Up on top of a mountain outside of Phoenix, Arizona, on a hot summer’s day. It was time for a break, all were weary.

Phoenix officially was recognized on May 4, 1868, when the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, the county of which we were then a part, formed an election precinct here.

The city of Phoenix in the 1860s was occupied by area farmers near the modern cross-streets of Van Buren and Central Av. It is named after the mythical Egyptian bird that rose from ashes by "Lord" Darrell Duppa. Phoenix rose from the ashes of the Hohokam culture.

Mesa was already a city of about 1000 people about 22 miles east. Hayden's Ferry (present-day Tempe) was a small farming community just starting to take shape.

Most of the area now covered by urban and suburban neighborhoods was formerly cultivated land of citrus, cotton, and lettuce.