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Flagstaff
KNOWLEDGE OF Flagstaff
Surrounded by vast Ponderosa pine forests and perched high on the Colorado Plateau at the base of the majestic San Francisco Peaks, Flagstaff offers a beautifully varied landscape of forests, high deserts, lakes and volcanic craters. The scenery surrounding the city is unparalleled in all of Arizona. The first settlers in the area, drawn to the cool pine forests around 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, shared the land with bison, antelope and camel, supporting their people by hunting and foraging, until they settled into an agricultural way of life with a diet of beans, squash and corn.
From those early settlers, the Sinagua evolved, a tribe that moved into the area of present-day Flagstaff and south to Oak Creek Canyon around the year 1,000 A.D. Their name is derived from the Spanish for "no water," a reference to the leaky, porous limestone cliffs where the tribe built dwellings that were noted by the first Spanish explorers. The Sinagua constructed an elaborate system of irrigation and adobe pueblos in the nooks and niches of protective cliffs such as Walnut Canyon, but by the time the Spaniards came to the region in the 16th century, the Sinigua had already abandoned their homes for reasons that remain uncertain to this day. Historians debate whether they were driven away by drought, disease or hostile Athabascan tribes invading from the north. Hundreds of ruins like those at Wupatki National Monument have been found to prove the tribe existed, but nothing remains to confirm why they left.
European American settlers did not move into the area until the 1870s, soon after the Apaches had been driven to southeastern Arizona. A few colonizers arrived in 1876 and established a settlement called Agassiz near San Francisco Peaks but, lacking the knowledge and technology of the Sinagua, decided that the area was not good for farming. A sheepherder named Thomas Forsythe MacMillan eventually arrived in the area and concluded that it was a great land for raising sheep. By 1880, the area's population had grown to 67.
Two years later, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (now the Santa Fe) arrived, and the town's future was secured. The sound of trains has remained Flagstaff's acoustic trademark to this day, as any visitor will confirm after listening to the whistle of the many freight trains that pass through Flagstaff every day.
According to local lore, the town acquired its name from a pole that may or may not have ever existed. Some say that a Ponderosa pine tree was stripped and a flag hoisted on July 4, 1876, to mark the Centennial of U.S. Independence, while others insist that it was used as a marker to guide travelers west. No matter what happened, the pole is lost forever, as it was turned into firewood for one of the many saloons. What we know for sure is that the name Flagstaff was selected by a group of citizens meeting at a tent store in 1881.
In 1886 and 1888, fires destroyed the settlement. Fortunately, enough lumber was around for rebuilding, and in 1891, Flagstaff became seat of the newly created Coconino County. In 1894, the city was incorporated and Lowell Observatory was established, which was destined to become one of the leading astronomy institutions in the world.
From those early settlers, the Sinagua evolved, a tribe that moved into the area of present-day Flagstaff and south to Oak Creek Canyon around the year 1,000 A.D. Their name is derived from the Spanish for "no water," a reference to the leaky, porous limestone cliffs where the tribe built dwellings that were noted by the first Spanish explorers. The Sinagua constructed an elaborate system of irrigation and adobe pueblos in the nooks and niches of protective cliffs such as Walnut Canyon, but by the time the Spaniards came to the region in the 16th century, the Sinigua had already abandoned their homes for reasons that remain uncertain to this day. Historians debate whether they were driven away by drought, disease or hostile Athabascan tribes invading from the north. Hundreds of ruins like those at Wupatki National Monument have been found to prove the tribe existed, but nothing remains to confirm why they left.
European American settlers did not move into the area until the 1870s, soon after the Apaches had been driven to southeastern Arizona. A few colonizers arrived in 1876 and established a settlement called Agassiz near San Francisco Peaks but, lacking the knowledge and technology of the Sinagua, decided that the area was not good for farming. A sheepherder named Thomas Forsythe MacMillan eventually arrived in the area and concluded that it was a great land for raising sheep. By 1880, the area's population had grown to 67.
Two years later, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (now the Santa Fe) arrived, and the town's future was secured. The sound of trains has remained Flagstaff's acoustic trademark to this day, as any visitor will confirm after listening to the whistle of the many freight trains that pass through Flagstaff every day.
According to local lore, the town acquired its name from a pole that may or may not have ever existed. Some say that a Ponderosa pine tree was stripped and a flag hoisted on July 4, 1876, to mark the Centennial of U.S. Independence, while others insist that it was used as a marker to guide travelers west. No matter what happened, the pole is lost forever, as it was turned into firewood for one of the many saloons. What we know for sure is that the name Flagstaff was selected by a group of citizens meeting at a tent store in 1881.
In 1886 and 1888, fires destroyed the settlement. Fortunately, enough lumber was around for rebuilding, and in 1891, Flagstaff became seat of the newly created Coconino County. In 1894, the city was incorporated and Lowell Observatory was established, which was destined to become one of the leading astronomy institutions in the world.
Chapi