Camelback through the years

No physical landmark says "Phoenix" more than Camelback Mountain. It's also a geological oddity. The camel's hump was formed in the Precambrian era, from 2 billion years ago (in Arizona) to 600 million years ago. But the camel's head came from the Tertiary period, as recently as 66 million old — it was created around the time as the Papago Buttes.

As Halka Chronic writes in Roadside Geology of Arizona, "The whole sequence of Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks that should come between the Tertiary head and the Precambrian hump is missing!" It's also the only faulted mountain in the Salt River Valley, the hump caused by the earth being lifted upward rather than volcanic activity.

President Rutherford B. Hayes included Camelback in the Pima and Maricopa Indian reservation, a move reversed by the Territorial Legislature six months later. The 1956 photo above shows the mountain was still pristine, the same iconic image seen by the Hohokam, to whom it was sacred, and the first pioneers. But preservation was tardy and by this time private interests owned the entire mountain.

By the early 1960s, houses were marching up the side, with plans to go all the way to a resort on the top. I write about the ultimately successful effort to save the mountains elsewhere. It is true that Barry Goldwater took on the cause of Camelback after his unsuccessful 1964 presidential bid. We schoolchildren collected coins for the effort. But it ultimately took federal money, thanks to Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, to save the upper reaches of Camelback.

Phoenix extended Arcadia Drive north of the mountain's namesake avenue to serve the luxury homes clinging to the side. Who doesn't remember their first kiss from Valle Vista Road with the city lights reaching to the horizon. Unfortunately, recent years have also seen enormous numbers of hikers, especially tenderfoots attempting the ascent of this wilderness in the hottest weather. Their rescues put first-responders at risk and cost city money.

Let's take a visual tour of this magical mountain through the years (Click on a photo for a larger image).:

As seen from Washington and First streets in 1915. Citrus groves stretching toward Camelback in this undated photo.

The mountain presides over alfalfa fields in 1923. (McCulloch Bros. Collection/ASU Archives)

Date palms frame it in 1927.

A different angle with grape vineyards.

In 1937, looking north from the future 44th Street (McCulloch Bros. Collection/ASU Archives).

The mountain seen from the southeast in the 1930s.

Seen from the north in the 1920s, with an ancient saguaro.

In the 1930s, with a variety of crops beneath the mountain, in a shot probably taken from just south of the Tempe Road (Van Buren Street).

The head and Praying Monk from the future Lincoln Drive in 1935.

Looking south across the new Camelback Inn, 1935.

Seen to the east from the new Brophy Prep, circa 1930.

The Arizona Canal in the 1940s.

This view of the mountain shows the Arizona Biltmore in its early years.

A slightly different angle shows the mountain in the distance from Town and Country shopping center. The empty land is now filled with offices in the Camelback Corridor.

Coperhaver Castle was one of the largest houses built on the south side of the mountain. It was finished in 1967 for dentist Mort Coperhaver. In recent years it fell into disrepair and was a source of controversy as an eyesore.

Camelback looms over the Arizona Country Club's greens.

A great view — and nighttime makeout spot — where Arcadia Drive turns into dead-end Valle Vista Road in 1977 (Brad Hall collection).

Storm clouds over Camelback Mountain with the modern city all around.

Thunderheads rise above the mountain during monsoon season, as seen from Sky Harbor.

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Mark in Scottsdale]

Thanks for sharing all the wonderful photographs!

[cal lash]

Thanks for the photos, particularly the 1935 Great Sonoran Desert photos, with my favorite trees, Sajuaros!

[Dan Hunting]

Two minor quibbles:
1) Precambrian rocks on Camelback are 2 billion years old, not 2 million.
2)"Tenderfoots attempting the ascent of this wilderness" stretches the meaning of the word wilderness rather too far. Echo Canyon trail has more foot traffic than Metrocenter mall these days. That ain't a wilderness.
But am I complaining? Heck no! I'm in a good mood - we just kicked two Koch-funded propositions into the trash! It's all good today!

[Rogue Columnist]

Thanks for the catch, Dan. But it is a wilderness not a mall.

[Cal Lash]

Camelback Mountain 2019 does not fit my definition of a Wilderness. There are people on the trails all day and at nite aided with headlamps.
Wilderness IMHO is void of man made objects and noise. The only sound is the scream of silence.

[Cal Lash]

PS. Fools requiring rescue off the mountain should pay the bill.

[Jerry McKenzie]

Coyotes, raccoons, chukawallas, squirrels, and Gila monsters. Seen all of these on Camelback Mtn.

[Cal Lash]

Me too, Jerry,
but not so much as 60 years ago.
But now because of the increasing heat they are coming for food and water.
Still a few Chuckawallas but nary a
Horn Toad or a Desert Tortoise.
There are few wildernesses left and the greed monsters are trying to destroy the planets grestest lung and biological Wilderness.
And "Standby", were about to nuke Mars and hurricanes.
I am surprised that a real Monkey Wrench gang has not strongly arisen.

[Ruben]

One of the most memorable experiences of my outdoor life was standing, in the sun, on top of Camelback as a heavy cloud layer below me was raining on the lower two thirds of Camelback. I could hear the rain and the small streams that were popping up, if only for a few minutes.

As far as quibbles, I checked in with the most qualified of Arizona historians/geologists(Sylvia Allen) and was informed that all the layers of Camelback mountain were formed 6,000 years ago during the homo erectus/ dinosaur era. Of course, she didn't use the phrase "homo" or "erectus" because, you know, that religious thing. I take her at her word since she is the point person in Arizona education.

[Ramjet]

Ruben, God help us if Sylvia (Whack a doodle) Allen is the point person for anything that matter She is still living in the eighteenth century.

[Cal Lash]

Handcart?

[Joe Schallan]

In defense of my profession (archivist/librarian/historian), I object to including Ms. Allen in our ranks, even if done in jest. We are a tribe obsessionally devoted to evidence and reason, after all, qualities admittedly in short supply around much of the Arizona Legislature.

It has been my contention for a very long time that the desert uniquely attracts dreamers, cranks, curmudgeons, those who can't get along with others, self-appointed prophets, misanthropes, and Those Who Throw Off Strong Reality-Distortion Fields. I have viewed the Coperhaver Castle as a project of one of those, albeit one with a lot of money to burn.

The desert is arguably responsible for at least three of the world's major religions, the Amargosa Opera House, Death Valley Scotty, Slab City, Las Vegas, the FLDS, and Ed Abbey. Need I say more?

[Cal Lash]

Cactus Ed as God?
I like that.
The others are just fake news.
I'll try to figure out
"strong reality-distortion fields"??

[Cal Lash]

Strong reality-distortion fields"
Steve Jobs as the Captain in Star Trek?

[Cal Lash]

Ps. I am a crank, a dreamer and a curmudgeon that likes living deep in the quiet desert. I prefer a coyote, a hawk or a horntoad over a human any day.
Sajuaro Cal.

[Mary Westheimer]

Thanks, Jon, for these wonderful photos and memories. Those of us who live near the mountain also enjoy amazing waterfalls when the storms come in from the west, not to mention bobcats and javelinas, Costas hummingbirds and Hooded Orioles ....

[Cal Lash]

But its not 1935. Or 1910.
Teddy runied it in 1911.
How much more asphalt will it take to cover the desert?
How many more Ned Warrens and Charlie Keatings will it take to bulldoze the Great Sonoran desert into oblivion?

[Cal Lash]

Why Camelback mountain should have been part of a Road-less Wilderness of all of New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amazon-deforestation-consumerism_n_5d66f174e4b022fbceb5a02b
T Malthus is still relevant
7.7 billion and growing!

[toughtery]

Ms. Allen needs to go back to Geology school.

[Cal Lash]

Dudas, u change your name?

[Amy McNamara]

whats The deal with farming in city limits the mountain looks nice as Alwys , and Arcadia wawa

[Amy McNamara]

Services galore forgive d stops on iPad yo

[terry dudas]

Nah, Cal, I just decided to change my persona.

[Cal Lash]

Well maybe coffee at the Tohono Chul bistro with no masks?