheap, north of the canal, and people would have thought you were crazy. But there have been a lot of "unreasonably optimistic" people in the Phoenix area. In the article there from 1921, people were hanging on, hoping for the best, waiting for the Paradise-Verde Da

I have a fascination for the history of Phoenix, Arizona. It's been a hobby of mine for many years to collect old photos, maps, that sort of thing. I read old newspapers and do what I call “time traveling”. I like to imagine what Phoenix looked like in the past. And since I live in the 21st Century, I am often amused by people who wondered why something was built “way out there”, which we now think about as being fairly nearby. And then I look around and realize that it's happening all of the time, and people are still saying the same thing. I call this “history in the making”. I could call it “why are they building something out in the middle of nowhere?” I guess. And it makes sense. One of the areas that I have been watching since the early 90s is the valley that is just west of the White Tank Mountains. If you live in the Phoenix area, you may be wondering who would be crazy enough to build something way out there. But it started in the 1980s when a 4-lane privately-fun

If you're like me, and grew up learning about cowboys and Indians by watching movies on Sunday afternoons, I guess I can't blame you for seeing things from a racist point of view. That is, dividing groups of people based on physical characteristics, such as the color of their skin. But I'm a culturalist, not a racist, and if you take that point of view, many confusing things about the relationship of the Phoenix pioneers to the Indians come into focus. By the way, since I have to call them something, I am calling the people of what is usually called "white ancestry" pioneers. Actually, a lot of them weren't white, and since race is a nonsense concept anyway, I'll just call them pioneers. I have to call them something. This would be right after the Civil War, 1866 or so. And as for the names of the Indian Tribes, well, it's the same thing. The tribes called themselves the people. All tribes are the people. Only outsiders give them names. And if you

Like all kids, I loved to watch construction. And like most people, I can't even began to understand the process. I still call the vehicles that I see on construction sites "Tonka Toys". I slow down for construction workers (and not just because fines double in construction zones, although that may be only in California, I don't remember?). Luckily, I have spent most of my adult life in Phoenix, which has always had construction. I have a special interest in freeway construction, which, although it puzzles most people that I care about it, is some of the most amazing architecture and construction that I've ever seen. And I someones wonder if there are other people out there who feel the same way that I do? I live in the west valley and nowadays the construction of the 303 freeway is at its most amazing. Yeah, in a few years people will just take it all for granted, or complain about it, because that's what we all do with roads and freeways. Somehow most

Maybe it's because so few people have actually met celebrities, or "stars", or even actors, in real life that makes people seem to feel comfortable poking fun at them, even in death. Actor Bob Crane, who was murdered in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1978, is a star who had fallen. And the joking began almost right away, and continues to this day. This was before my time, but I remember the TV show "Hogan's Heroes" on re-runs. And I know that Bob Crane was quite a big star in the late 1960s, but after Hogan's Heroes ended, his career as a TV star ended, too. But he was still an actor, and one of the things he did was Dinner Theater. And going from a big TV star in Hollywood to playing a Dinner Theater in Scottsdale in 1972 was a big drop. But if you've known actors, you know that it's all the same to them, really. The actors I've known have all been pretty much the same, they liked to pretend, they enjoyed being on stage. And the most important

I've lived in Glendale, Arizona for over twenty years, and have driven back and forth on Olive Avenue more times than I can count. And if you're a neighbor of mine, not far from Glendale Community College, you have driven past Ted's Plaza, which is on 47th Avenue. If you've never seen it, that's not surprising. It tends to be one of those "invisible" things that I see, and often joke about. Yes, something is definitely wrong with me, because I can see Ted's Plaza. Whatever it is, being "right-brained" or being a Graphic Designer, or a frustrated architect, I see a lot of things that really aren't all that important, like the names of shopping centers. And no, I don't tell people to meet me at Ted's Plaza, unless I'm joking. It's the corner with the Circle K. Now that I'm looking more carefully at the sign, there's a Mexican Food place I've never gone to. Gotta try that! I have no idea how old the sign

Because I collect old photos of Phoenix, and watch the History Channel, most people assume that I am pining away for the "good old days". You know, when life was simple, and air conditioning hadn't been invented yet. But no, that's not me, I'm a time traveler. It just seems to be easier to go back in time than forward. But I often look at things and give it a try, anyway. The image above is a plan for the new Sun Devil stadium in Tempe, although I’ve heard lately that it won’t have that cool-looking top. Well, maybe it will! It's only a model. The current one, built in 1958, has sentimental value, but really, isn't it time to update? And this is when the time-traveling really kicks in. To do this, you have to time-travel back to the 1950s and imagine that a new stadium would be built to replace the old one. And it was going to be build in the "saddle" next to A Mountain (Tempe Butte). It must have blown people's minds. I like to imagine

As I learn more about my favorite city, Phoenix, Arizona, I am beginning to understand why so many histories written about it are so distorted. At some point, and for whatever reason, many histories are written as if a particular group of people didn't exist. I guess people need to try to keep thing organized. Maybe it's so books can fit into particular classes being taught, segregated by race, or nationality. Maybe there are just so many shameful things that historians would just rather not dwell on them (and there are some terrible things!). So, people wonder if I'm interested in Indians, or Chinese, or black people. And yes, I am. I am also interested in learning about the impact that women in Phoenix have had on its history. And no, I don't fit into any of the above categories, but I fit into the most important one: a person who has been part of Phoenix history. And that includes everyone, including you. The moment you stepped off of that plane, or hopped o

Whenever I'm hanging around with people who talk about their houses, and money is mentioned, most people proudly tell me how much more their house is worth than when they bought it. I guess it's just human nature, like buying something at a garage sale and later finding out that's worth a lot on ebay. But if you're like me, you really don't want the value of your house to go way up. I saw the negative aspects of that when I lived in Los Angeles, and it's while it's good for Real Estate Agents, and investors, it's very bad for people like me who just want to live in a house. Please let me explain. I bought the house that I'm in right now, here in Glendale, when I was in my mid-thirties. I just love it here. It's a great neighborhood, and besides, my dog likes it here. I never want to leave here. No, this house is not for sale. Not until I'm done with it, if you know what I mean. And I plan on living for a very long time! So, let's

I know Phoenix, Arizona. I've lived there for a long time. I've driven the freeways, I've spent a lot of time there. It's my town. I collect old photos of Phoenix, I read about the history of Phoenix. So you would think that I know everything. But I don't, far from it. And especially when I get a chance to see it through other people's eyes, it's brand-new to me again, and again. Please let me explain. As a webby kind of guy, I started posting images of Phoenix way back when the internet was new. I had web pages that I had created just for fun, to learn more about HTML, and CSS, and to practice to teach web classes at GCC. But it wasn't until Google+ was invented, just a few years ago, that I really started getting a chance to see Phoenix through other people's eyes. My experience on Google+ with my Phoenix page has been wonderful. I have to admit that I was kind'a leery about using a "social media" to post things, as I had seen

When I worked for Bank One in downtown Phoenix in the '90s, I wore a shirt and tie. I'm sure that the company had some kind of dress code, but I never knew about it. I just knew that if you dressed as if you were going to be playing tennis that day, you would feel very out of place in the marketing department. That's me up there, getting my picture taken for "the One Card". Nowadays, of course, when I see someone wearing a shirt and tie in the Phoenix area, I have to wonder "what are they thinking?" Let's face it, Phoenix is hot. Wearing a dress shirt, buttoned up to the top, with a tie around your neck, is no way to keep cool. And even the lightest suit (I always wore what was called a "tropical blend") is enough to make most guys start sweating just walking from their car to a building in Phoenix. So when I tell people that I went to work wearing a suit for years, I have to explain that I worked in a space ship. I worked at what

I'm fascinated with Phoenix history. And not just memorizing names and dates, but living it, as if I were really there, in territorial times, or back when gas was 18 cents a gallon. I call it time-traveling, and it's a lot of fun. And sometimes I get a chance to see Phoenix history through the eyes of someone who has lived it. I made a point of visiting Jimmy Desmuke in 1994. He had been one of the executives of Valley National Bank going back back to the time of Walter Bimson. Jimmy was in his nineties then, and he had asked for only one thing when he retired, in the mid-1960s, an office which he could keep going to. And he had a nice, big, private office in Valley Center (which was the Bank One Building then and is now Chase Tower), where I worked, on Central and Monroe. So I visited Jimmy one day. I called and asked for an appointment (yes, he had his own secretary) and then got on the elevator to go see him. I didn't stay very long, and there really wasn't mu

If you're like most people, and have never studied the Indian Wars in Arizona, well, I can't blame you. I got a copy of the 1915 Arizona the Youngest State  by James McClintock recently, and it goes into some very grisly details. It will be a while before I will be able to look at that book again. If you've read it, you know what I mean. Unfortunately, if you don't know about what happened, it's easy to fall into the common mistake of stereotyping the Indian people. And as I began my journey to understand the Phoenix Indian School, I started finding out things that surprised me, and go against the simplistic and racist stereotypes that many people cling to. Let's begin with something that I hear all of the time - Indians being forced to learn English. Step back in time. The Pima people knew a lot of languages, in addition to their own. For hundreds of years they also spoke Spanish, and then they learned English. Their land, which extended from where moder

When I hear the word "Thunderbird", I usually think of the car. Or, since I live in the Phoenix area, I may think of Thunderbird Road. And I really didn't give much thought to the ancient Indian symbol of a Thunderbird until I started collecting old photos of Phoenix. Support Arizona history by becoming a patron on Patreon Click here to become a Patron! A Thunderbird is traditionally drawn with very squared-off wings, in a geometric shape. If you want to see the shape of a Thunderbird, just fly over 59th Avenue and Greenway, and look down at the Thunderbird School of International Management, in Glendale. Actually, if you could arrange to see it right after it was built, as Thunderbird Field, just before World War II, it shows much clearer. They've added a lot of new buildings nowadays, but you can still kinda see it. That's it at the top of this post in the 1940s. You are flying over it, looking northwest. By the way, don't confuse a Thunderbird

One of the things that I do, and have done all of my life, is look at backgrounds. That is, everything in view except what you're really supposed to be looking at. I look at mountains, clouds, buildings, that sort of thing. And I can really appreciate this strange behavior of mine when people wonder what I'm looking at? Take the image above, for example. What do you see? If you're like most normal people, you will see a billboard. It's actually a billboard from the 1960s in Phoenix, Arizona, that I found on a website that posts a lot of images of advertising. And sure, I'm interested in advertising (I'm an old Marketing guy), but mostly I'm interested in the background. For someone like me, there's so much to see in an image like this it's overwhelming. I see the cars, the buildings, the signs. I see the fonts, the colors, the textures. And this doesn't just happen to me when I'm looking at old images. I see it all of the time, wherev

Time-travel to the future with me, and ride along in my self-driving car. You can sit up front near the steering-wheel, I'll be relaxing in the back, maybe watching a movie, or YouTube. Self-driving cars will be something that people will have to get used to, like when cars were first invented. They will have to share the road with the older technology for a while, and that will make things more complex. When cars were invented, there were still a lot of horses on the road. So, when I get my self-driving car, I know that there will be a lot of clumsy and slow traffic around, and it will take a few years for those to go away. So in my trip of the imagination, I will go to Los Angeles from Phoenix in about ten years from today. By that time, people will have stopped staring in amazement at self-driving cars (the way they did when the first cars appeared on the road), and it will just be another thing, like Smart Phones. People will probably argue as to whether they prefer the