Echoes of the Southwest

Photos were take at the Buttes resort in Tempe.

Stand in one place near an abandoned building and look up.  Take the shot.  Some of the most interesting pictures are of the building looking straight up.  Here are some of my pictures of the Hayden Flour Mill and other places: Hayden Flour Mill Hayden Flour Mill Bee Apartments, Miami, AZ Vulture Mine, AZ Tombstone, AZ Old Globe Jail Globe, AZ Globe, AZ Slaughterhouse, Casa Grande, AZ Payson, AZ

1978 crash scene On October 26, 1978, two Uof A students were killed when a military plane crashed near the University of Arizona on 6th Street and Highland Avenue in Tucson, AZ.  Six others near the intersection were injured.  The site is located near where the Recreation Center stands today.  According to eyewitnesses, the jets usually fly low over the campus to land in nearby Davis Monthan Air Force Base.  On this particular day, the jet was flying much lower than usual when they heard a popping sound and saw the pilot ejecting from the plane.  This was followed by a loud boom and a huge fire ball.  Today a crater can be seen in the middle of 6th Street as a reminder of that tragic event.   This was not the first time a military plane crashed in that location.  In 1967, four people were killed when it crashed into the supermarket they were shopping in.  There are rumors that the spirits of those killed can be s...

Hayden Flour Mill Tempe, Arizona

Hayden Flour Mill Tempe, Arizona

For more than 14 years, the Hayden Flour Mill stood abandoned in Tempe, Arizona.  With the help of volunteers and funds raised, the outside of the mill has been restored.  The chain link fence which surrounded the place has been taken down for people to check out the grounds of this historic site.  The inside of the mill is still going through renovation but visitors can peak in the doors and windows to get a glimpse of the construction.  Eventually, there will be shops, restaurants, and a place to watch movies, see a concert, and even to get married inside the walls of the old mill.  With its location near Arizona State University and the Tempe’s Town Lake, the Hayden Flour Mill will be the hotspot for locals and visitors alike. In 1874, the first mill was an adobe building and held the sacks of flour on the second floor. It was well known around the Arizona Territory for hauling products in freight wagons and pack-trains to all the surrounding mining...

It almost seemed typical for the history of the Arizona mining and small towns to once be ravished by fires.  In 1897, Flagstaff was almost wiped out by a string of fires destroying most of the structures.  Trying to avoid another disaster of this magnitude, the City passed an ordinance requiring all buildings to be made of brick, stone, or iron. In 1889, John W. Weatherford built his brick building in downtown Flagstaff, and named it the Weatherford Hotel.  The two-story structure had a general store on the bottom, while the Weatherford family lived upstairs.  In March of 1899, he added a brick third floor and celebrated the opening on New Year's Day, 1900.  The third floor was used as a ballroom for dances and parties.  It was named the Zane Grey Ballroom after the author who wrote the novel, "The Call of the Canyon".  It was told that he wrote the famous novel in that very room.  He wasn't the only famous person who laid their tired b...

Photo by Ansel Adams, 1942 “Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. The dam was controversially named in honor of President Herbert Hoover.” (Wikipedi) There were concerns during the construction of the dam.  Nothing to this magnitude has ever been built before.  It was an all concrete structure using unsafe methods to get the job done.  The weather was scorching hot and the amenities were in short supply which made working on the dam increasingly difficult.  Because the working conditions were deplorable, there were over 100 deaths reported during construction. O...