Flagstaff - Paperback

by Jim Babbitt (Author), John G. Degraff III (Author)

On July 4, 1876, immigrants from Boston traveling to California were camped at Antelope Spring in a valley just south of the San Francisco Peaks. To celebrate the nation's centennial, the pioneers stripped the branches off a tall pine tree and ran up Old Glory. This event gave Flagstaff its name. Six years later, in 1882, the Atlantic and Pacific Railway reached Flagstaff, and a small settlement was born. Railroad construction crews used local ponderosa pine trees for rail ties, beginning a timber industry that thrived in the region for the next century. Flagstaff also became a center of tourism as visitors came to see spectacular natural sights in the surrounding territory, including the Grand Canyon, Oak Creek Canyon, and Sunset Crater, and to experience the Native American cultures of the American Southwest. This volume traces the establishment and early development of Flagstaff and depicts many facets of life in Arizona's Mountain Town.

Author Biography

Authors James E. Babbitt, a descendant of a pioneer Flagstaff family, and John G. DeGraff III, an avid collector of historical photographs of Flagstaff, have showcased over 180 vintage images from their own collections, as well as from the Arizona Historical Society, Babbitt Brothers Trading Company, the Northern Arizona Pioneers Historical Society, and Northern Arizona University, to tell the story of early Flagstaff.