Sunday, October 29, 2006
Random Facts for your Trip to Scottsdale
Tidbits about Scottsdale:
(Note that you can click any of the linked text for more information.)
For those traveling from California:
(Note that you can click any of the linked text for more information.)
- Scottsdale elevation: If you're coming from sea-level areas, and you or your dog feel a bit winded when you first arrived, you could blame it on Westworld's elevation, which is around 1500 feet. By comparison, Placerville (where some CA competitions occur) is at about 2000 feet--but most of us haven't been there in a while to practice our higher-altitude acclimatization.
- Scottsdale history: The area was inhabited by Hohokam ("vanished") peoples from about 300 BC to 1400 AD, who built some of the most extensive & ingenious irrigation systems known. When Anglos arrived in the area, the site was a Pima village. In 1868, Jack Swilling set up the first Anglo company to do business in the Valley of the Sun area as the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company, making use of the existing network of canals. In 1888, a U.S. Army chaplain named Winfield Scott bought the area for $2.50 an acre, and his brother, George Washington Scott, started the town known briefly as Orangedale before being renamed Scottsdale in 1894.
- Geology: The McDowell Mountains rise dramatically above Scottsdale, formed from Precambrian basaltic rocks dating back about 2 billion years. The tallest, McDowell Peak, is about 1230 meters (4023 feet) above sea level.
- Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright established his winter home at the base of the McDowell Mountains in 1937, eventually building Taliesin West. He designed many buildings in the area, and there is a Wright memorial in northern Scottsdale. In 1951, Scottsdale had a population of about 2000; today, it's 222,000.
For those traveling from California:
- Tejon Ranch: You might have noticed that there's a "now entering Tejon Ranch" sign a ways before you start up the Grapevine to Tejon Pass, and also that the rest area near the top of the pass is still within the ranch. How big is that place anyway? According to its web site: "With over 270,000 acres, Tejon Ranch is the largest contiguous expanse of land under single ownership in California. Its 426 square miles make it larger than the City of Los Angeles and about 40% the size of Rhode Island."
- Windmill farm on I-10: This windmill farm, located in the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs, has over 4000 windmills generating electricity for Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. If you happen by when you're not in a rush, you can get a tour of the place.
