World War II arizona Supports the War chapter 12 the time 1939-1945 people to know

The good ol' days of bonanza copper mines are long gone. The old-timers searched for lodes with rich ores of maybe 150 to 400 pounds of copper per ton. Today's companies are mining large bodies of rock and dirt with clumps of ore scattered here and there like raisins in a pudding. The pudding part is waste. The raisins are ore that average one-half of one percent of copper per ton. Even the waste dumps in bonanza days were richer than that.

Today's ores are usually deep underground. It takes a team of geologists, chemists, and other scientists to find them. Some ore bodies have solid rock caps—too thick for either open pit or underground mining.

For several years, most of Arizona's copper companies were losing money because of low-grade ores, low copper prices, foreign competition, environmental pressures, and strikes. These companies and others expect to run out of easily accessible copper ore in Arizona by the year 2010.

—Arizona Mining Association

—Arizona Mining Association

—Arizona Mining Association

249

Five Steps in the Solvent Extraction/Electrowinning (SX/EW) Process

Mine companies still grind copper ore into fine powder. The waste is removed in flotation tanks and by heating at a smelter. But some copper mines now leach low grade ores using the newer solvent extraction/ electrowinning (SX/EW) process. The ore is first blasted into rubble for leaching; it does not have to be ground into powder or smelted.

250

Gold and silver were the minerals that drew pioneer prospectors to Arizona. Today, these metals are mostly byproduct ( of copper smelting. Another important byproduct is molybdenum. Called "molly," this metal is used in making steel alloys and such things as spark plugs. Coal is plentiful in Arizona; most of it is on the Navajo Reservation. The coal is burned to generate electricity at several big power plants. Sand and gravel are another valuable source of mineral income in Arizona.

The Navajo generating plant near Page burns coal to make electricity.

FARMING HAS CHANGED GREATLY since pioneer days. Now it is called agribusiness. The typical Arizona farm is large and requires huge capital investments in land and equipment.

Only two percent of Arizona's land is farmed, but conditions have been favorable here for desert- grown products. Sunshine and irrigation are an unbeatable combination—if the water doesn't run out! Improved seeds, fertilizers, and insecticides help the farmers. Herbicides to control weeds, as well as better planting and harvesting methods, have also increased production.

251

Until the 1950s, most cotton was picked by hand. A person might pick 200 pounds a day. Now a cotton-picking machine can harvest 10,000 pounds in one day.

Technological changes have improved cotton planting too. "An electric eye on the planter feeds information to a computer in the cab, so the driver doesn't have to watch whether the seeds are dropping, and can concentrate on straight rows," said one farmer. "This is the most important operation we have. You can replant but it's less costly to do it right the first time."

Both Pima (long staple) and upland (short staple) cotton do well in Arizona. The average cotton yield per acre is more than double the national average. Today, the biggest market for Arizona cotton is in Asia. The chances are good that a cotton shirt or dress made in Taiwan or South Korea has cotton in it from Arizona.

—Chuck Youngker, Buckeye cotton farmer

Machines made cotton picking easier.

Until. the 1950s, cotton was picked by hand.

Forage, Grain, and Seeds

Alfalfa has been an important forage crop in Arizona since territorial days. The alfalfa is cut for hay and fed locally to livestock. In the 1970s, the high price of wheat caused many farmers to plant it instead of cotton. The average wheat yield per acre on an irrigated farm in Arizona is sixty-six bushels, more than double the national average. Arizona farmers grow some crops for seed. More than ninety percent of the nation's Bermuda grass seed is produced in the Yuma area. Most of the pearl millet seed planted in the southeastern states comes from Arizona.

252

Winter Vegetables

The warm desert climate is ideal for winter vegetables. Lettuce, called Arizona's "green gold," is the leading vegetable crop. At harvest time the iceberg lettuce is cut, boxed in cartons, hauled to cooling plants, and shipped in refrigerated trucks or railroad cars all over the country. Transportation is the biggest cost factor.

Birds can be a problem. "When the lettuce plants are real small, the birds pull them out till they get one without dirt on the root. Birds need green things," said one disgusted farmer. "We tried rubber snakes. They scared the birds away for about three days. Then the hawks swept in and carried the snakes away."

Deep orange-colored carrots and onions are grown in the Salt River Valley. Potatoes are planted at lower elevations, especially in the Queen Creek and Tolleson areas. The warm climate gets potatoes ready early for the heavy Fourth of July chip market. Frito-Lay at Casa Grande buys a lot of Arizona-grown potatoes, including those harvested later in the year at Willcox and Snowflake. The leading cantaloupe-producing area in the Southwest is at Yuma.

Irrigation water is vital to farming in Arizona.

Lettuce is harvested in the Salt River Valley.

Small onions are dug from the ground, trimmed, and wrapped in bundles.

Bumblebees pollinate flowers on vines rooted in a fertilized water solution. Wasps and other insects keep the plants bug-free without the use of pesticides. The tomatoes, grown year-round, were judged the

253

"best-tasting tomato in North America" by the American Tasting Institute. Tons of vine-ripened tomatoes are shipped daily, mainly to markets in New York and the East Coast.

—Merel H. Jensen, U of A College of Agriculture

Citrus has been an important Arizona crop since the 1880s. Grapefruit trees do well almost anywhere in the desert zone. Navel oranges grow mainly in the Salt River Valley. The Valencia, a late ripening orange that fills the need for fresh fruit in the spring, does best in the warmer localities of Yuma, Wellton, and the Salt River Valley. The Lisbon lemon produces heavily in the Yuma climate.

Most apple trees in Arizona are found in the cool Sulphur Springs Valley. The elevation there is about 4,500 feet. A packing plant in Willcox is designed to handle two million bushels or more when all the orchards are producing. Arizona apples have a higher sugar content and come on the market earlier than apples grown in Washington or Oregon.

Table grapes are another important fruit crop in Arizona. Grapes watered by drip irrigation use only about a fifth of the water needed for cotton. More than half the cost of grape growing is for labor.

Irrigated pecan trees are scattered over southern Arizona. The largest pecan grove in the country stretches out in the long green valley of the Santa Cruz River south of Tucson. Patient pecan growers wait about twelve years for a commercial crop. When harvest time finally comes, they shake the nuts off the trees by machine. Hershey's and other large companies buy most of the nuts. Stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and I. Magnin sell the extra large pecans in fancy tins.

---see pictures

Oranges and other citrus fruits are important crops.

254

TODAY, CATTLEMEN ARE CIRCLING THE WAGONS and fighting for survival. Not only do they battle the traditional foes—weather, predators, and the up-and-down beef market—but they face other problems too. First, how do they get enough land for their herds? A few fortunate families own a huge Spanish or Mexican land grant. But even they worry that their children will have to sell the ranch to pay inheritance taxes.

Most ranchers have to lease public land to eke out a living. Their ranches are hodge-podges of several different types of land. To get started, they have to own some land of their own to qualify for grazing permits on the federal forest reserves. The ranchers may also lease federal grasslands controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or state school lands. Without leases on public lands, most cattlemen would go out of business.

About 1,500 ranches have survived in the state. The best grazing land is found in the Mountain Region. Cochise County has the most cattle on the winter range. Yavapai is second.

Livestock disease is not the problem it was in the early days. Many older ranchers say that disease prevention is the greatest change in the cattle industry. The modern cowboy, unlike the gun-toting stars of western movies, carries a hypodermic syringe to vaccinate livestock. Cattlemen find that their operating costs continue to rise. The price tags on good breeding stock, fencing, feed, and other purchases are high. The price for beef is uncertain.

Sadly, cowboys are a dying breed. Ranchers say they can't find good ranch hands. The reason may be the hard work and low pay. Cowboys often get housing, free grub, and a salary of about $1,000 per month.

Cattle Feeding

Cattle feeding is no longer a sideline to the Arizona range cattle industry. Today it is a separate business. Cattle are fattened in huge feedlots on hay, a variety of grains, cottonseed meal, and supplements. One feedlot in Maricopa County feeds 40,000 head in shaded pens. The animals walk single file down a chute, like an assembly line, for branding or ear tagging, dehorning, and immunization. Gradually, the feedlots were moved away from Phoenix because of the odor, flies, and high land values. The biggest market for fattened cattle is California.

Cattle graze peacefully in the Mountain Region.

Cattle are fed in this pen in central. Arizona.

255

THE TOURIST TRADE has been a source of income in Arizona since territorial days. J. Ross Browne even wrote a book about his visit, naming it A Tour Through Arizona, 1864.

"Our sojourn at Tubac was pleasant enough," he wrote. "Hunting and fishing, and bathing occupied most of our time. It was a lazy, vagabond sort of life, very conducive to health."

Health seekers, many with tuberculosis, were early on the scene. They pitched their tents in the desert to take advantage of the dry air.

Scottsdale, now an elegant city with art galleries and shops that attract tourists worldwide, was described in 1901 as a place with "thirty-odd tents and a half-dozen adobe houses."

Resorts

The rich and famous relaxed at Castle Hot Springs after it opened in 1896 northwest of Phoenix. Others visited Indian Hot Springs, near Safford, where Geronimo and his warriors soaked in the mud and drank mineralized waters at an earlier time. Another swanky resort was the San Marcos Hotel, built by A. J. Chandler in the town named after him.

The 1920s and early 1930s seemed to be the "golden age" of plush resorts: the Biltmore and Camelback Inn in Phoenix; El Conquistador and the Arizona Inn, run by Isabella Greenway, in Tucson. By the 1930s, more than sixty guest ranches entertained easterners who wanted to "go western" for a while. The first ranch was near Wickenburg, later called the "dude ranch capital of the world."

"At the Flying E Ranch near Wickenburg, riding is our thing, with wranglers who enjoy horses and people! Lazy is an activity too."

—Arizona Dude Ranch Association

The Grand Canyon is our state's most famous tourist attraction. Scenic Airways of Phoenix took thousands of tourists on aerial trips over the Grand Canyon beginning in 1928. By the 1940s, American Airlines was spending $40,000 a month promoting Arizona. (Photo by Tom Till)

Tourists ride horses in the desert. (Photo by Bob Rink)

256

The Santa Fe Railroad and Fred Harvey advertised northern Arizona, especially the Grand Canyon and Native Americans. Harvey operated restaurant-hotels, called Harvey houses, at stations along the Santa Fe. The Harvey Houses sold Indian jewelry, pottery, blankets, and other items to tourists. In the 1920s, the Harvey Company organized "Indian Detours," busing visitors in "Harvey cars and Harvey coaches." One popular Detour ran from the Winslow train station to the Hopi mesas. There, the guests camped in tents and attended the Hopi Snake Dance.

The Union Pacific opened Grand Canyon Lodge in 1928. The hotel was a stop on the railroad's five-day "motor bus" tour.

Tourism Today

Modern tourism is Arizona's second leading industry. It provides jobs in small towns and big cities. The millions of tourists who come here include vacationers, business travelers, conventioneers, campers, and people just passing through the state. They have a wide choice of accommodations ranging from wilderness campsites to luxurious resort hotels. Major convention centers are available in the larger cities. The Office of Tourism (OOT) promotes this industry with color brochures of interesting places to visit. OOT sends stories and pictures to newspapers and magazines around the country. Travel writers then write articles about Arizona.

Harvey Houses were popular eating places. The food was excellent and it was served by Harvey Girls. They were attractive waitresses who were recruited in the East. There were very strict rules for the Harvey Girls. They had to be polite, clean, healthy, responsible, and moral.

Harvey cars brought many tourists to the Grand Canyon. This is a photo from the 1920s.

Arizona Highways promotes our state all over the world. It encourages both local residents and out-of-state visitors to hit the road and see Arizona.

257

Construction Industry Booms

THE GROWTH OF MANUFACTURING after World War II and a steady stream of newcomers gave Arizona's construction industry a big boost. Carpenters, bricklayers, and other tradespeople found plenty of jobs. They built rows and rows of subdivision homes on the outskirts of the bigger cities. Other crews worked on shopping centers, factories, new schools, and retirement communities.

Del Webb, a millionaire who started as a carpenter, developed Sun City, a retirement community. He also built one of the new skyscrapers on North Central Avenue in Phoenix. Greyhound Bus Corporation, which moved its national headquarters to Phoenix, and other companies snapped up office space in the high-rise buildings.

Downtown areas changed after department stores began moving out in the 1950s—first to Park Central Mall in Phoenix and to El Con in Tucson. As suburbs grew in these cities, more malls sprang up. Metrocenter, along the Black Canyon Freeway in northwest Phoenix, opened in 1973 with 7,600 parking spaces. This large mall was the first in the nation with five anchor stores under one roof.

The downtown regions of larger cities became centers for banks, government buildings, conventions, cultural activities, and entertainment. Phoenix's forty-story, glass-covered Valley National Bank Center was quite a construction project. It towers over the twenty-six-floor Hyatt Regency Hotel, the city-county high-rise government complex, and the Civic Plaza. Symphony Hall, theaters, restaurants, America West basketball arena, and the huge Bank One baseball stadium have given our capital city a night life.

---see pictures

The growth of manufacturing brought many people to the cities. High rise buildings along Central Avenue in Phoenix reflected the changing economy. (Photo by Bob Rink)

Homebuilder John F. Long and Ronald Reagan at a Maryvale model homes show in Phoenix, 1950s. Reagan, a future president of the United States, was doing advertising for General Electric.

Arizona Portrait
John F. Long

1920–

When prices for building materials soared during the Korean War (1950-1953), Long cut costs by prefabricating roof trusses, wall sections, and cabinets. He later promoted model homes for his planned community of Maryvale as the "Greatest Home Show on Earth." Thousands of people moved into this west Phoenix suburb.

Long later built Solar I, the world's first solar subdivision. Electrical needs for twenty-four homes were provided by solar cells.

A civic-minded person, Long served on the Phoenix city council and the Glendale school board. He donated land and money for youth clubs, the Glendale airport, and many other worthy causes.

258

Women in the Labor Force

Women have influenced the growth of Arizona's economy, both as workers and consumers. By the 1980s more than half of Arizona women were in the labor force. Like men, they realized that a good education often translates into higher earnings.

Traditionally, women in college chose a major in education, nursing, or the arts. Now many Arizona women are enrolling in the male-dominated, higher paying studies such as law, engineering, medicine, the sciences, and business administration.

Women are opening businesses in Arizona at a much faster rate than men. Many of the female-owned businesses provide services. Examples are health services, finance, insurance, real estate, legal work, and accounting. They also own a lot of restaurants and smaller eating places and a wide variety of stores.

Women, like men, often work at computers as part of their jobs. (Photo by Bob Rink)

1. 
   What is the number one source of income in Arizona today?
   
2. 
   Why is Dan Noble important in the history of Arizona?
   
3. 
   Explain why Arizona now has a diversified and well-balanced economy.
   
4. 
   Make a chart with these headings: Electronics, Aerospace, Local Raw Materials, and Copper. In each column list companies that have factories in Arizona.
   
5. 
   Why is Tucson called the "copper capital of the world"?
   
6. 
   Explain "solvent extraction" as a means of removing copper from ore.
   
7. 
   Define "agribusiness."
   
8. 
   List five things that have increased farm production in Arizona.
   
9. 
   Write a sentence on each of the following Arizona crops: cotton, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, apples, tomatoes, and pecans.
   
10. 
    What is the basic problem faced by Arizona cattlemen today? How do they survive?
    
11. 
    Explain how each of the following helped promote Arizona tourism: Fred Harvey, American Airlines, 00T, and Arizona Highways.
    
12. 
    Explain how the downtown area of Phoenix was changed by the growth of the city.
    

Cesar Chavez Governor

Raul Castro

Dr. Manuel Pacheco

Anna (Moore) Shaw

George Brooks

Lincoln Ragsdale

Dr. Ralph Bunche

Morgan Maxwell

Hayzel Burton Daniels

Wing Ong

Soleng Tom

Esther Don Tang

Sandra Day O'Conner

Edward Abbey

260
TERMS TO UNDERSTAND

urban sprawl

green belt

satellite city

emission

cold war

barrio

alimony

repository