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Mt. Lemmon History- the long road to Mt. Lemon

At the turn of the 20th Century, the Mt. Lemmon area (called Mt. Lemon in newspapers) was a major source of copper mining. Some gold prospect claims were also made in the Santa Catalina mountains.

These are clips from Arizona newspapers about the development of Mt. Lemon/Mt Lemmon:

August 31, 1901: The Catallna camp, a Detroit company managed by Francis B. Hartman, Is developing rich claims near the head of the canyon and just over the divide is Camp Condon, now shut down awaiting the arrival of heavy machinery. All these mines In the canyon are working in what seems the same lead. Rich Iin gold, silver and especially copper. If a wagon road Is built to Mt. Lemon it would aid In the development of these properties. From the Arizona Republican, Phoenix.

August 27, 1908: Secretary Failor of Tucson chamber of commerce, after a trip over the ground is enthusiastic for an electric railroad to Mount Lemon which he thinks is destined to become a great summer resort. From the Daily Arizona Silver Belty, Globe, Arizona.

November 5, 1915: Pima county has voted $300,00 road bonds, the proposition carrying by a two to one vote. A large part of the money will be expended on the Sabino Canyon Road, leading to Mt. Lemon. From The Coconino Sun, Flagstaff, Arizona.

Sunday, May 4, 1919: The supervisors of Pima and Pinal counties have joined hands and purses in undertaking to build a road to Mount Lemon in the Santa Catalina mountains, the road to aproach Mt. Lemon from the east. Such a road would open and cause to be developed a playground in 1.25 the Santa Catalina mountains, which would offer a place of pleasure and comfort during the summer for a large portion of Arizona where the heat of summer is something to avoid if possible for two or three months in the year. From the Tombstone Epitaph, Tombstone, AZ.

July 4, 1919: The attention attracted to the summer resort in tne Catalina mountains by the successful financing of the Mt Lemmon road is causing other valley dwellers in torrid Arizona to cast longing eyes toward the mountain neaks in their vicinity. Hard upon the heels of Senator Roberts proposal to make the glens and glades of the Chiricahuas accessible by means of an automobile road is attribute from Andrew Kimball of Thatcher to the delights of Mt Graham. From the Graham Guardian, Safford, AZ.

April 9, 1920: PIMA COUNTY SUPERVISORS WILL OPEN MT. LEMMON ROAD. Although the government officials have fallend down in their attempts to get a good road through to Mt. Lemmon this year, the Pima county board of supervisors mean to open up the Mt. Lemmon country to the people of Tucson and southern Arizona this year and to that end is planning on puting (sic) through a temporary road as far as the Gold Mill to which the new highway is completed. From The Coconino Sun, Flagstaff, Arizona.

August 7, 1920: The federal forest road fund at present has under construction the Mt. Lemmon road in Pima county. From the Mohave County Miner, Kingman, AZ.

August 22, 1920: All main roads In the county In good shape; balance fair. Federal road to Mt Lemmon is completed. From the Tombstone Epitaph, Tombstone, AZ.

Photo copyright R. Zucker, 2010

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Jewelry and Rock Art from Mt. Lemmon Mines

Cody StoneFlint Carter is one of the few artists who create their entire work - from prospecting the stones, cutting, polishing and fabricating. All jewelry and art work materials are exclusively mined from Mt. Lemmon and the Santa Catalina Mountains.

With a large collection of high grade ore that has been accumulated over the decades, he has fashioned dozens of artistic creations- jewlery, polished stones and desert rock art. Read about Flint Carter's work, the legend of the Iron Door Mine and other stories of the Old Southwest. Call Flint at 520-289-4566 or email finder@emol.org.

by Mary Ellen Barnes (Author)

As you wind your way up the Catalina Highway, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a first-time visitor or a native Tucsonan; you know you’re on the way to someplace special.

The Santa Catalina Mountains first captivated Tony Zimmerman on a 1937 hunting trip. Regard for the alpine beauty must have been in his genes—he was the son of Swiss German immigrants—and by 1940 the Tucson schoolteacher had begun taking his family to Mount Lemmon to spend the summer. Back then, the road up the mountain was a rough two-track dirt road from Oracle, and Summerhaven was nothing but a sleepy cluster of summer cabins. But Tony Zimmerman was to help change all of that.

The Road to Mount Lemmon is a beguiling memoir of the Catalina Mountains told by the daughter of one of the pioneers in the life and development of Mount Lemmon’s communities. Mary Ellen Barnes tells how her father Tony resigned from teaching in 1943 to devote his career to the development of this mountain oasis. He not only sold real estate for long time landowner Randolph Jenks, he even bought the village’s tiny two-room store, installing a sawmill to build a larger store, and built the Mount Lemmon Inn. And as she spins Tony’s personal saga, she also gives readers a glimpse of the Catalinas before Tucson became a boom town, recalling idyllic adventures in wild country and the cowboys, rangers, ranchers, and loggers who worked there.

Barnes tells Tony’s story as if sharing it with family, evoking her father’s personality on every page. The Road to Mount Lemmon is an intimate view of a mountain community over the course of nearly sixty years—a view that few people have shared but one all can appreciate.

Product Details
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: University of Arizona Press (June 11, 2009)s

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