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Glossary|
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Glossary |
| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 |
Arizona's first wagon road was made by men in the Mormon Battalion and called the Gila Trail. Later, some toll roads were built in Arizona. People had to pay each time they used the road.
Butterfield Overland Mail Company
The Butterfield Overland Mail Company had the first good stagecoach line across Arizona. It ran from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. Stagecoaches carried passengers and mail. The trip from St. Louis to San Francisco took twenty-five days. The trip was hard because the dirt roads were often dusty, muddy, or rocky. People bounced up and down on the hard seats. The average speed was five miles an hour. Sometimes outlaws stopped the stages and robbed the passengers.
Learn more about Butterfield Overland Mail
Wagon Freighting
Moving freight from one city to another was important. Books, food, chair, tables, soap, and clothes were all freight. Anything that people needed from other places was freight. Before railroads came, freight was carried in a wagon. Travel was slow and it could take up to three months to get goods to Tucson from San Francisco.
One of the most important events in pioneer days was the arrival of the railway. Railroads helped carried heavy loads to and from businesses. Miners and ranchers could send their products to market quickly and easily by train. People could also travel through Arizona with comfort, safety and speed.
The Southern Pacific Railroad
The first major railroad in Arizona was the Southern Pacific. Many Chinese and Mexican men helped lay the tracks east of Yuma. In 1880, a train finally arrived in Tucson. People came from all around to celebrate its arrival. Workers drove a spike made from Tombstone silver into the ground
Chinese Workers on the Railroad
Many Chinese men came to the United States to work for railroad companies. Some came to Arizona. After work on the railroad ended many families stayed in Arizona.. Chinatowns grew in Prescott, Tucson and Phoenix.
The Santa Fe Railroad
An important railway ran across Northern Arizona. Many towns few up along the Santa Fe Railroad. Winslow, Holbrook, Flagstaff, Williams, Ash Fork, Seligman, and Kingman were some of them.
Most of the towns near the railroads had a Harvey House restaurant. Travelers could get a hot meals and good service. Fred Harvey hired young girls from the East as waitresses. They were called "Harvey Girls."
Before railroads came to Arizona, steamboats carried supplies up and down the Colorado River. Steamboats had a large paddle wheel on the side or rear of the boat. A large engine turned the paddle wheel. The wheel moved the boat which could go up to 15 miles per hour.
The Uncle Sam was the first steamboat to sail up the Colorado River. It hauled freight from the mouth of the Colorado River to Fort Yuma, delivering supplies for most of Arizona.
Learn
more about Yuma Crossing
The first automobiles were like toys and did not do well on rough roads. Drug stores began to sell gas and many horse stables were changed to garages. Driving was not a pleasant experience in the early days, roads were rough, tires went flat easily, and engines had little power. As cars became more popular, towns and cities began to make better roads. Maricopa County laid 300 miles of concrete roads from farms to towns. These roads made it easier for people to sell their crops and get supplies.
The first air flight over Arizona took place in Phoenix. It was flown by Charles Hamilton. Hamilton was a barnstormer. He went from town to town doing tricks for crowds. Katherine Stinson was nineteen years old when she did a loop-the-loop and a steep dive with her plane toward the crowd at a Tucson fair. She took a sack of mail from the fairgrounds and dropped it at the town post office. This was the first "official" airmail in Arizona.
View
a picture of an early airplane
First Airports and Airlines
The first Airport was built in Tucson and was dedicated by Charles Lindberg. Lindberg was the first person to fly non-stop from new York to Paris. Soon commercial air service began in Arizona. The Aero Corporation sold tickets for flights between Tucson and Los Angeles. Scenic Airways built an airport in Phoenix and flew flights over the Grand Canyon. Today this Airport is known as Sky Harbor.
