“Black Mountain Forever” by Beverly Smith, 2014
Black Mountain News Articles Reflect Changing Area
By the late 1950s the development of Carefree was underway and the northern part of Scottsdale Road had been paved to the new town. Growth was beginning to impact the tiny village of Cave Creek which was separated from the neighboring communities of Phoenix and Scottsdale by miles of open desert. These articles provide interesting insights into the area and the concerns of the people who lived here in the early 1960s.
Articles
March 22, 1963. Letter to Editor Complains About Litter
“Most everyone agrees that Cave Creek is a beautiful spot on the map around Phoenix.
For ten years now, every time I go or come from Phoenix, I get a pain in the sacroiliac looking from the beautiful blue skyline down to the depressing sight of the roadway. However, the pain was never so acute as last week when I spend the greater part of the day cleaning up along the roadside. The driver of one car stopped and asked, “”are you living out here?””. Upon informing him so, he said, “”Is anybody else cleaning up the roadside? Do you people know this is a beautiful spot–only that road. It is the trashiest, most rubbish-strewn road I’ve ever seen in my long life. What is the matter with people out here? Don’t they realize that the road reflects on them? What do the people believe one thinks when one goes on a road like this one, or of the place it leads to?”.
A well-pointed question: Indeed for the non-inured, this road is a pain in the eye.
Let’s put our best foot forward. Let’s powder the nose even if the neck goes unwashed. Let’s do something about it besides talking. Yes, let’s stoop some to straighten this up. Let’s not wait till some foreign country sends a Peace Corps to do it.
I am crossing my fingers and praying.
C.F. Brenner, Cave Creek.
Editors Note: Thanks and amen.”
August 9, 1963. Carefree Asks Road Name Change
“A petition, requesting the name of Black Mountain Road be changed to Carefree Highway, and signed by a sufficient number of property owners, will be considered by the Maricopa Planning and Zoning Commission at a hearing next Monday, August 12.
The petition was instigated by Carefree Development Corp., according to manager Les Rhuart, for the purpose of direction to the area of Black Canyon Hwy. “”By using the names of the three towns, Cave Creek, Scottsdale and Carefree, as the main roads””, he said, “”people will be able to find the area easily.”” He pointed out that national publicity has made Carefree more widely known than Black Mountain, and that motorists on the Black Canyon Hwy. would more quickly identify Carefree Hwy. than Black Mountain Hwy.
Ruart said that Carefree planners feel the change in name will bring more travelers into the area and benefit the economy of both Carefree and Cave Creek.
The road is scheduled for paving all the way to Black Canyon, though no date is set.”
April 1964. Plans to Widen Cave Creek Road
“Surveyors this week were completing the first phase of a program designed to re-align and widen Cave Creek Road.
The improvement, contingent on the cooperation of property owners here, will affect 1.5 miles in the village, running east from the site of the Rancho Manana by-pass.
Cecil Overstreet, Maricopa Highway Dept., said aerial photographs will be made of the surveyors marks preliminary to establishing rights-of-way and “ironing out irregularities”. The road was originally built by a grader “with no rhyme or reason”, he said. Some property lines come to the center of the road. In other cases, buildings and fences are on County right-of-way.
The County is prepared to pave the road the road starting the first of July if property owners are agreeable to exchanges of rights-of-way, Overstreet said. “I hope the people there will cooperate”, he added. “It will depend entirely on them. There will be no loss of commercial frontage, and they will have a much nicer road in front.”
The right-of-way is the minimum 80′. Overstreet said the County would like to require more, but could not buy it.”
May 29, 1964. Letter to the Editor Re: Starving Horses on Scottsdale Road
“What is going to be done for the cattle and horses that are turned out to fend for themselves in the range south of Cave Creek.
These are the same animals that are being killed by cars on Scottsdale Road. We who live on Holcomb Road (6 families) have gone to the Humane Society 3 or 4 times — and as is very evident — nothing has been done. It seems that they are helpless without pictures for proof of their condition. Those of us who see them staggering from weakness every single day don’t need pictures for proof of their condition. (Ed. Holcomb Road was later renamed to Lone Mountain Road.)
I am very fond of horses and I get sick to my stomach every time I see one in such bad shape. Even if the animals hear or see a car coming they haven’t got the strength to get out of the way. Summer is almost here and anyone with eyes can see there is nothing for the stock to eat. There is plenty of vegetation, true, but none of it is edible. The cattle do eat some varieties of cactus, but horses don’t. It isn’t very nice to see a starving cow with a mouthful of jumping cholla. Just this morning I saw a mare with a very young colt, and she is struggling to keep herself alive, to say nothing of her little one. If she is so poor now, what will their condition be in a month? They even get too weak to travel to water. They eventually get so weak that they just shade-up and stand, heads down. Then they die a hot and thirsty and hungry death.
We have the Humane Society to stop this sort of abuse, so let’s get together and prod them into action.
Mrs. Ulrich, Cave Creek”
Portions of Editor’s Response to Ulrich Letter
“The Humane Society has, in fact, spent a great deal of time in an effort to correct the inhumane treatment of the horses referred to by Mrs. Ulrich.
Max D. Finch, executive director, said almost enough evidence had been collected last week when the animals disappeared. To bring charges in court against the owner requires positive evidence of mal-treatment and a number of people who will testify. Most of the evidence had been gathered, with photos, and witnesses found, last week.
A 24 hour watch over the horses by the Humane Society disclosed no feeding of the animals during that time. Half a bale of excelsior was picked up and taken to the ASU lab. Fitch said he does not anticipate more than a 2% protein count.
When Humane officers returned to complete their investigation, the animals had been removed. … Fitch has asked that all persons in the area be on the lookout. Should any of the horses in question be sighted, the Humane Society wants to be informed immediately as to the exact location …”
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