September 1, 2020
By Desert Les
Howdie Pardner,
Bunkhouse
Yup. It is good to see you again. Desert Les is back. Not because them Peak readers demanded it but because the fool editor told Desert Les to fill this here white space with interestin’ doings and seeings.
Desert Les has been following orders and hunkerin’ down in the family bunkhouse. That dang virus can’t find us here but fortunately they have not taken our mailbox away and them postal fpeople are still putting stuff in it.
The first thing Desert Les did last month when he received notification that the City of Scottsdale is going to improve the two-mile stretch of Scottsdale Road from Jomax Road to Dixileta Drive was to smile. The improvements include planted medians, something Desert Judy been hankerin’ for. Heck, them folks that live further up Scottsdale Road and on Tom Darlington Drive have planted medians and it sure looks “scenic.” Yup.
Favorite Cartoon
Desert Les also read that the improvements would include sidewalks, trails, improved access, perhaps a round-about at Dynamite Boulevard. That’s when Desert Les recollected a favorite cartoon ’bout Scottsdale Road and urban sprawl. That cartoon has been on the Scenic Drive website, aka, The Peak website, for decades. Desert Les is an old coot and recalls when the medians were added up north. Folks were concerned that the road wouldn’t blend with Tom Darlington. Pardner, there was lots issues – speed limits, size of right-of-way, blending appearance and more..
The on-going project, now in its initial study phase, ends at Jomax Road, not at Happy Valley Road the southern end of the Scenic Drive. Further south is the intersection of Pinnacle Peak and Scottsdale Road, which is and probably will become more urbanized as time passes. Desert Les was a Road Warrior, never a civil engineer or traffic engineer, so it will be interesting and important to see how the transition is handled.
Well Pardner, the urban growth cartoon and the mention of the intersection of Pinnacle Peak Road brought the following “land-saving” story to mind.
Curry’s Sign
Back in the early 1930s before there was a Scottsdale Road or a Desert Foothills Scenic Drive, homesteaders was buying land in the Pinnacle Peak area. Heck Pardner, they could get 640 acres by paying a small fee and filing a homestead application. They had to promise to live on the land for seven months, make improvements and pay for the improvements. That’s a purdy good deal.
John B. Curry and three other homesteaders used hand tools to connect their homesteads to Cave Creek Road. Eventually that dirt track became known as Pinnacle Peak Road. Dang it! Two of them homesteaders didn’t improve their land and the government took it back and sold it.
Curry was nobody’s fool and he quickly improved his land. He built an empty shack with a sign on his vacant 640 acres, which in turn was surrounded by mostly vacant land for a far as the eye could see. The sign named the place “Curry’s Corner” and said that a store with groceries and the like would be coming soon. Well Pardner, Curry paid for his “improvements” and the government never fact checked that sign or noticed there was no “corner.” Nope.
In the 1940s the Army finally made Curry an honest man when it pushed Scottsdale Road north from Thunderbird Field (now the site of Scottsdale Airpark) to Pinnacle Peak Road, resulting in an intersection and Mr. Curry’s visionary corner.
Your Input Important
Curry was ahead of his time and had a unique way of saving the natural environment and desert ambiance. Now it’s time for Scottsdale’s designers and engineers, motivated by your input, to continue keeping the Scenic Drive Scenic. Yup.
For more information about the project, click on the link below.
Scottsdale Road Project Underway – Keep the Scenic Drive Scenic
“Divine Desert Drive” by Chad Weaver, Carefree – Winner Scenic Drive Category, 2015 Summer Fun Photo Contest
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