Central Arizona

The great West that George Bird Grinnell first encountered in 1870 as a 21-year-old man was shortly to disappear before his eyes.  Nobody was quicker to sense the desecration or was more eloquent in crusading against the poachers, the hide-hunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.”  Grinnell […]

Discovered in 1863 by Henry Wickenburg, the Vulture Gold Mine was the first big gold mine in Arizona.  The mine and its colorful cast of characters, along with the town of Wickenburg, were instrumental in stimulating considerable growth and development in Central Arizona. This presentation will share the multi-layered story of the gold mine, thus […]

The Fred Harvey and Santa Fe Railway companies vigorously promoted tourism to the Southwest through Harvey's grand hotels along the Santa Fe line. Winslow’s proximity to natural and cultural sites made it an ideal tourism destination, and so La Posada opened there in 1930. After the hotel closed in 1957, the building served as Santa […]

The great West that George Bird Grinnell first encountered in 1870 as a 21-year-old man was shortly to disappear before his eyes.  Nobody was quicker to sense the desecration or was more eloquent in crusading against the poachers, the hide-hunters, and the disengaged U.S. Congress than George Bird Grinnell, the “Father of American Conservation.”  Grinnell […]

In 1907, an adventurous young woman from Philadelphia hopped on a train to see the distant Grand Canyon and thus launched an adventure that would change the course of her life.  Over the next several years, she visited the mesa-top pueblo of Acoma, explored the Grand Canyon, lived in a rustic cabin, and struck up […]