Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census the population was 4,420,568, or about 62% of the state's total, making it the fourth-most populous county in the United States and the most populous county in Arizona, and making Arizona one of the nation's most centralized states. The county seat is Phoenix, the state capital and fifth-most populous city in the United States.
Safford is a city in Graham County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the population of the city is 10,129. The city is the county seat of Graham County.
Gila Bend, founded in 1872, is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The town is named for an approximately 90-degree bend in the Gila River, which is near the community's current location. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 1,892.
The Gila River is a 649-mile-long (1,044 km) tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of nearly 60,000 square miles (160,000 km2) that lies mostly within the U.S., but also extends into northern Sonora, Mexico.
State Route 85 is a 128.86-mile-long (207.38 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Arizona. The highway runs from the United States–Mexico border near Lukeville to the north ending at Interstate 10 (I-10) in Buckeye. The highway also intersects I-8 in Gila Bend and serves as a connector between I-8 and I-10 and for travelers between Phoenix and Yuma as well as San Diego. SR 85 between I-10 and I-8, as well as I-8 between SR 85 and I-10 in Casa Grande, is touted as a bypass of the Phoenix area for long-distance travelers on I-10.
The Painted Rock Dam is an earthfill embankment dam located west of Gila Bend, Arizona. It is primarily used for flood control purposes.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) is one of two regulatory bodies for high school athletics and activities in the state of Arizona. It comprises all of the state's public district high schools, various charter and private schools, plus a full member in Winterhaven, California and an associate member in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The AIA has 264 members, including 262 full members and 2 associate members. Its associate members are BASIS Chandler and Colegio Gante.
The Gatlin Site is an archaeological site in Gila Bend, Arizona. The site preserves one of the few documented Hohokam platform mounds. Associated with the mound are pit houses, ball courts, middens, and prehistoric canals. Between AD 800 and 1200 it was an important Hohokam settlement at the great bend of the Gila River. The Hohokam people were the first farmers in southern Arizona, where the permanent Salt and Gila Rivers flowing through the hot Sonoran Desert made the irrigation strategy possible. The site is the largest in the area and was home to over 500 people. Its importance is indicated by the presence of two ceremonial ball courts and one of the earliest platform mounds known. The mound is notable as being one of only few excavated and documented Sedentary Period platform mounds still relatively intact. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field is a United States Air Force auxiliary airfield used as an emergency landing facility by Luke Air Force Base and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base aircraft and units from other nearby bases using the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range complex. The airfield is located 3.5 miles south of Interstate 8 and the central business district of Gila Bend, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States.
The Gillespie Dam is a concrete gravity dam located on the Gila River between the towns of Buckeye and Gila Bend, Arizona. The dam was constructed during the 1920s for primarily irrigation purposes. It was key to the development of a 72,000-acre (29,000 ha) parcel owned by "millionaire" W.S. Gillespie of Tulsa, Oklahoma, initially allowing for irrigation of 10,000 acres (4,000 ha). A portion of the dam failed unexpectedly in 1993 during unusually heavy rains.
The Painted Rock Petroglyph Site is a collection of hundreds of ancient petroglyphs near the town of Theba, Arizona, United States, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The site is operated and maintained by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and includes an improved campground as well as an informative walking trail showcasing the petroglyphs.
The Little Harquahala Mountains are a small, arid, low-elevation mountain range of western-central Arizona, in the southeast of La Paz County.
The Granite Wash Mountains are a short, arid, low elevation mountain range of western-central Arizona, in the southeast of La Paz County. The range borders a slightly larger range southeast, the Little Harquahala Mountains; both ranges form a section on the same water divide between two desert washes. The washes flow in opposite directions, one northwest to the Colorado River, the other southeast to the Gila River.
The Gila Bend Mountains are a 35-mile (56 km) long mountain range of the north-central Sonoran Desert southwest of Phoenix, Arizona and in southwest Maricopa County.
The Tonopah Desert is a small desert plains region of the Sonoran Desert, located west of Phoenix, Arizona. It is adjacent north of Interstate 10 and lies at the southwest intersection of the Hassayampa River with the Gila River. The Tonopah Desert is also just north of the Gila Bend Mountains massif which create the Gila Bend of the river.
The Gila Bend Unified School District is a small school district in the town of Gila Bend, Arizona. It operates a combined elementary/junior high school and Gila Bend High School.
The Canyon Athletic Association (CAA), previously known as the Arizona Charter Athletic Association, is an American non-profit regulatory organization for athletic competition among secondary schools located in Arizona. The CAA serves small non-traditional education institutions including charter schools, public schools, home school organizations, and parochial schools. As of 2014, the CAA membership consisted of approximately 125 High Schools and Junior High Schools.
Gila Bend Indian Reservation was one of three Tohono O'odham Nations 3 reservations, with this one being the smallest both geographically and demographically, with only 625 people on it.
The Tucson, Cornelia and Gila Bend Railroad went from Gila Bend, Arizona to Ajo, Arizona.
