Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

In the late 19th century, just about every city of any size had a streetcar or trolley line. In Phoenix, there was the Phoenix Street Railway System, which operated from 1887 to 1948. It was owned and operated by the great promoter and subdivision mogul, Moses H. Sherman, until 1925, when the city of Phoenix took over operations.

In December 1903, handbills began appearing around Bisbee announcing a mighty tug-of-war competition. Tug-of-war was popular in the early 1900s, particularly in the rough and ready mining towns of the West, where a man’s strength and brawn was a measure of his success.

The man at the eyepiece of the telescope is Percival Lowell, early day astronomer and founder of Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory. He spent the better part of a lifetime probing the solar system — gazing into the lens of this Clark 24-inch refractor telescope (now a registered national historic landmark) from atop Mars Hill in Flagstaff.

Unlike today, where the state historian is an honorary position created by a governor’s proclamation, in late territorial and early statehood days, this was an official, paid government position.

This is State Sen. James E. Babbitt, member of the pioneer northern Arizona family and uncle of former governor and former Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt.

Forester Aldo Leopold’s presence in the Southwest is well-documented and his status as a steward of nature continues to grow. His time in Arizona helped hone his values which are still respected and discussed today.

Nathaniel E. Plumer, along with two business associates, was instrumental in getting the road built that would eventually be known as Speedway Boulevard.

The road from Jacob Lake to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is a lovely journey through grassy parks surrounded by spruce and fir trees at a an altitude of more than 8,000 feet. The pleasant coolness refreshes after travelling through the beautiful, yet harsh, high desert of the Vermillion Cliffs and House Rock Valley. The lack of streams and lakes on the plateau has limited human settlement there, yet there is enough snowfall to allow trees and grasses to thrive.

Construction of the Hoover Dam took five years — from 1931 to 1936 — to build what was then the largest concrete dam in the world. It was built in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, in northwestern Arizona on the border with Nevada.

This Mohave was the largest and most palatial of the paddle-wheelers on the Colorado River a century ago. The photo was taken in 1876, when the Mohave was docked at Yuma taking on school children for a May Day excursion. The ship had been launched earlier that year, replacing a smaller boat (also called the Mohave) that had been dismantled and completely rebuilt.