View allAll Photos Tagged Stabilizing
Long term work to stabilize the embankment continues at Callow Hill, nr Wootton Bassett as 60063 passes with 6B33 13.00 Theale-Robeston on 31/01/18. All the aggregate has been brought to the site by road in an endless convoy of tipper trucks, one of which can be seen leaving having just tipped. The back roads nearby have taken a pounding with pot holes and subsidence !
"NASA 1970's Mars penetrator mission concept. The carrier spacecraft would launch the penetrator by rocket from a tube. An umbrella-like deployable fabric decelerator would be used to slow and stabilize the penetrator, which would leave an aftbody antenna at the surface."
The above, although associated with a black & white diagram of the image I've posted in the comments section, still aptly pertains to the striking view portrayed by Ken Hodges:
www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rlorenz/penetrators_asr.pdf
Credit: College of Science/Lunar & Planetary Laboratory/The University of Arizona website
AND!
“…A Mars Science Working Group (MSWG) chaired by Thomas Mutch was established by NASA to develop a science strategy for a future mission (Mars Science Working Group, 1977). It met four times in 1977. The plan assumed two Space Shuttle launches in December 1983 or January 1984, each carrying a spacecraft consisting of an orbiter, a lander with rover, and three penetrators, set to arrive at Mars in September or October 1984. The penetrators would be deployed just before arrival, but the rovers would wait in orbit until the dust storm season was over. Highly elliptical initial orbits would permit magnetospheric studies. After the rovers landed, the orbiters would enter circular orbits, one near-polar at 500 km altitude for global mapping and communication with the penetrators, the other 1000 km high with about a 30° inclination for rover communications. As the rovers might each deploy an instrument station with a seismometer, there could be ten simultaneously operating landed components.
As each orbiter neared the planet, it would deploy three penetrators which would fall on a circle around the centre of the planet’s disk as seen from the approach direction. After deployment the orbiters would be deflected off the approach path to enter orbit. The six penetrators, carrying seismometers and soil and atmospheric analysis equipment, would form a global array. Three would be placed about 500 km apart in an area likely to be seismically active, such as Tharsis. The other three would be spaced about 5000 km apart to give global coverage. Two additional and more sophisticated seismometers would be deployed by the rovers in areas partly shielded from the wind. Latitudes between 50° N and 87° S would be accessible, and the landing ellipses were 200-km-diameter circles. Slopes would have to be less than 45° at the impact point. Site selection was reported in a Penetrator Site Studies document preserved in Tim Mutch’s papers at Brown University. One potential array design was described (Table 36), along with four deployment options which include several additional sites (Table 37). Option 1 was the potential array described in Table 36. The penetrator sites in Table 37 were also described in Manning (1977), in which the site selection work was attributed to T. E. Bunch and Ronald Greeley.
The rover landing ellipses were roughly 50 by 80 km across. Five landing sites were studied using Viking data, in addition to the four sites previously considered by USGS for the Viking Rover (Figures 109 and 110). Only two sites were identified in the MSWG report, Capri and Candor (Table 38, Figures 111 and 112). The other sites were identified in Working Group documents among Tim Mutch’s papers in the archives at Brown University.
The rover landing ellipses in these documents were 65 by 40 km across. The polar orbiter would be able to deploy its rover from orbit at latitudes between 30° N and 50° N (this range could vary, depending on the launch date), whereas the low-inclination orbit could deliver a rover to latitudes between 20° S and 20° N.
Six rover landing sites were identified in a Rover Site Studies report prepared for the Working Group (Table 38a, Figure 111). Most derived from work done earlier for Viking or the Viking rover study, including proposals to land near Viking 1 and visit it or to explore the abandoned A-1 site with its complex geology. In a memorandum dated 9 May 1977, Hal Masursky followed up on discussions at a meeting of the Mars 1984 Mission Study Group held on 1 April. He asked Tim Mutch to request high-resolution stereoscopic Viking imaging coverage of four of these sites, using slightly different coordinates (Table 38b). These, he said, ‘were sites for which we have made traverse plans’. He added that ‘a backup smoother site near B-1’ at Cydonia had also been studied. Eventually the Capri and Candor sites were chosen, and detailed mission plans were prepared (Figure 109). Traverses near the Chryse sites were also prepared, including those in Figure 114.
The Capri site provided access to cratered uplands, crater ejecta and a fluvial channel. Candor was on the floor of the canyon system, with access to thick-layered deposits, canyon wall materials and, at the end of the extended mission, possibly the volcanic plateau surrounding the canyon. Alba had fractured volcanic plains and crater ejecta, but also small channels.
The Mars 1984 rovers had three traverse modes. Mode 1 was for detailed site investigations and involved only short, precise drives as needed for science operations. Mode 2, the ‘survey traverse mode’, would cover about 400 m per sol and could include some observations along the route. Mode 3, the ‘fast traverse mode’, could cover as much as 800 m per sol, including travel at night. The goal was to cover about 200 km during one Mars year and up to 200 km more in an extended mission in the second Mars year.
On 13 May 1977, Carl Pilcher, Hal Masursky and Ron Greeley suggested a variation on the role of penetrators in this mission. Two penetrators would be dropped in the lander target ellipse, carrying beacons to help guide the rover to a precision landing. After the landing they would operate with instruments on the lander itself as a local area seismic network.
The Mars 1984 orbiters would carry cameras, spectrometers for surface composition, infrared and microwave radiometers, a magnetometer, a plasma probe, a radar altimeter and communication relay equipment.
The relationship between Mars 1984 and other missions was considered by the Working Group. If Viking Lander 1 survived long enough, it might provide useful meteorological data for a Mars 1984 landing at Chryse, if that site was chosen. Conversely, Mars 1984 might be reconfigured to gather samples for collection by a sample return mission in about 1990.
Mars 1984 was not funded, probably in part because significant opposition to it arose in the science community. Jim Arnold and Mike Duke objected publicly that the final report of the Working Group did not reflect the group discussions, particularly in its assertions that the rovers were the only realistic option, that they were essential for future Mars Sample Return missions, and that simpler missions (orbiters, hard landers) were ‘a step backwards’. The report also suggested that only Mars rovers would command broad public interest, whereas missions such as Voyager, Jupiter Orbiter/Probe (Galileo) and the Lunar Polar Orbiter would not. This mention of Voyager refers to the outer planet spacecraft, not the earliest version of Viking (Table 2), and the suggestion that it would attract little public interest turned out to be the opposite of the truth. Elbert King (University of Houston) wrote to Mutch on 29 August 1977, stating emphatically that Mars 1984 ‘would only ensure a repeat of the very limited scientific success of Viking – providing mostly only costly clues and ambiguous answers to the important scientific questions’. He argued that only sample return was justified by the cost. This dismal assessment of Viking’s scientific worth stems from its failure to detect life, or to definitively rule it out, but overlooks its detailed characterization of surface and atmospheric composition, meteorology and landing site geology, not to mention the mission’s orbital data…”
WOW, I say again, WOW. The above phenomenal excerpt from “The International Atlas of Mars Exploration”, written by Philip J. Stooke, and most graciously made available by Cambridge Core/Cambridge University Press, at.
Wait one, maybe NOT so gracious.
Apparently, like everybody/place else, one is required to be registered or possibly possess an esteemed enough pedigree in order to be granted access...I apparently burned my one gratis peek:
www.cambridge.org/core/books/international-atlas-of-mars-...
We've come quite a way, eh? From dropping Jarts from orbit to flying a helicopter!
See also:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2017/08/prelude-to-mars-s...
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2017/08/prelude-to-mars-s...
Both above credit: David S. F. Portree/"No Shortage of Dreams" blogspot
Last, but NOT least. This is a wonderful find, with a lot of fantastic imagery, to include this one. AND, it's still free, with no login/registration required...HOT-DAMN:
rpif.asu.edu/slides_mission_concepts/
Specifically:
rpif.asu.edu/slide_sets/future_mission_concepts/Mars_Pene...
Credit: Ronald Greeley Center for Planetary Studies/Arizona State University website
“This artist's concept of the Voyager spacecraft with its antenna pointing to Earth. The identical Voyager spacecraft are three-axis stabilized systems that use celestial or gyro referenced attitude control to maintain pointing of the high-gain antennas toward Earth. The prime mission science payload consisted of 10 instruments (11 investigations including radio science). Only five investigator teams are still supported, though data are collected for two additional instruments.”
The above & image at/from:
photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04495
Credit: JPL Photojournal website
A reverse image search of this photograph reveals that everybody - I mean EVERYBODY - and their brother, mother, second-cousin, the neighbor across the street…you name it, has posted this. Even NASA.
From the estate of Eric Burgess and possibly featured as “figure 4-8(a)” in one of his many books.
Based on the photo ID number and its overall gorgeous appearance, possibly by Ken Hodges.
Kiln is being stabilized and reconstructed by community and government agency involvement
P8292725 Anx2 1600h Q90
Stabilized next to a tree, to prevent wind from blowing it off.
Lots of Gulls here, most fly away as I approached.
Another view of the canoe as I went for a walk…
When building at an angle I generally have just a few connection points and its rarely that stable, so I thought what has a decent amount of stability and lots of flexibility. Hero Factory parts.
Here is a timelapse I made to illustrate the Earth's rotation. It represents a full night of 8hours and 15 minutes.
I captured it in the Canary Islands during an astrophotography trip, on the island of La Palma, which truly lives up to its reputation as one of the best night skies in the world.
If you're interested, you can find more of my work on Instagram :
As you know, our planet Earth spins on its axis. This is what we call Earth's rotation. The best way to witness this phenomenon is to observe an astral object and watch it move across the sky. You could look at the Sun, but it is even more impressive to watch the stars, as you can see the entire sky shifting.
Astro timelapses are perfect for this. By speeding up the night sky, they make Earth’s motion more obvious. But to really emphasize the effect, you can stabilize the stars instead, making the Earth appear to move beneath the sky. That is exactly what I aimed to do here.
To achieve this, I used an equatorial mount (the Star Adventurer) to track the stars and keep them steady while the landscape rotates.
What can we see in this timelapse?
- Sea of clouds. A beautiful sea of clouds slowly forms and fills the lower part of the frame.
- Thick mist. A dense mist lingers just below my position, visible in the distance as it traps the light pollution.
- Strong airglow. Green clouds cover the sky — that is airglow. It is a faint natural glow emitted by the Earth's atmosphere, visible even in the absence of moonlight or direct sunlight. It is caused by chemical reactions between atmospheric particles at high altitudes and can appear as green, red, or bluish bands in the night sky.
- Headlights. Occasional flashes from rare cars taking the road about 200 meters away.
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📷
Settings: 660 pictures at f/2.2 – 45 sec – ISO 2500
Canon 6D (astro-modded) – Skywatcher Star Adventurer – Sigma ART 14mm
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P.S.: Did you notice the meteor at the beginning?
This plant is carnivorous. It eats insects and other invertebrates which are trapped by the red tentacles.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosera_anglica
Drosera anglica, commonly known as the English sundew or Great sundew, is a carnivorous plant species belonging to the sundew genus. It is a temperate species with a generally circumboreal range, although it does occur as far south as Japan, southern Europe, and the island of Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi, where it grows as a subtropical sundew. It is thought to originate from an amphidiploid hybrid of D. rotundifolia and D. linearis, meaning that a sterile hybrid between these two species doubled its chromosomes to produce fertile progeny which stabilized into the current D. anglica
Morphology
Drosera anglica is a perennial herb which forms an upright, stemless rosette of generally linear-spatulate leaves. As is typical for sundews, the laminae are densely covered with stalked mucilaginous glands, each tipped with a clear droplet of a viscous fluid used for trapping insects. The lamina, which is 15–35 millimetres (0.59–1.4 in) long,[2] is held semi-erect by a long petiole, bringing the total leaf size to 30–95 mm. Plants are green, coloring red in bright light. In all populations except those in Kaua'i, D. anglica forms winter resting buds called hibernacula. These consist of a knot of tightly curled leaves at ground level, which unfurl in spring at the end of the dormancy period. The root system is weak and penetrates only a few centimeters, serving mainly as an anchor and for water absorption. Nitrogen is in short supply in bogs and trapping and digesting insects provides an alternate source.
D. anglica flowers in the summer, sending up peduncles 6–18 centimetres (2.4–7.1 in). long bearing several white flowers which open individually. Like other sundews, the flowers have five sepals, petals, and stamens. The petals for this species are 8–12 mm long, and the flowers have branched 2-lobed styles.[2] The odorless, nectar-less flowers do not rely on insect pollinators for pollination, rather setting seed well through self-pollination (autogamy).[3] The black ovoid seed forms in a dehiscent capsule and is 1 to 1½ mm long.
Carnivory
Like all sundews, D. anglica uses stalked mucilaginous glands called tentacles which cover its laminae to attract, trap, and digest small arthropods, usually insects. These are attracted by a sugary scent exuded by the glands, and upon alighting on the plant adhere to the sticky drops of mucilage. Although most of its prey consists of small insects such as flies, bulkier insects with large wings are also caught. Small butterflies, damselflies, and even dragonflies can become immobilized by the plant's sticky mucilage.
The plant's initial response to contact with prey consists of thigmotropic (movement in response to touch) tentacle movement, with tentacles bending toward the prey and the center of the leaf to maximize contact. D. anglica is also capable of further movement, being able to bend the actual leaf blade around prey to further the digestion process. Tentacle movement can occur in a matter of minutes, whereas the leaf takes hours or days to bend. When something gets caught, the tentacles touching the prey exude additional mucilage to mire down the prey, which eventually dies of exhaustion or is asphyxiated as the mucilage clogs its tracheae. Once the prey has been digested and the resulting nutrient solution has been absorbed by the plant, the leaf unfurls, leaving only the prey's exoskeleton behind.
Habitat
D. anglica grows in open, non-forested habitat with wet, often calcium-rich soils. These include bogs, marl fens, quaking bogs, cobble shores, and other calcareous habitats.[4] This tolerance of calcium is relatively rare in the rest of the genus. D. anglica is often associated with various sphagnum mosses, and many times grows in a soil substrate that is entirely composed of living, dead, or decomposed sphagnum. The sphagnum wicks moisture to the surface while simultaneously acidifying it. What soil nutrients are not seeped away by the constant moisture are often used up by the sphagnum or made unavailable by the low soil pH. Since nutrient availability is low, competition from other plants is diminished, allowing the carnivorous English sundew to flourish.
Distribution
D. anglica is one of the most widely distributed sundews in the world. It is generally circumboreal, meaning that it is found at high latitudes around the globe. In a few areas, however, it is found farther south, particularly in Japan, southern Europe, the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi, and California. Plants from the Hawaiʻi, where it is known as mikinalo, are generally smaller than normal and do not experience a winter dormancy period. Its natural habitat includes 12 U.S. states, including Alaska, and 11 Canadian provinces and territories.[5] The altitudinal range is from 5 m to at least 2000 m.[
Special origins
All North American Drosera species except for D. anglica have a chromosome count of 2n=20. In 1955, Wood noted that D. anglica had a chromosome count of 2n=40, and hypothesized that it was of hybrid amphidiploid origin.[7] Since the leaf morphology of D. anglica is an intermediary between that of D. rotundifolia and D. linearis and the two occur sympatrically in several locations, Wood conjectured that D. anglica likely originated from a hybrid between these two.[7]
All North American Drosera species produce sterile hybrids. The natural hybrid D. rotundifolia × D. linearis (conventionally but incorrectly referred to as Drosera ×anglica), is also sterile but is morphologically similar to the modern D. anglica.[1] Errors in meiosis during ovule and pollen production, however, can result in a chromosome doubling which can allow for viable seed to be produced. The resulting plants, known as amphiploids, would be fertile. Woods noted that this appeared to be an ongoing process with D. anglica speciating from D. rotundifolia × D. linearis through amphidiploidy in multiple locations.[7] The question remains as to why D. anglica is so widespread, whereas the range of D. linearis is limited to the Great Lakes region of North America. The greater adaptability of D. anglica to varied habitat conditions could be a major factor.
Botanical history
Drosera anglica was first described by William Hudson in 1778. It has frequently been confused with the other circumpolar long-leaf Drosera, D. intermedia. This confusion was fueled by the resurfacing of an older name, D. longifolia (described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753), which was regarded as being too ambiguous in description and had been applied to specimens of both D. anglica and D. intermedia. Herbarium specimens were also a mix of the two species. These points led Martin Cheek to propose D. longifolia for rejection as a species name in 1998.[8] The proposal was accepted and the taxon listed as rejected in 1999.
Azuwan (left) and Hisyam tried to stabilize a 800mm for a shot. Thanks to www.flickr.com/people/mzaidi/
"NASA 1970's Mars penetrator mission concept. The carrier spacecraft would launch the penetrator by rocket from a tube. An umbrella-like deployable fabric decelerator would be used to slow and stabilize the penetrator, which would leave an aftbody antenna at the surface."
The above, associated with a black & white diagram of the image, labeled as Fig. 7, at:
www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rlorenz/penetrators_asr.pdf
Credit: College of Science/Lunar & Planetary Laboratory/The University of Arizona website
AND!
“…A Mars Science Working Group (MSWG) chaired by Thomas Mutch was established by NASA to develop a science strategy for a future mission (Mars Science Working Group, 1977). It met four times in 1977. The plan assumed two Space Shuttle launches in December 1983 or January 1984, each carrying a spacecraft consisting of an orbiter, a lander with rover, and three penetrators, set to arrive at Mars in September or October 1984. The penetrators would be deployed just before arrival, but the rovers would wait in orbit until the dust storm season was over. Highly elliptical initial orbits would permit magnetospheric studies. After the rovers landed, the orbiters would enter circular orbits, one near-polar at 500 km altitude for global mapping and communication with the penetrators, the other 1000 km high with about a 30° inclination for rover communications. As the rovers might each deploy an instrument station with a seismometer, there could be ten simultaneously operating landed components.
As each orbiter neared the planet, it would deploy three penetrators which would fall on a circle around the centre of the planet’s disk as seen from the approach direction. After deployment the orbiters would be deflected off the approach path to enter orbit. The six penetrators, carrying seismometers and soil and atmospheric analysis equipment, would form a global array. Three would be placed about 500 km apart in an area likely to be seismically active, such as Tharsis. The other three would be spaced about 5000 km apart to give global coverage. Two additional and more sophisticated seismometers would be deployed by the rovers in areas partly shielded from the wind. Latitudes between 50° N and 87° S would be accessible, and the landing ellipses were 200-km-diameter circles. Slopes would have to be less than 45° at the impact point. Site selection was reported in a Penetrator Site Studies document preserved in Tim Mutch’s papers at Brown University. One potential array design was described (Table 36), along with four deployment options which include several additional sites (Table 37). Option 1 was the potential array described in Table 36. The penetrator sites in Table 37 were also described in Manning (1977), in which the site selection work was attributed to T. E. Bunch and Ronald Greeley.
The rover landing ellipses were roughly 50 by 80 km across. Five landing sites were studied using Viking data, in addition to the four sites previously considered by USGS for the Viking Rover (Figures 109 and 110). Only two sites were identified in the MSWG report, Capri and Candor (Table 38, Figures 111 and 112). The other sites were identified in Working Group documents among Tim Mutch’s papers in the archives at Brown University.
The rover landing ellipses in these documents were 65 by 40 km across. The polar orbiter would be able to deploy its rover from orbit at latitudes between 30° N and 50° N (this range could vary, depending on the launch date), whereas the low-inclination orbit could deliver a rover to latitudes between 20° S and 20° N.
Six rover landing sites were identified in a Rover Site Studies report prepared for the Working Group (Table 38a, Figure 111). Most derived from work done earlier for Viking or the Viking rover study, including proposals to land near Viking 1 and visit it or to explore the abandoned A-1 site with its complex geology. In a memorandum dated 9 May 1977, Hal Masursky followed up on discussions at a meeting of the Mars 1984 Mission Study Group held on 1 April. He asked Tim Mutch to request high-resolution stereoscopic Viking imaging coverage of four of these sites, using slightly different coordinates (Table 38b). These, he said, ‘were sites for which we have made traverse plans’. He added that ‘a backup smoother site near B-1’ at Cydonia had also been studied. Eventually the Capri and Candor sites were chosen, and detailed mission plans were prepared (Figure 109). Traverses near the Chryse sites were also prepared, including those in Figure 114.
The Capri site provided access to cratered uplands, crater ejecta and a fluvial channel. Candor was on the floor of the canyon system, with access to thick-layered deposits, canyon wall materials and, at the end of the extended mission, possibly the volcanic plateau surrounding the canyon. Alba had fractured volcanic plains and crater ejecta, but also small channels.
The Mars 1984 rovers had three traverse modes. Mode 1 was for detailed site investigations and involved only short, precise drives as needed for science operations. Mode 2, the ‘survey traverse mode’, would cover about 400 m per sol and could include some observations along the route. Mode 3, the ‘fast traverse mode’, could cover as much as 800 m per sol, including travel at night. The goal was to cover about 200 km during one Mars year and up to 200 km more in an extended mission in the second Mars year.
On 13 May 1977, Carl Pilcher, Hal Masursky and Ron Greeley suggested a variation on the role of penetrators in this mission. Two penetrators would be dropped in the lander target ellipse, carrying beacons to help guide the rover to a precision landing. After the landing they would operate with instruments on the lander itself as a local area seismic network.
The Mars 1984 orbiters would carry cameras, spectrometers for surface composition, infrared and microwave radiometers, a magnetometer, a plasma probe, a radar altimeter and communication relay equipment.
The relationship between Mars 1984 and other missions was considered by the Working Group. If Viking Lander 1 survived long enough, it might provide useful meteorological data for a Mars 1984 landing at Chryse, if that site was chosen. Conversely, Mars 1984 might be reconfigured to gather samples for collection by a sample return mission in about 1990.
Mars 1984 was not funded, probably in part because significant opposition to it arose in the science community. Jim Arnold and Mike Duke objected publicly that the final report of the Working Group did not reflect the group discussions, particularly in its assertions that the rovers were the only realistic option, that they were essential for future Mars Sample Return missions, and that simpler missions (orbiters, hard landers) were ‘a step backwards’. The report also suggested that only Mars rovers would command broad public interest, whereas missions such as Voyager, Jupiter Orbiter/Probe (Galileo) and the Lunar Polar Orbiter would not. This mention of Voyager refers to the outer planet spacecraft, not the earliest version of Viking (Table 2), and the suggestion that it would attract little public interest turned out to be the opposite of the truth. Elbert King (University of Houston) wrote to Mutch on 29 August 1977, stating emphatically that Mars 1984 ‘would only ensure a repeat of the very limited scientific success of Viking – providing mostly only costly clues and ambiguous answers to the important scientific questions’. He argued that only sample return was justified by the cost. This dismal assessment of Viking’s scientific worth stems from its failure to detect life, or to definitively rule it out, but overlooks its detailed characterization of surface and atmospheric composition, meteorology and landing site geology, not to mention the mission’s orbital data…”
WOW, I say again, WOW. The above phenomenal excerpt from “The International Atlas of Mars Exploration”, written by Philip J. Stooke, and most graciously made available by Cambridge Core/Cambridge University Press, at.
Wait one, maybe not so gracious. Apparently, like everybody/place else, one is required to be registered or possibly possess an esteemed enough pedigree in order to be granted access...I apparently burned my one gratis token on the above. Hmm, I wonder if the Indonesian document hosting website has it:
www.cambridge.org/core/books/international-atlas-of-mars-...
We've come quite a way, eh? From dropping Jarts from orbit to flying a helicopter!
Also:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2017/08/prelude-to-mars-s...
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2017/08/prelude-to-mars-s...
Both above credit: David S. F. Portree/"No Shortage of Dreams" blogspot
A tower on the Ponemah Mill in Taftville, Connecticut. The great brick hulk, once a workplace for 1,600 textile laborers, is being renovated into housing. I thought it more photogenic in its deteriorated state, but it’s nice to see a 150-year-old landmark like this being saved.
For many years, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, at an elevation of 360 feet, was reputed to be the tallest building south of Baltimore.
It was the County's first high-rise and is in the National Register of Historic Places. Efforts to refurbish this magnificent structure and restore it to its original grandeur have been underway since 1981 by Architect James W. Piersol, AIA of M.C Harry Associates Architects of Miami.
The restoration and renovations initially stabilized the terra cotta facade, and installed new life safety systems. In 1982, the idea of restoring the lobby to its original distinction was the passion of both Architect James Piersol and engineer Don Youatt, of the Miami-Dade Planning and Development Department. With a little less than half of the funding necessary for the lobby restoration project in hand ($300,000 grant approved by the Legislature in 1996), the Dade County Bar Association acted as the fund-raising umbrella and initiate a drive to raise the remainder needed from lawyers and the general public. A few years later, the same team restored Courtroom 6-1, which had been the site of many infamous trials over the years.
Today, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse provides offices, chambers, and courtrooms for the clerks and judiciary assigned to both the Circuit and County Civil Court and the Family Court.
When county government was established following the Civil War, public records were so sparse they could be carried in a carpetbag and most probably were. Therefore, the "courthouse" was wherever the county's chief office holder decided to do business.
In 1890, Dade County's first courthouse stood in the town of Juno, Florida some ten miles north of West Palm Beach. At that time, Dade County covered more territory than it does today, stretching from Bahia Honda Key, in the middle Keys, up to the St. Lucie River, near present-day Port St. Lucie.
Juno was chosen as the "county seat" because of its strategic location at the southern terminus of the Jupiter-Juno railroad. Juno also held the northern terminus of the boat and connecting stagecoach line to Miami. The courthouse remained in Juno (now no longer in existence) until 1899, when it was moved to Miami down the inland waterway on a barge and was placed on the banks of the Miami River, east of the old Miami Avenue bridge.
The building was two story wooden frame construction, housing offices and jail cells on the ground floor and a courtroom on the second floor.It has a Neoclassical design, in 1904 this building was replaced by a new courthouse building situated on Flagler Street (then known as Twelfth Street). It was a magnificent building constructed of limestone, having an elegant red-domed top, at the cost of $47,000. It was anticipated that this courthouse would serve the city for at least fifty years; however, no one was prepared for the rapid growth Miami experienced during this period, and by 1924, only twenty years later, there was serious talk of the need for a larger courthouse.
In the early 1920s, architect A. Ten Eyck Brown entered a design competition for Atlanta City Hall, which was rejected. He then made the plans available to Dade County, and City and County officials readily approved them. It was decided by the officials to build the new courthouse at the same location as the existing one on Flagler Street. Construction began in 1925, with workers erecting the new building around the existing structure, which was then dismantled. Community leaders and citizens alike voiced excitement over the new 28 story "skyscraper" that would soon dominate the skyline.
Unexpectedly, construction was halted when the building reached ten stories. It was discovered that the "high-rise" was sinking into the spongy ground. Engineers consulted with an architect from Mexico City, whom had encountered a similar problem while building the city's opera house. The consultant determined that the foundation pilings were not set deep enough. To correct the problem, cement supports were poured, which take up much of the space in the building's basement file room even to this day.
The courthouse was finally completed in 1928 at the cost of $4 million (USD 2013 $54.5 million). Initially, it served as both the Dade County Courthouse and the Miami City Hall. Jail cells occupied the top nine floors because these heights offered "maximum security" and were considered escape proof. In 1934, a prisoner housed on the twenty-first floor picked the lock of his jail cell window and used a fire hose to lower himself to freedom. In the years following, more than 70 prisoners escaped from this so-called "secure" prison.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami-Dade_County_Courthouse
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
U.S. Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit stabilize a rope attached to a CH-53E Super Stallion prior to fast rope training on the flight deck of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship the USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) in the Arabian Gulf, Feb. 4, 2019. Marines with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment took part in the training to practice and advance their fast rope skills. Marines and Sailors with the 22nd MEU and Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group are deployed to the 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Tawanya Norwood) www.dvidshub.net
Legs slightly parted my model is able to stand quite comfortably in her full leg braces. The 5 buckled knee pads are the most restrictive way to control the knee joint while wearing braces. These Braces are for sale. Made to measure braces and custom made bondage gear is also available. Contact me at my1970junk@msn.com.
On 10 February, United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), with the support of Sangaris, carried out a military operation to ensure freedom of movement in Bria. The operation against the ex-Séléka and in support of State authority restoration resulted several weapons seized.
Pictured: Seized ammunition of ex-Séléka rebels.
UN Photo/Nektarios Markogiannis
11 February 2015
Bria, Central African Republic
Photo # 622480
This cellblock is the largest free standing cell block in the USA. It is 6 tiers high and the cells back up to another bank of cells. With approximately 40 cells per tier this room was home to almost 1000 prisoners at a time.
The Ohio State Reformatory is a historic prison located in Mansfield, Ohio in the United States. It was built between 1886 and 1910 and remained in operation until a 1990 federal court ruling ordered the facility to be closed. While this facility was used in a number of movies, TV shows and music videos it is perhaps most famous for as being a primary filming location for The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
The Reformatory remained in full operation until December 1990 when it closed via federal court order. Since the closing most of the grounds and support buildings, including the outer wall, have been demolished. The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society was formed in 1995 and currently works to stabilize the buildings against further deterioration.
The East Cell Block remains the largest free standing steel cell block in the world at six tiers high.
the ppg buildings are just soo beautiful the way they capture all of the reflections...
i just loved this piece here with the tree in it.
again...i crouched down and backed myself up against something to stabilize myself for the slow shot.
@ f/4.0 1/8 sec ~38mm with image stabilization (handheld) | Kodak Portra 800 35mm film | Boulder, Colorado | Rocky Mountain Front Range | Western U.S.
More quarrying techniques at the Mons Claudianus. The upended base of a monolithic column shaft was abandoned in a talus of quarry debris. Looking at the base, one can make out a finely-hammered circular depression, probably used to stabilize a wooden axle for a simple lathing device. Although it would be impossible to cut the granodiorite directly with a rotary tool, masons could use a moving arm to check the radius of the shaft as they cut the finely drafted margin at the edge of this piece, at first with hammers, and then with droves and chisels. The rest of the shaft is only coarsely worked; perhaps the stone broke and was discarded before it was ready for transport.
Mons Claudianus (Eastern Desert, Egypt), active 1st to 3rd centuries AD
This photograph was originally selected for Flickr Explore in 2014 and subsequently selected for sale online through Amazon UK as a poster print and NBA PHOTOSTORE, PHOTOS.COM & FINEartAMERICA as a Wood print,Framed print, Art Print, Metal Print, Acrylic print.
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I am standing on a beautiful wooden decked balcony at my Sister in law's house at 2144 Bradford Avenue with a cup of decaf coffee in my grubby little mits. It's morning, I am bathed in sunlight and I am ready for what the day has to offer. Ahead and above me stands a tall pylon which feeds the ever hungry households a diet of much needed power, and upon it every morning at the same time perch between three and ten Starlings (Sturnus Vulgaris), chirping frantically, squabbling endlessly, swapping positions, seemingly discussing their plans for the coming day before shooting off like small torpedos in the sky.
Every morning I think to myself, hmmm, I should put this coffee cup down and grab my Nikon, it might make a cool photograph! .......
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Eighteen metres, at 08:13am on Thursday 18th September 2014 at 2144 Bradford Avenue, in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
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Nikon D800 Focal length: 200mm Shutter speed: 1/1250s Aperture: f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Handheld with Nikon VRII image stabilization. AF-S Single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 39m 22.97s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 38.68s
ALTITUDE: 18.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 8.64MB
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Processing power:
HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
The corner of one of four pendatives that support the central dome at Hagia Sophia.
The dome of Hagia Sophia has spurred particular interest for many art historians and architects because of the innovative way the original architects envisioned the it. The dome is supported by pendentives which had never been used before the building of this structure. The pendentive enables the round dome to transition gracefully into the square shape of the piers below. The pendentives not only achieve a pleasing aesthetic quality, but they also restrain the lateral forces of the dome and allow the weight of the dome to flow downward.
Although this design stabilizes the dome and the surrounding walls and arches, the actual construction of the walls of Hagia Sophia weakened the overall structure. The bricklayers used more mortar than brick, which weakened the walls. The structure would have been more stable if the builders at least let the mortar cure before they began the next layer; however, they did not do this. When the dome was placed atop the building, the weight of the dome caused the walls to lean outward because of the wet mortar underneath. When Isidorus the Younger rebuilt the original dome, he had to first build up the interior of the walls so that they were vertical in order to support the weight of the new dome. Another probable change in the design of the dome when it was rebuilt was the actual height of the dome. Isidore the Younger raised the height of the dome by approximately twenty feet so that the lateral forces would not be as strong and the weight of the dome would flow more easily down the walls.
A second interesting fact about the original structure of the dome was how the architects were able to place forty windows around the base of the dome. Hagia Sophia is famous for the mystical quality of light that reflects everywhere in the interior of the nave, which gives the dome the appearance of hovering above the nave. This design is possible because the dome is shaped like a scalloped shell or the inside of an umbrella with ribs that extend from the top of the dome down to the base. These ribs allow the weight of the dome to flow between the windows, down the pendentives, and ultimately to the foundation.
The anomalies in the design of Hagia Sophia show how this structure is one of the most advanced and ambitious monuments of late antiquity. (wikipedia)
For many years, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, at an elevation of 360 feet, was reputed to be the tallest building south of Baltimore.
It was the County's first high-rise and is in the National Register of Historic Places. Efforts to refurbish this magnificent structure and restore it to its original grandeur have been underway since 1981 by Architect James W. Piersol, AIA of M.C Harry Associates Architects of Miami.
The restoration and renovations initially stabilized the terra cotta facade, and installed new life safety systems. In 1982, the idea of restoring the lobby to its original distinction was the passion of both Architect James Piersol and engineer Don Youatt, of the Miami-Dade Planning and Development Department. With a little less than half of the funding necessary for the lobby restoration project in hand ($300,000 grant approved by the Legislature in 1996), the Dade County Bar Association acted as the fund-raising umbrella and initiate a drive to raise the remainder needed from lawyers and the general public. A few years later, the same team restored Courtroom 6-1, which had been the site of many infamous trials over the years.
Today, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse provides offices, chambers, and courtrooms for the clerks and judiciary assigned to both the Circuit and County Civil Court and the Family Court.
When county government was established following the Civil War, public records were so sparse they could be carried in a carpetbag and most probably were. Therefore, the "courthouse" was wherever the county's chief office holder decided to do business.
In 1890, Dade County's first courthouse stood in the town of Juno, Florida some ten miles north of West Palm Beach. At that time, Dade County covered more territory than it does today, stretching from Bahia Honda Key, in the middle Keys, up to the St. Lucie River, near present-day Port St. Lucie.
Juno was chosen as the "county seat" because of its strategic location at the southern terminus of the Jupiter-Juno railroad. Juno also held the northern terminus of the boat and connecting stagecoach line to Miami. The courthouse remained in Juno (now no longer in existence) until 1899, when it was moved to Miami down the inland waterway on a barge and was placed on the banks of the Miami River, east of the old Miami Avenue bridge.
The building was two story wooden frame construction, housing offices and jail cells on the ground floor and a courtroom on the second floor.It has a Neoclassical design, in 1904 this building was replaced by a new courthouse building situated on Flagler Street (then known as Twelfth Street). It was a magnificent building constructed of limestone, having an elegant red-domed top, at the cost of $47,000. It was anticipated that this courthouse would serve the city for at least fifty years; however, no one was prepared for the rapid growth Miami experienced during this period, and by 1924, only twenty years later, there was serious talk of the need for a larger courthouse.
In the early 1920s, architect A. Ten Eyck Brown entered a design competition for Atlanta City Hall, which was rejected. He then made the plans available to Dade County, and City and County officials readily approved them. It was decided by the officials to build the new courthouse at the same location as the existing one on Flagler Street. Construction began in 1925, with workers erecting the new building around the existing structure, which was then dismantled. Community leaders and citizens alike voiced excitement over the new 28 story "skyscraper" that would soon dominate the skyline.
Unexpectedly, construction was halted when the building reached ten stories. It was discovered that the "high-rise" was sinking into the spongy ground. Engineers consulted with an architect from Mexico City, whom had encountered a similar problem while building the city's opera house. The consultant determined that the foundation pilings were not set deep enough. To correct the problem, cement supports were poured, which take up much of the space in the building's basement file room even to this day.
The courthouse was finally completed in 1928 at the cost of $4 million (USD 2013 $54.5 million). Initially, it served as both the Dade County Courthouse and the Miami City Hall. Jail cells occupied the top nine floors because these heights offered "maximum security" and were considered escape proof. In 1934, a prisoner housed on the twenty-first floor picked the lock of his jail cell window and used a fire hose to lower himself to freedom. In the years following, more than 70 prisoners escaped from this so-called "secure" prison.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
Finally, the remaining restraints are removed from Rapunzel, including some long rubber bands between her shoulder and arm that helped to stabilize her boxed pose. Her hands were also freed from the sleeves of her gown. Her arm holding the lantern was also moved down to her side, which took a bit of effort as her shoulder joint was put into an extreme attitude. In the process of taking off all the restraints, I accidentally undid the small bow at the top of her corset. Rapunzel is now fully deboxed.
Rapunzel is freed from the display stand, but still has various packaging restraints attached to her. First the square plastic spacer is removed from her back. Then the wire is removed from her waist. Here I discover that the purple corset around her waist is not easily removed. It is actually laced together with a purple string in the front, and doesn't have any other openings. So no Velcro closures in the back or side, unlike the other LE Rapunzel dolls with corsets. But the Wedding Rapunzel's dress does have a corset like laced back, which has to be undone before the Velcro closure can be accessed.
Rapunzel is next to be freed from the display stand. First the spacer attached to the lantern and her hand is removed. Then all the tabs attaching her gown to the base of the cardboard backing are cut off. Next, we have to remove her from the doll stand. Her skirt is raised, revealing a tulle petticoat. Below that is tissue paper wrapped around her legs. The tissue paper is removed, revealing two wires tying her legs to the post of the doll stand. We also see her flat dark purple shoes. The wires are undone, and then she is lifted from the doll stand.
Flynn is then removed from the doll stand, by undoing the wire tying him to the doll stand, and moving him out of the the spacer between him and Rapunzel, and then off the doll stand, which has a clamp around his waist. There is still a wire around his waist, and Rapunzel's crown is sewn to his belt pouch. The wire is removed without having to undo his clothing. Rapunzel's crown is detached from his pouch (by cutting a thread), and placed inside the pouch. He is now fully deboxed.
The cardboard backing is now cut off from the base of the case. This makes the further deboxing and re-boxing easier, as well making the dolls viewable from all angles (except from below). The rear spacer is then removed from Flynn. He is still wired to the doll stand, and attached to a spacer between himself and Rapunzel.
The cardboard backing has been split open by cutting along the edges with a knife. There is clear tape holding the two layers of the backing together. Inside the backing are the ends of the plastic spacers, wires and rubber bands fastening the dolls to the packaging. Then the backing is separated from the dolls by undoing the wires and tape in the back and pushing the tabs and wires through the backing. The backing is then laid flat on the counter behind the dolls. The dolls are still attached to the backing and to the doll stands.
Deboxing my Rapunzel and Flynn Rider Doll Set. First the cardboard cover sleeve is slipped off the case, to reveal the dolls behind the acrylic cover of the case. Then the acrylic cover is taken off, so the dolls are now in clear view. They are anchored to the base by the built in doll stands, and attached to the cardboard backing and plastic spaces by wires, rubber bands, thread and plastic T-tabs. Rapunzel looks lovely in her dramatic pose, gazing at the lantern held aloft in her right hand. Unfortunately, she completely blocks Flynn, who is almost directly behind her. They don't look very romantic when they aren't looking at each other, and are not touching, with a large hunk of plastic between them.
Disney Fairytale Designer Collection
US Disney Store
Limited Edition of 6000 Sets Worldwide
#2411 of 6000
$129.95
Released and purchased in store September 3, 2013
To be released online September 4, 2013
First Look
I got my Rapunzel and Flynn Rider Doll Set from my local Disney Store today, its release day, Tuesday September 3, 2013. There were only ten (10) people in the raffle for 18 doll sets, so less than the crowd for Snow White and the Prince (when there were about a dozen takers). Once again I was the first name to be called (I know, something smells fishy about that kind of luck), so I was happy to be the first to purchase my Tangled doll set. I noticed that the Disney Fairytale Designer Collection section now had the four remaining doll sets all displayed. The Snow White doll set was now gone from the display, as they are sold out. They were now restocked with mugs, and had a good supply of all five different DFDC mugs. I didn't bring my camera, so I didn't take any photos of the display.
As soon as I paid for my doll set, I took it outside, to a table in a rest area just outside the store. I took the box out of the gift bag, and saw the base and sleeve were in perfect shape. Then I carefully lifted the cover sleeve off the case, and inspected the dolls. They both looked in perfect shape. Rapunzel was even in a decent pose, with her head tilted at a normal looking angle, to gaze at the lantern. She looked as beautiful as I expected from seeing her in the promo images, and in person at the D23 Expo and my local store. What I was most impressed with was her outfit, as I never looked really close at it before, being afraid to handle the display dolls in the Expo or my local stores. While I was inspecting the dolls, several people near me asked about the dolls, and I put on my best salesman face to sell them on the dolls. They looked as though they were impressed by the look of the dolls.
I will photograph the dolls boxed, during the deboxing, and then fully deboxed. I will also compare them with other dolls in my collection.
Text of the box notes on the back of the cover sleeve:
A romantic at heart, Rapunzel is artistic, creative and full of curiosity. Spending her days painting and singing, her energy is as limitless as her hair is long. However, when the handsome thief Flynn Rider picks her mysterious and secluded tower as his hideout, the two begin a journey together that will untangle many secrets along the way.
Signature long hair romantically styled with braiding and flowers. Printed satin corset bodice with puffed velvet sleeves and lace detail. Warm illuminating lantern.
Layered gown with ornate golden detailing. Rich velvet overlay with gemstones and gold printed inset.
Suede-like vest that's belted with a satchel to hold the Princess' crown. Boots to finish his rugged look.
Taken back in 2008, a group of Stellar Sea Lions are hauled out on the rocks in Resurrection Bay, Seward Alaska. The Stellar Sea Lion population was in a serious decline since the 1950's, however, their population has stabilized over the past 20 years. They are, however, on the "near-threatened" list of marine mammals.
test room at the maximum zoom. up to about 10 meters of the object. Both not have built-in lens stabilization.
*Ting ,ting*
"OS serum stabilized"
"What is this?"
"This is the OS serum chamber ,when the serum is combined with the DNA of Peter Parker it will form a super soldier like serum ,which will not just fix the problems with becoming a goblin but will also make you ten times stronger,faster but we don't know how it will turn out after merging with the DNA"said Otto Octavius standing next to a computer showing the stability of the gas in the chamber
"And as always blood of Peter Parker solves everything .Yet it is hard to get it."
The Gentleman walks into the room fast and unexpectedly.
"Yet there is one more way to get it.The Spider that byte Peter Parker remains dead in Parkers house.He didn't just give him the ability of Spider-powers as we expected but also taken some blood samples for us ,that was our original plan but we were not expecting that he will snap the spider and after keep it."
"So OSCORP knew that Peter Parker s Spider-man from the beginning !!!And this means that Spider-man was born in OSCORP!!!"said Harry with a amazed face .
"Indeed ,when we will steal the spider ,we will need to use the serum in a gas form not in an injection form .We have cloned so many serums yet not everyone can be merged with a blood sample,only one was strong enough to handle it "
takes off a bottle of serum.
"This one is not just a simple serum ,it is a one that can help your father return ,we keep it safe from everyone ,nobody must know that we are making experiments down the OSCORP ."
"Oh ,I am certain no one will mr.Fiers,AhaHAhaAHaHA"
Harry starts laughing like a maniac .
"We will win this time,no Spider freak will be able to stop us when we will have all his powers,AHAHAHhahHAHAaa!!!!"
"What is happening to him ,Mr.Fiers? "
"The serum is trying to resist the cues we have been giving him,inject him and after take him to his mansion,Otto "
"Yes Mr. Gentleman "
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is located in northern Coconino County, Arizona, United States, immediately south of the Utah state line. This national monument, 293,689 acres (118,852 ha) in area, protects the Paria Plateau, Vermilion Cliffs, Coyote Buttes, and Paria Canyon. Elevations in the monument range from 3,100 feet to 6,500 feet above sea level (944 to 1,981 meters).
Established on November 9, 2000 by a presidential proclamation by President Bill Clinton, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument was carved from existing lands already under the management of the U.S. Government in extreme northern Coconino County, Arizona, immediately south of the border with the state of Utah. The monument is administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Vermilion Cliffs themselves run along the southern and eastern edges of the monument. Much of the monument's land consists of the Paria Plateau, a flat area extending northward from the tops of the cliffs.
The Vermilion Cliffs are steep eroded escarpments consisting primarily of sandstone, siltstone, limestone, and shale which rise as much as 3,000 feet (910 m) above their bases. These sedimentary rocks have been deeply eroded for millions of years, exposing hundreds of layers of richly colored rock strata. Mesas, buttes, and large tablelands are interspersed with steep canyons, where some small streams provide enough moisture to support a sampling of wildlife.
More than twenty species of raptors, including bald eagles and golden eagles, peregrine falcons, and several hawk species, have been observed. The endangered California condor was re-introduced into this region in 1996 due to its remote location and lack of human habitation. Desert bighorn sheep, pronghorns, and mountain lions make up most of the large mammals found here, with about 30 more species of smaller mammals. Several examples of rare fish species, such as the flannelmouth sucker and the speckled dace live in the streams of the monument. The Welsh's milkweed Asclepias welshii, a threatened plant species that grows on sand dunes and helps stabilize them, is known to exist only in the monument and one other area in neighboring Utah.
Human settlement in the region dates back 12,000 years, and hundreds of Native American pueblos are spread across the monument. The remains of the natives' villages, with houses, granaries, burial areas, and associated ruins, can be found here. The monument also contains one of the largest number of rock art sites in any nationally protected area. Many of these petroglyphs are believed to be among the oldest in the United States.
The first explorers into the region were Spanish missionaries and explorers from the 1776 Domínguez–Escalante expedition. Later, Mormon explorers searched the region during the 1860s, some of them settling on land that is now within the monument. They built one of the first ferry crossings on the Colorado River in 1871. That same year, John Wesley Powell ventured through this region during his scientific explorations of the Colorado River plateau.
Below the Vermilion cliffs runs the historic "Honeymoon Trail", a wagon route for Mormons who journeyed to have their marriages sealed in the temple at St. George, Utah, and then to return. The route, through remote country, was otherwise seldom used. Historical markers denote this history.
Today, the region surrounding the monument is relatively unspoiled with virtually no permanent inhabitants remaining and limited road access.
Coconino County is a county in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff. The county takes its name from Cohonino, a name applied to the Havasupai people. It is the second-largest county by area in the contiguous United States, behind San Bernardino County, California. It has 18,661 sq mi (48,300 km2), or 16.4% of Arizona's total area, and is larger than the nine smallest states in the U.S.
Coconino County comprises the Flagstaff metropolitan statistical area, Grand Canyon National Park, the federally recognized Havasupai Nation, and parts of the federally recognized Navajo, Hualapai, and Hopi nations. As a result, its relatively large Native American population makes up nearly 30% of the county's total population; it is mostly Navajo, with smaller numbers of other tribes.
The county was the setting for George Herriman's early 20th-century Krazy Kat comic strip.
After European Americans completed the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad in 1883, the region of northern Yavapai County began to undergo rapid growth. The people of the northern reaches had tired of the rigors of traveling to Prescott to conduct county business. They believed that they should have their own county jurisdiction, so petitioned in 1887 for secession from Yavapai and creation of a new Frisco County. This did not take place, but Coconino County was formed in 1891 and its seat was designated as Flagstaff.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 18,661 square miles (48,330 km2), of which 18,619 square miles (48,220 km2) are land and 43 square miles (110 km2) (0.2%) are covered by water. It is the largest county by area in Arizona and the second-largest county in the United States (excluding boroughs in Alaska) after San Bernardino County in California. It has more land area than each of the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
The highest natural point in the county, as well as the entire state, is Humphreys Peak at 12,637 ft or 3,852 m. The Barringer Meteor Crater is located in Coconino County.
Arizona is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States. Arizona is part of the Four Corners region with Utah to the north, Colorado to the northeast, and New Mexico to the east; its other neighboring states are Nevada to the northwest, California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest. It is the 6th-largest and the 14th-most-populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix.
Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Historically part of the territory of Alta California and Nuevo México in New Spain, it became part of independent Mexico in 1821. After being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848, where the area became part of the territory of New Mexico. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase.
Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. Northern Arizona features forests of pine, Douglas fir, and spruce trees; the Colorado Plateau; mountain ranges (such as the San Francisco Mountains); as well as large, deep canyons, with much more moderate summer temperatures and significant winter snowfalls. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff, Sunrise, and Tucson. In addition to the internationally known Grand Canyon National Park, which is one of the world's seven natural wonders, there are several national forests, national parks, and national monuments.
Arizona's population and economy have grown dramatically since the 1950s because of inward migration, and the state is now a major hub of the Sun Belt. Cities such as Phoenix and Tucson have developed large, sprawling suburban areas. Many large companies, such as PetSmart and Circle K, have headquarters in the state, and Arizona is home to major universities, including the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. The state is known for a history of conservative politicians such as Barry Goldwater and John McCain, though it has become a swing state since the 1990s.
Arizona is home to a diverse population. About one-quarter of the state is made up of Indian reservations that serve as the home of 27 federally recognized Native American tribes, including the Navajo Nation, the largest in the state and the United States, with more than 300,000 citizens. Since the 1980s, the proportion of Hispanics in the state's population has grown significantly owing to migration from Mexico. A substantial portion of the population are followers of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The history of Arizona encompasses the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Post-Archaic, Spanish, Mexican, and American periods. About 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians settled in what is now Arizona. A few thousand years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan, the Hohokam, the Mogollon and the Sinagua cultures inhabited the state. However, all of these civilizations mysteriously disappeared from the region in the 15th and 16th centuries. Today, countless ancient ruins can be found in Arizona. Arizona was part of the state of Sonora, Mexico from 1822, but the settled population was small. In 1848, under the terms of the Mexican Cession the United States took possession of Arizona above the Gila River after the Mexican War, and became part of the Territory of New Mexico. By means of the Gadsden Purchase, the United States secured the northern part of the state of Sonora, which is now Arizona south of the Gila River in 1854.
In 1863, Arizona was split off from the Territory of New Mexico to form the Arizona Territory. The remoteness of the region was eased by the arrival of railroads in 1880. Arizona became a state in 1912 but was primarily rural with an economy based on cattle, cotton, citrus, and copper. Dramatic growth came after 1945, as retirees and young families who appreciated the warm weather and low costs emigrated from the Northeast and Midwest.
In the Mexican–American War, the garrison commander avoided conflict with Lieutenant Colonel Cooke and the Mormon Battalion, withdrawing while the Americans marched through the town on their way to California. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), Mexico ceded to the U.S. the northern 70% of modern-day Arizona above the Sonora border along the Gila River. During the California Gold Rush, an upwards of 50,000 people traveled through on the Southern Emigrant Trail pioneered by Cooke, to reach the gold fields in 1849. The Pima Villages often sold fresh food and provided relief to distressed travelers among this throng and to others in subsequent years.
Paleo-Indians settled what is now Arizona around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. According to most archaeologists, the Paleo-Indians initially followed herds of big game—megafauna such as mammoths, mastodons, and bison—into North America. The traveling groups also collected and utilized a wide variety of smaller game animals, fish, and a wide variety of plants. These people were likely characterized by highly mobile bands of approximately 20 or 50 members of an extended family, moving from place to place as resources were depleted and additional supplies needed. Paleoindian groups were efficient hunters and created and carried a variety of tools, some highly specialized, for hunting, butchering and hide processing. These paleolithic people utilized the environment that they lived in near water sources, including rivers, swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, and drew birds and game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. At the latest by 9500 BCE, bands of hunters wandered as far south as Arizona, where they found a desert grassland and hunted mule deer, antelope and other small mammals.
As populations of larger game began to diminish, possibly as a result of intense hunting and rapid environmental changes, Late Paleoindian groups would come to rely more on other facets of their subsistence pattern, including increased hunting of bison, mule deer and antelope. Nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Hunting was especially important in winter and spring months when plant foods were scarce.
The Archaic time frame is defined culturally as a transition from a hunting/gathering lifestyle to one involving agriculture and permanent, if only seasonally occupied, settlements. In the Southwest, the Archaic is generally dated from 8000 years ago to approximately 1800 to 2000 years ago. During this time the people of the southwest developed a variety of subsistence strategies, all using their own specific techniques. The nutritive value of weed and grass seeds was discovered and flat rocks were used to grind flour to produce gruels and breads. This use of grinding slabs in about 7500 BCE marks the beginning of the Archaic tradition. Small bands of people traveled throughout the area, gathering plants such as cactus fruits, mesquite beans, acorns, and pine nuts and annually establishing camps at collection points.
Late in the Archaic Period, corn, probably introduced into the region from central Mexico, was planted near camps with permanent water access. Distinct types of corn have been identified in the more well-watered highlands and the desert areas, which may imply local mutation or successive introduction of differing species. Emerging domesticated crops also included beans and squash.
About 3,500 years ago, climate change led to changing patterns in water sources, leading to a dramatically decreased population. However, family-based groups took shelter in south facing caves and rock overhangs within canyon walls. Occasionally, these people lived in small semisedentary hamlets in open areas. Evidence of significant occupation has been found in the northern part of Arizona.
In the Post-Archaic period, the Ancestral Puebloan, the Hohokam, the Mogollon and Sinagua cultures inhabited what is now Arizona. These cultures built structures made out of stone. Some of the structures that these cultures built are called pueblos. Pueblos are monumental structures that housed dozens to thousands of people. In some Ancestral Puebloan towns and villages, Hohokam towns and villages, Mogollon towns and villages, and Sinagua towns and villages, the pueblo housed the entire town. Surrounding the pueblos were often farms where farmers would plant and harvest crops to feed the community. Sometimes, pueblos and other buildings were built in caves in cliffs.
The Ancestral Puebloans were an ancient Pre-Columbian Native American civilization that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. The Ancestral Puebloans are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara tradition, who developed from the Picosa culture.
They lived in a range of structures that included small family pit houses, larger structures to house clans, grand pueblos, and cliff-sited dwellings for defense. The Ancestral Puebloans possessed a complex network that stretched across the Colorado Plateau linking hundreds of communities and population centers. They held a distinct knowledge of celestial sciences that found form in their architecture. The kiva, a congregational space that was used chiefly for ceremonial purposes, was an integral part of this ancient people's community structure. Some of their most impressive structures were built in what is now Arizona.
Hohokam was a Pre-Columbian culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. Hohokam practiced a specific culture, sometimes referred to as Hohokam culture, which has been distinguished by archeologists. People who practiced the culture can be called Hohokam as well, but more often, they are distinguished as Hohokam people to avoid confusion.
Most archaeologists agree that the Hohokam culture existed between c. 300 and c. 1450 CE, but cultural precursors may have been in the area as early as 300 BC. Whether Hohokam culture was unified politically remains under controversy. Hohokam culture may have just given unrelated neighboring communities common ground to help them to work together to survive their harsh desert environment.
The Mogollon culture was an ancient Pre-Columbian culture of Native American peoples from Southern New Mexico and Arizona, Northern Sonora and Chihuahua, and Western Texas. The northern part of this region is Oasisamerica, while the southern span of the Mogollon culture is known as Aridoamerica.
The Mogollon culture was one of the major prehistoric Southwestern cultural divisions of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. The culture flourished from c. 200 CE, to c. 1450 CE or 1540 CE, when the Spanish arrived.
The Sinagua culture was a Pre-Columbian culture that occupied a large area in central Arizona from the Little Colorado River, near Flagstaff, to the Verde River, near Sedona, including the Verde Valley, area around San Francisco Mountain, and significant portions of the Mogollon Rim country, between approximately 500 CE and 1425 CE. Besides ceremonial kivas, their pueblos had large "community rooms" and some featured ballcourts and walled courtyards, similar to those of the Hohokam culture. Since fully developed Sinagua sites emerged in central Arizona around 500 CE, it is believed they migrated from east-central Arizona, possibly emerging from the Mogollon culture.
The history of Arizona as recorded by Europeans began in 1539 with the first documented exploration of the area by Marcos de Niza, early work expanded the following year when Francisco Vásquez de Coronado entered the area as well.
The Spanish established a few missions in southern Arizona in the 1680s by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino along the Santa Cruz River, in what was then the Pimería Alta region of Sonora. The Spanish also established presidios in Tubac and Tucson in 1752 and 1775. The area north of the Gila River was governed by the Province of Las California under the Spanish until 1804, when the Californian portion of Arizona became part of Alta California under the Spanish and Mexican governments.
In 1849, the California Gold Rush led as many as 50,000 miners to travel across the region, leading to a boom in Arizona's population. In 1850, Arizona and New Mexico formed the New Mexico Territory.
In 1853, President Franklin Pierce sent James Gadsden to Mexico City to negotiate with Santa Anna, and the United States bought the remaining southern strip area of Arizona and New Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase. A treaty was signed in Mexico in December 1853, and then, with modifications, approved by the US Senate in June 1854, setting the southern boundary of Arizona and of New Mexico.
Before 1846 the Apache raiders expelled most Mexican ranchers. One result was that large herds of wild cattle roamed southeastern Arizona. By 1850, the herds were gone, killed by Apaches, American sportsmen, contract hunting for the towns of Fronteras and Santa Cruz, and roundups to sell to hungry Mexican War soldiers, and forty-niners en route to California.
During the Civil War, on March 16, 1861, citizens in southern New Mexico Territory around Mesilla (now in New Mexico) and Tucson invited take-over by the Confederacy. They especially wanted restoration of mail service. These secessionists hoped that a Confederate Territory of Arizona (CSA) would take control, but in March 1862, Union troops from California captured the Confederate Territory of Arizona and returned it to the New Mexico Territory.
The Battle of Picacho Pass, April 15, 1862, was a battle of the Civil War fought in the CSA and one of many battles to occur in Arizona during the war among three sides—Apaches, Confederates and Union forces. In 1863, the U.S. split up New Mexico along a north–south line to create the Arizona Territory. The first government officials to arrive established the territory capital in Prescott in 1864. The capital was later moved to Tucson, back to Prescott, and then to its final location in Phoenix in a series of controversial moves as different regions of the territory gained and lost political influence with the growth and development of the territory.
In the late 19th century the Army built a series of forts to encourage the Natives to stay in their territory and to act as a buffer from the settlers. The first was Fort Defiance. It was established on September 18, 1851, by Col. Edwin V. Sumner to create a military presence in Diné bikéyah (Navajo territory). Sumner broke up the fort at Santa Fe for this purpose, creating the first military post in what is now Arizona. He left Major Electus Backus in charge. Small skirmishes were common between raiding Navajo and counter raiding citizens. In April 1860 one thousand Navajo warriors under Manuelito attacked the fort and were beaten off.
The fort was abandoned at the start of the Civil War but was reoccupied in 1863 by Colonel Kit Carson and the 1st New Mexico Infantry. Carson was tasked by Brigadier-General James H. Carleton, Commander of the Federal District of New Mexico, to kill Navajo men, destroy crops, wells, houses and livestock. These tactics forced 9000 Navajos to take the Long Walk to a reservation at Bosque Redondo, New Mexico. The Bosque was a complete failure. In 1868 the Navajo signed another treaty and were allowed to go back to part of their former territory. The returning Navajo were restocked with sheep and other livestock. Fort Defiance was the agency for the new Navajo reservation until 1936; today it provides medical services to the region.
Fort Apache was built on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation by soldiers from the 1st Cavalry and 21st Infantry in 1870. Only one small battle took place, in September 1881, with three soldiers wounded. When the reservation Indians were granted U.S. citizenship in 1924, the fort was permanently closed down. Fort Huachuca, east of Tucson, was founded in 1877 as the base for operations against Apaches and raiders from Mexico. From 1913 to 1933 the fort was the base for the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 10th Cavalry Regiment. During World War II, the fort expanded to 25,000 soldiers, mostly in segregated all-black units. Today the fort remains in operation and houses the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and the U.S. Army Network.
The Pueblos in Arizona were relatively peaceful through the Navajo and Apache Wars. However, in June 1891, the army had to bring in troops to stop Oraibi from preventing a school from being built on their mesa.
After the Civil War, Texans brought large-scale ranching to southern Arizona. They introduced their proven range methods to the new grass country. Texas rustlers also came, and brought lawlessness. Inexperienced ranchers brought poor management, resulting in overstocking, and introduced destructive diseases. Local cattleman organizations were formed to handle these problems. The Territory experienced a cattle boom in 1873–91, as the herds were expanded from 40,000 to 1.5 million head. However, the drought of 1891–93 killed off over half the cattle and produced severe overgrazing. Efforts to restore the rangeland between 1905 and 1934 had limited success, but ranching continued on a smaller scale.
Arizona's last major drought occurred during Dust Bowl years of 1933–34. This time Washington stepped in as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration spent $100 million to buy up the starving cattle. The Taylor Grazing Act placed federal and state agencies in control of livestock numbers on public lands. Most of the land in Arizona is owned by the federal government which leased grazing land to ranchers at low cost. Ranchers invested heavily in blooded stock and equipment. James Wilson states that after 1950, higher fees and restrictions in the name of land conservation caused a sizable reduction in available grazing land. The ranchers had installed three-fifths of the fences, dikes, diversion dams, cattleguards, and other improvements, but the new rules reduced the value of that investment. In the end, Wilson believes, sportsmen and environmentalists maintained a political advantage by denouncing the ranchers as political corrupted land-grabbers who exploited the publicly owned natural resources.
On February 23, 1883, United Verde Copper Company was incorporated under New York law. The small mining camp next to the mine was given a proper name, 'Jerome.' The town was named after the family which had invested a large amount of capital. In 1885 Lewis Williams opened a copper smelter in Bisbee and the copper boom began, as the nation turned to copper wires for electricity. The arrival of railroads in the 1880s made mining even more profitable, and national corporations bought control of the mines and invested in new equipment. Mining operations flourished in numerous boom towns, such as Bisbee, Jerome, Douglas, Ajo and Miami.
Arizona's "wild west" reputation was well deserved. Tombstone was a notorious mining town that flourished longer than most, from 1877 to 1929. Silver was discovered in 1877, and by 1881 the town had a population of over 10,000. Western story tellers and Hollywood film makers made as much money in Tombstone as anyone, thanks to the arrival of Wyatt Earp and his brothers in 1879. They bought shares in the Vizina mine, water rights, and gambling concessions, but Virgil, Morgan and Wyatt were soon appointed as federal and local marshals. They killed three outlaws in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the most famous gunfight of the Old West.
In the aftermath, Virgil Earp was maimed in an ambush and Morgan Earp was assassinated while playing billiards. Walter Noble Burns's novel Tombstone (1927) made Earp famous. Hollywood celebrated Earp's Tombstone days with John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946), John Sturges's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and Hour of the Gun (1967), Frank Perry's Doc (1971), George Cosmatos's Tombstone (1993), and Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp (1994). They solidified Earp's modern reputation as the Old West's deadliest gunman.
Jennie Bauters (1862–1905) operated brothels in the Territory from 1896 to 1905. She was an astute businesswoman with an eye for real estate appreciation, and a way with the town fathers of Jerome regarding taxes and restrictive ordinances. She was not always sitting pretty; her brothels were burned in a series of major fires that swept the business district; her girls were often drug addicts. As respectability closed in on her, in 1903 she relocated to the mining camp of Acme. In 1905, she was murdered by a man who had posed as her husband.
By 1869 Americans were reading John Wesley Powell's reports of his explorations of the Colorado River. In 1901, the Santa Fe Railroad reached Grand Canyon's South Rim. With railroad, restaurant and hotel entrepreneur Fred Harvey leading the way, large-scale tourism began that has never abated. The Grand Canyon has become an iconic symbol of the West and the nation as a whole.
The Chinese came to Arizona with the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1880. Tucson was the main railroad center and soon had a Chinatown with laundries for the general population and a rich mix of restaurants, groceries, and services for the residents. Chinese and Mexican merchants and farmers transcended racial differences to form 'guanxi,' which were relations of friendship and trust. Chinese leased land from Mexicans, operated grocery stores, and aided compatriots attempting to enter the United States from Mexico after the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Chinese merchants helped supply General John Pershing's army in its expedition against Pancho Villa. Successful Chinese in Tucson led a viable community based on social integration, friendship, and kinship.
In February 1903, U.S. Senator Hamilton Kean spoke against Arizona's statehood. He said Mormons who fled from Idaho to Mexico would return to the U.S. and mix in the politics of Arizona.
In 1912, Arizona almost entered the Union as part of New Mexico in a Republican plan to keep control of the U.S. Senate. The plan, while accepted by most in New Mexico, was rejected by most Arizonans. Progressives in Arizona favored inclusion in the state constitution of the initiative, referendum, recall, direct election of senators, woman suffrage, and other reforms. Most of these proposals were included in the constitution that was rejected by Congress.
A new constitution was offered with the problematic provisions removed. Congress then voted to approve statehood, and President Taft signed the statehood bill on February 14, 1912. State residents promptly put the provisions back in. Hispanics had little voice or power. Only one of the 53 delegates at the constitutional convention was Hispanic, and he refused to sign. In 1912 women gained suffrage in the state, eight years before the country as a whole.
Arizona's first Congressman was Carl Hayden (1877–1972). He was the son of a Yankee merchant who had moved to Tempe because he needed dry heat for his bad lungs. Carl attended Stanford University and moved up the political ladder as town councilman, county treasurer, and Maricopa County sheriff, where he nabbed Arizona's last train robbers. He also started building a coalition to develop the state's water resources, a lifelong interest. A liberal Democrat his entire career, Hayden was elected to Congress in 1912 and moved to the Senate in 1926.
Reelection followed every six years as he advanced toward the chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee, which he reached in 1955. His only difficult campaign came in 1962, at age 85, when he defeated a young conservative. He retired in 1968 after a record 56 years in Congress. His great achievement was his 41-year battle to enact the Central Arizona Project that would provide water for future growth.
The Great Depression of 1929–39 hit Arizona hard. At first local, state and private relief efforts focused on charity, especially by the Community Chest and Organized Charities programs. Federal money started arriving with the Federal Emergency Relief Committee in 1930. Different agencies promoted aid to the unemployed, tuberculosis patients, transients, and illegal immigrants. The money ran out by 1931 or 1932, and conditions were bad until New Deal relief operations began on a large scale in 1933.
Construction programs were important, especially the Hoover Dam (originally called Boulder Dam), begun by President Herbert Hoover. It is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border with Nevada. It was constructed by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation between 1931 and 1936. It operationalized a schedule of water use set by the Colorado River Compact of 1922 that gave Arizona 19% of the river's water, with 25% to Nevada and the rest to California.
Construction of military bases in Arizona was a national priority because of the state's excellent flying weather and clear skies, large amounts of unoccupied land, good railroads, cheap labor, low taxes, and its proximity to California's aviation industry. Arizona was attractive to both the military and private firms and they stayed after the war.
Fort Huachuca became one of the largest nearly-all-black Army forts, with quarters for 1,300 officers and 24,000 enlisted soldiers. The 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions, composed of African-American troops, trained there.
During the war, Mexican-American community organizations were very active in patriotic efforts to support American troops abroad, and made efforts to support the war effort materially and to provide moral support for the American servicemen fighting the war, especially the Mexican-American servicemen from local communities. Some of the community projects were cooperative ventures in which members of both the Mexican-American and Anglo communities participated. Most efforts made in the Mexican-American community represented localized American home front activities that were separate from the activities of the Anglo community.
Mexican-American women organized to assist their servicemen and the war effort. An underlying goal of the Spanish-American Mothers and Wives Association was the reinforcement of the woman's role in Spanish-Mexican culture. The organization raised thousands of dollars, wrote letters, and joined in numerous celebrations of their culture and their support for Mexican-American servicemen. Membership reached over 300 during the war and eventually ended its existence in 1976.
Heavy government spending during World War II revitalized the Arizona economy, which was still based on copper mining, citrus and cotton crops and cattle ranching, with a growing tourist business.
Military installations peppered the state, such as Davis-Monthan Field in Tucson, the main training center for air force bomber pilots. Two relocation camps opened for Japanese and Japanese Americans brought in from the West Coast.
After World War II the population grew rapidly, increasing sevenfold between 1950 and 2000, from 700,000 to over 5 million. Most of the growth was in the Phoenix area, with Tucson a distant second. Urban growth doomed the state's citrus industry, as the groves were turned into housing developments.
The cost of water made growing cotton less profitable, and Arizona's production steadily declined. Manufacturing employment jumped from 49,000 in 1960 to 183,000 by 1985, with half the workers in well-paid positions. High-tech firms such as Motorola, Hughes Aircraft, Goodyear Aircraft, Honeywell, and IBM had offices in the Phoenix area. By 1959, Hughes Aircraft had built advanced missiles with 5,000 workers in Tucson.
Despite being a small state, Arizona produced several national leaders for both the Republican and Democratic parties. Two Republican Senators were presidential nominees: Barry Goldwater in 1964 and John McCain in 2008; both carried Arizona but lost the national election. Senator Ernest McFarland, a Democrat, was the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate from 1951 to 1952, and Congressman John Rhodes was the Republican Minority Leader in the House from 1973 to 1981. Democrats Bruce Babbitt (Governor 1978–87) and Morris Udall (Congressman 1961–90) were contenders for their party's presidential nominations. In 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court; she served until 2006.
Retirement communities
Warm winters and low cost of living attracted retirees from the so-called snowbelt, who moved permanently to Arizona after 1945, bringing their pensions, Social Security, and savings with them. Real estate entrepreneurs catered to them with new communities with amenities pitched to older people, and with few facilities for children. Typically they were gated communities with controlled access and had pools, recreation centers, and golf courses.
In 1954, two developers bought 320 acres (1.3 km2) of farmland near Phoenix and opened the nation's first planned community dedicated exclusively to retirees at Youngtown. In 1960, developer Del Webb, inspired by the amenities in Florida's trailer parks, added facilities for "active adults" in his new Sun City planned community near Phoenix. In 1962 Ross Cortese opened the first of his gated Leisure Worlds. Other developers copied the popular model, and by 2000 18% of the retirees in the state lived in such "lifestyle" communities.
The issues of the fragile natural environment, compounded by questions of water shortage and distribution, led to numerous debates. The debate crossed traditional lines, so that the leading conservative, Senator Barry Goldwater, was also keenly concerned. For example, Goldwater supported the controversial Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP). He wrote:
I feel very definitely that the [Nixon] administration is absolutely correct in cracking down on companies and corporations and municipalities that continue to pollute the nation's air and water. While I am a great believer in the free competitive enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment. To this end, it is my belief that when pollution is found, it should be halted at the source, even if this requires stringent government action against important segments of our national economy.
Water issues were central. Agriculture consumed 89% of the state's strictly limited water supply while generating only 3% of the state's income. The Groundwater Management Act of 1980, sponsored by Governor Bruce Babbitt, raised the price of water to farmers, while cities had to reach a "safe yield" so that the groundwater usage did not exceed natural replenishment. New housing developments had to prove they had enough water for the next hundred years. Desert foliage suitable for a dry region soon replaced grass.
Cotton acreage declined dramatically, freeing up land for suburban sprawl as well as releasing large amounts of water and ending the need for expensive specialized machinery. Cotton acreage plunged from 120,000 acres in 1997 to only 40,000 acres in 2005, even as the federal treasury gave the state's farmers over $678 million in cotton subsidies. Many farmers collect the subsidies but no longer grow cotton. About 80% of the state's cotton is exported to textile factories in China and (since the passage of NAFTA) to Mexico.
Super Bowl XXX was played in Tempe in 1996 and Super Bowl XLII was held in Glendale in 2008. Super Bowl XLIX was also held in Glendale in 2015.
Illegal immigration continued to be a prime concern within the state, and in April 2010, Arizona SB1070 was passed and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer. The measure attracted national attention as the most thorough anti-illegal immigration measure in decades within the United States.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head during a political event in Tucson on January 8, 2011. The shooting resulted in six deaths and several injuries. Giffords survived the attack and became an advocate for gun control.
On June 30, 2013, nineteen members of the Prescott Fire Department were killed fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire. The fatalities were members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a hotshot crew, of whom only one survived as he was working in another location.
Border crisis: by 2019 Arizona was one of the states most affected by the border crisis, with a high number of migrant crossings and detentions.