Gila Bend
Woo hoo! Time to actually take a turn! It's been a long ride through the desert, with more to go, but finally I'm seeing some turning action!
I'm now in Gila Bend, Arizona, branching off of Interstate 8 and heading north to end up just to the west of Phoenix.
The town website says: "Gila (pronounced "hee-la") Bend, named for the sharp bend in the Gila River. It is located near a prehistoric Hohokan Indian Village which Farther Eusebio Francisco Kino visited in 1699. Kino found the fertile banks of the Gila River had been abandoned by an early Indian tribe call the Opas, who had established a rancheria and raised two grain crops annually, irrigating from the Gila River. This same rancheria was visited by Spanish Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, commander of the Presidio at Tubac, and founder of the City of San Francisco, and Father Francisco Tomas Garces in 1774. Gila Bend has long been nicknamed the "Crossroads of the Southwest". For hundreds of years the area has been part of an important transportation route in the settling, development and growth of the Great Southwest. Gila Bend is ideally situated as the "center of a wheel" with spokes leading to and from all areas of the southwest."
"Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, approximately 90 miles southwest of Phoenix, Arizona, and just west of Gila Bend, provides visitors the opportunity to view an ancient archaeological site containing hundreds of symbolic and artistic rock etchings, or "petroglyphs," produced centuries ago by prehistoric people. There are also inscriptions made by people who passed through during historic times. Many well-know events in Arizona history occurred near the Petroglyph Site, including the expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza that founded San Francisco, the Mormon Battalion and the Butterfield Overland Mail."
I'm now in Gila Bend, Arizona, branching off of Interstate 8 and heading north to end up just to the west of Phoenix.
The town website says: "Gila (pronounced "hee-la") Bend, named for the sharp bend in the Gila River. It is located near a prehistoric Hohokan Indian Village which Farther Eusebio Francisco Kino visited in 1699. Kino found the fertile banks of the Gila River had been abandoned by an early Indian tribe call the Opas, who had established a rancheria and raised two grain crops annually, irrigating from the Gila River. This same rancheria was visited by Spanish Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, commander of the Presidio at Tubac, and founder of the City of San Francisco, and Father Francisco Tomas Garces in 1774. Gila Bend has long been nicknamed the "Crossroads of the Southwest". For hundreds of years the area has been part of an important transportation route in the settling, development and growth of the Great Southwest. Gila Bend is ideally situated as the "center of a wheel" with spokes leading to and from all areas of the southwest."
"Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, approximately 90 miles southwest of Phoenix, Arizona, and just west of Gila Bend, provides visitors the opportunity to view an ancient archaeological site containing hundreds of symbolic and artistic rock etchings, or "petroglyphs," produced centuries ago by prehistoric people. There are also inscriptions made by people who passed through during historic times. Many well-know events in Arizona history occurred near the Petroglyph Site, including the expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza that founded San Francisco, the Mormon Battalion and the Butterfield Overland Mail."
posted by Nancy Toby at 5:00 PM
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