Tortilla Flat, Arizona

Last updated

Tortilla Flat, Arizona
Unincorporated community
2021 Tortilla Flat Country Store and Saloon from northeast.jpg
The Country Store and the Superstition Saloon (2021)
Maricopa County Incorporated and Planning areas Tortilla Flat location.svg
Location in Maricopa County and the state of Arizona
Coordinates: 33°31′35″N111°23′23″W / 33.52639°N 111.38972°W / 33.52639; -111.38972
Country United States
State Arizona
County Maricopa
Elevation
1,750 ft (530 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total6
Time zone UTC-7 (Mountain (MST))
ZIP codes
85190

Tortilla Flat is a small unincorporated community in far eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the central part of the state, northeast of Apache Junction. It is the last surviving stagecoach stop along the Apache Trail. According to the Gross Management Department of Arizona's main U.S. Post Office in Phoenix, Tortilla Flat is presumed to be Arizona's smallest official "community" having a U.S. Post Office and voting precinct. The town has a population of 6. Tortilla Flat can be reached by vehicles on the Apache Trail (State Route 88), via Apache Junction.

Contents

Originally a camping ground for the prospectors who searched for gold in the Superstition Mountains in the mid-to-late 19th century, Tortilla Flat was later a freight camp for the construction of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. [1] From this time (1904) on, Tortilla Flat has had a small (less than 100 people) but continuous population. A flood in 1942 badly damaged the town, resulting in many residents moving away. The town is made up primarily of a country store, a saloon (bar/restaurant), a BBQ Patio that has a live band daily starting late December thru April or until it gets too hot, a mercantile/gift shop, and a small museum. Most of these were constructed in the late 1980s after a fire consumed the existing store, restaurant and motel on the same site; the mercantile/gift shop was built in 2009.

Several hiking trails into the Superstition Mountains begin near Tortilla Flat.

History

The pre-modern history of what is now Tortilla Flat indicates that the valley had a creek running through it. It was used by the Yavapai to traverse through the Superstition Mountains. That trail became known as the "Yavapai Trail" or "Tonto Trail". [2]

The Spanish 16th-century expeditions looking for gold, specifically the "Seven Cities of Gold", inspired more modern gold prospecting in the Superstitions, including those by Don Miguel Peralta from Mexico, who, in 1847 and 1848, supposedly amassed large quantities of gold from the area. Settlers followed the prospectors, raising the need for military outposts to protect them from the increasingly hostile Native Americans, whose land was being taken. Despite the difficulty of crossing the Fish Creek Mountains and Fish Creek Canyon, the Yavapai Trail was a significant route used into the Tonto Basin, as other trails were even more difficult, and, due to its access to water and fodder, it is likely that the Tortilla Flat area became a place used to camp. It was unlikely, however, that there was a settlement there at this point in history, as none appear on old trail maps. [2]

Based on available records, Tortilla Flat got its start because of the road construction to Roosevelt Dam in 1904. There was a need for a stagecoach stop for freight haulers on their way to the construction site at Roosevelt Dam and Tortilla Flat served that purpose. Shortly following the construction of the road, Roosevelt Dam became a big tourist attraction. At that point Tortilla Flat was a stage stop for tourists and mail carriers through the 1930s. [2]

Tortilla Flat took its name from a nearby butte shaped like a tortilla. [3] [4] However, an alternative explanation is that the name was given by John Cline, a Tonto Basin pioneer, who claims to have been stranded about 1867 at this location for several days with nothing but flour to make tortillas to eat. [2]

Records of the Forest Service indicate that when the Tonto National Forest was established in 1905, it was done because the Salt River Reclamation Project – one of the first efforts of the United States Reclamation Service – needed the Forest Service to protect the Salt River watershed for the dams and otherwise manage the land because cattle grazing had stripped it of vegetation. The freight camp established at Tortilla Flat, as well as the other camps along the road to the dam, were, therefore, on U.S. Forest Service land. Those who wanted to make Tortilla Flat their permanent residence kept up the lease on the land in later years whenever it came due. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superstition Mountain</span> Landform in Arizona, United States

Superstition Mountain is a prominent mountain and regional landmark located in the Phoenix metropolitan area of Arizona, immediately east of Apache Junction and north of Gold Canyon. It anchors the west end of the Superstition Mountains and is a popular outdoor recreation destination, home to numerous trails for hiking and horseback riding. The legend of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine centers around the mountain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salt River (Arizona)</span> River in Gila and Maricopa counties in Arizona, United States

The Salt River is a river in Gila and Maricopa counties in Arizona, United States, that is the largest tributary of the Gila River. The river is about 200 miles (320 km) long. Its drainage basin covers about 13,700 square miles (35,000 km2). The longest of the Salt River's many tributaries is the 195-mile (314 km) Verde River. The Salt's headwaters tributaries, the Black River and East Fork, increase the river's total length to about 300 miles (480 km). The name Salt River comes from the river's course over large salt deposits shortly after the merging of the White and Black Rivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonto National Forest</span> Protected area in Arizona

The Tonto National Forest, encompassing 2,873,200 acres, is the largest of the six national forests in Arizona and is the ninth largest national forest in the United States. The forest has diverse scenery, with elevations ranging from 1,400 feet in the Sonoran Desert to 7,400 feet in the ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim. The Tonto National Forest is also one of the most visited "urban" forests in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Apache people</span> Native American ethnic group

The Western Apache are a subgroup of the Apache Native American people, who live primarily in east central Arizona, in the United States and north of Mexico in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua. Most live within reservations. The Fort Apache Indian Reservation, San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Tonto Apache, and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation are home to the majority of Western Apache and are the bases of their federally recognized tribes. In addition, there are numerous bands. The Western Apache bands call themselves Ndee (Indé). Because of dialectical differences, the Pinaleño/Pinal and Arivaipa/Aravaipa bands of the San Carlos Apache pronounce the word as Innee or Nnēē:.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apache Trail</span> Historic stagecoach trail in Arizona

The Apache Trail in Arizona was a stagecoach trail that ran through the Superstition Mountains. It was named the Apache Trail after the Apache Indians who originally used this trail to move through the Superstition Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canyon Lake (Arizona)</span> Waterbody in Maricopa County, Arizona

Canyon Lake is one of four reservoirs that were formed by the damming of the Salt River in the U.S. state of Arizona as part of the Salt River Project. It was formed by the Mormon Flat Dam, which was completed in 1925 after two years of construction. Canyon Lake, with a surface area of 950 acres (380 ha), is the third and smallest of the four lakes created along the river. Two others, Apache Lake and Roosevelt Lake, are upstream. The fourth, Saguaro Lake, is downstream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonto Apache</span> Western Apache Indigenous people

The Tonto Apache is one of the groups of Western Apache people and a federally recognized tribe, the Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona. The term is also used for their dialect, one of the three dialects of the Western Apache language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superstition Mountains</span> Landform near Phoenix, Arizona

The Superstition Mountains is a range of mountains in Arizona located to the east of the Phoenix metropolitan area. They are anchored by Superstition Mountain, a large mountain that is a popular recreation destination for residents of the Phoenix, Arizona, area. They are roughly bounded by U.S. Route 60 on the south, Arizona State Route 88 on the northwest, and Arizona State Route 188 on the northeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Grant massacre</span> Part of the Apache Wars

The Camp Grant massacre, on April 30, 1871, was an attack on Pinal and Aravaipa Apaches who surrendered to the United States Army at Camp Grant, Arizona, along the San Pedro River. The massacre led to a series of battles and campaigns fought between the Americans, the Apache, and their Yavapai allies, which continued into 1875, the most notable being General George Crook's Tonto Basin Campaign of 1872 and 1873.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arizona State Route 88</span> Highway in Arizona

State Route 88 is a long state highway in the U.S. state of Arizona. It runs from U.S. Route 60 in Apache Junction through desert terrain to SR 188 near Roosevelt Dam. Following the Salt River for much of its length, the section east of Tortilla Flat is known as the Apache Trail and is part of the National Forest Scenic Byway system. The Apache Trail was built in the mid-1920s, and the number 88 was assigned in 1927. An eastern extension of State Route 88 to Globe, Arizona was redesignated as State Route 188 on August 20, 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apache Lake (Arizona)</span> Reservoir in the Salt River

Apache Lake is one of four reservoirs built along the Salt River in central Arizona as part of the Salt River Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Roosevelt Lake</span> Reservoir on the Salt River, Gila County, Arizona, US

Theodore Roosevelt Lake is a large reservoir formed by Theodore Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River in Arizona as part of the Salt River Project (SRP). Located roughly 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Phoenix in the Salt River Valley, Theodore Roosevelt is the largest lake or reservoir located entirely within the state of Arizona. The reservoir and the masonry dam that created it, Roosevelt Dam, were both named after U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt who dedicated the dam himself on March 18, 1911. Roosevelt Lake is a popular recreation destination within the Tonto National Forest; the facilities located at this lake are managed by that authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yavapai</span> Ethnic Group

The Yavapai are a Native American tribe in Arizona. Historically, the Yavapai – literally “people of the sun” – were divided into four geographical bands who identified as separate, independent peoples: the Ɖulv G’paaya, or Western Yavapai; the Yaavpe', or Northwestern Yavapai; the Gwev G’paaya, or Southeastern Yavapai; and the Wiipukpaa, or Northeastern Yavapai – Verde Valley Yavapai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost Dutchman State Park</span> State park in Arizona, United States

Lost Dutchman State Park is a 320-acre (129 ha) state park located in northwestern Pinal County, Arizona on the Apache Trail north of Apache Junction, near the Superstition Mountains in central Arizona. It is named after the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine, a famously lost gold mine legendary in the tales of the Old West. It is accessible about 40 miles (64 km) east of Phoenix via U.S. Highway 60, the Superstition Freeway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Mayer</span> Arizona pioneer (1846–1909)

Joseph Mayer was an American businessman, gold prospector and pioneer who founded the town of Mayer, Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodbury Fire</span> Wildfire in Arizona

Woodbury Fire was a wildfire in the Superstition Wilderness, northwest of Superior, Arizona, that started on June 8, 2019. The fire burned a total area of 123,875 acres. It was the fifth largest wildfire in Arizona’s history. The blaze caused the evacuation of homes, road and campground closures, endangered wildlife habitats, and the destruction of hiking trails and archaeological sites.

References

  1. ↑ Mark, Jay (October 19, 2017). "Where the heck is Tortilla Flat?". Arizona Republic. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Lori, Lombardi (1996). Tortilla Flat Then and Now. Mesa, AZ: Sunshower Corporation.
  3. ↑ Blackwood, Alisa (April 15, 2001). "Whimsical names mark Arizona towns". Reading Eagle. pp. E11. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  4. ↑ Howell Granger, Byrd (1983). Arizona's Names - X Marks the Place. Tucson, AZ: Falconer Publishing Company. p. 622. ISBN   0-91 8080-18-5.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.