User:IveGoneAway/sandbox/Cucamonga Junction, Arizona draft notes

Cucamonga Junction was never a railroad junction. Not all places named "Junction" were named for railroad junctions, examples include Junction City, Kansas (river junction), Grand Junction, Colorado (river junction), BETO Junction (highway junction). When the Crookton New Line was completed, the location became a tourist attraction; with directions to the site naming Cucamonga Road, a named location recorded within Google Earth. Railfan tourists used the Cucamonga name for the road with no mention of "Junction".
 * The primary evidence of publication of the name Cucamonga Junction is in U.S. and other government publications. The U.S. Forest service was the owner of the land and mining and home building both required leases from the U.S. Forest service. From its foundation, the Forest Service established several communities for leased "recreational residences", even if this was not quite the situation here. Effectively, it was their choice what name to used on their maps of their jurisdictions.
 * The collection of the first individual quarries were known to wholesalers as Cucamonga Junction by the 1950s.
 * Although this location of individual quarries had no mineral claims at first, a claim named "Cucamunga X" was made after 1955 just north of "town", and later quarries on the evicted site continued to use the name "Cucamonga" in Arizona mining directories into the 2010s.
 * By the 1950s, the large Armstrong business claims opened adjacent to Cucamonga quarries, providing additional employment for rock doodlers who lived in Cucamonga Junction.
 * With the great increase in demand for Coconino flagstone, several quarries opened in the ravine just west of the settlement, increasing rock doodler employment.
 * The above locations were connected by the "one good road" to the markets in Williams.
 * Many other quarries were then opened up to 16 miles to the west in more direct connection with Ash Fork, but over only primitive, unimproved roads.
 * By the 1970s, the Forest Service began evicting and demolishing all tribal, recreational, occupational, and squatter housing throughout the nation.

Attestations
The 1987 topo that first used the name (in a topo, that is) also still shows a few structures, there may have still been some permitted population for a few years, I am thinking specifically the quarry owners, like the Horners and G.B. Madison (honeymooned there).

Directory of Active Mines in Arizona
Arizona Geological Survey, Archive of Directory of Active Mines in Arizona, 1940 to present.


 * 1985
 * G.B. Madison - Superintendent, Western States Stone Company, Ash Fork, Plant P.O. Box 316 - Ash Fork 86220 - Phone 637-2542 - Employees 25 - Quarries located in Coconino, Yavapai, Maricopa, Mohave, and Yuma counties - Commercial and decorative building stone marketed locally and out of state.
 * Coconino County claim quarries are not named as they are in later editions; that is to say, either Cucamonga was not a quarry name until after mid-1990s or the flagstone quarries were not named until then.


 * 1997
 * Cucamonga Quarry under American Sandstone.


 * 2001-2
 * Two companies working the old quarries under the Cucamonga name in the Cucamonga sections in early 2000s. The Horner company is notable for the Horners raising 8 children at a relatively improved home at the Cucamonga quarries in the 1950s.


 * 2007
 * Same two companies. Horner Stone seems now defunct.



Industry histories
The grand expansion of the flagstone industry after the 1940s prompted a number of profiles of the industry. Together, these provide decades of early Coconino flagstone history.
 * 1952
 * 1939-1940 New York World's Fair


 * 1952
 * Most of the stone is the globally rare, high-grade, thin flagstone; tough and thinner than 1 1/2 inches.


 * 1955


 * 1957

Topos and road maps

 * /* Geography*/ The first Coconino flagstone quarry was located in Ash Fork Draw, a half mile up from where it is joined by the Jaun Tank Canyon. An improved road came miles out from Williams to join the primitive road coming up from Corva Station, this having a short, steep trail down to the community quarry at the bottom of the canyon. To the west is another square mile of Coconino outcrop that would be opened in the 1950s, and beyond that is a cinder range topped by the cinder cone of Fitgerald Hill.

Prior to the mid-1930s, no quarry is indicated, yet Ash Fork Draw is indicated.


 * 1937
 * Shows the first, single quarry in the county, technically, mostly just picking up loose rock lying around, on Ash Fork Draw with the road to the Corva station.


 * 1948
 * Shows same quarry on Ash Fork Draw and the same roads as the 1937 map, but with hillshade.


 * 1949
 * By 1949, the improved road from Williams is now a Forest Service "highway", and is now extended down into Ash Fork Draw and up the easy slope of the quarry through to Double A Ranch. It is clear why FS-124 is also labeled "Double A Ranch Road" and "Cucamonga Rd" in recent maps.


 * 1954
 * Shows the site now on the Williams road with the projected allignment of the 1960 Crookton Cutoff.


 * 1956
 * Shows Williams road passing through Cucamonga Junction to the DoubleA Ranch.


 * 1962
 * Shows the church and dozens of structures among the quaries.


 * 1971
 * Shows that the Arizona Highway Department identified 15 residences within a mile of the church (this excludes innumerable tents, shelters, shacks, and trailers), but only mark 6 residences within the remaining 16 miles of quarries.
 * Shows that the only graded and drained road to Cucamonga came in from Williams; all other roads were primative to unimproved, including to Ash Fork.


 * 1976
 * Shows the residences and the name, Cucamonga Junction.


 * 1983
 * Shows wider range of quaries to the northwest. Still shows "streets" for Cucamonga Junction.


 * 1989
 * Shows the name Cucamonga Junction at the church location. Very few structures remain.

Federal land occupancy, eviction, and demolition
I have yet to locate any publication covering the evictions and demolitions. (Fayrenne Hume said there were meetings in Ash Fork about how to cope with far more evictees than the town had residences.) Clearly, the evictions and demolitions did happen, but I don't yet have a clear date to give to the William-Grand Canyon News for them to search for coverage in their unscanned archive.
 * Witnesses to the Cucamonga Junction describe the eviction as a distinct event, but the topos show removal of buildings over time.
 * Under the 1915 Occupancy Permits Act, the USFS had permitted recreational residences (summer homes).
 * Coming into the 1970s, Federal policy changed. Seeking increased revenue from camping and hiking, the USFS began serving notice of termination of leases for recreation residences with the intent of repurposing and "re-wildernessing" the sites for this use. "Nobody drives to the forest to see modern hillbilly shacks."
 * By this time, many recreational residence communities had shifted from seasonal to year-round occupancy, with many residents shifting their use from vacation to retirement living, and others seeking the relative low-cost housing, even with general absence of utilities (water, electricity, gas, or sewer).
 * Legal resistance to the evictions continued though the 1990s. However, the many homes of Madera Canyon, Arizona have since been demolished and the location converted to a naturalist campground with many developed hiking trails.
 * Few traces of the homes of the Cucamonga Junction remain today, and the location is open as roadside camping with hiking trails. Blasting in the quarries is restricted to nighttime to reduce risk to hikers.

Rock Quarry Church
Commonly called by this name, capitalized or not, the church is where GNIS pinned the Cucamonga Junction name. This church appears in the maps of the 1960s and 1970s, and is the site of the GNIS location.


 * 1956 Cavalry Baptist mission Sunday school begins in unoccupied buildings within the eastern quarries.
 * 1959 Construction begins on the mission church below the concentration of homes.


 * 1959 The mission church is completed enough to be used for classes and services.


 * 1960 Services are held at the church each Sunday afternoon. Attendance averages about 25.


 * 1961 Rock Creek Church dedication. Development of a town is envisioned.


 * 1962 20 children attend the mission's summer bible school.


 * 1964 The ATSF Railway donates a bell to the mission church.
 * Note: Rev. William R. (Ray) Taylor and his wife are interred in Ash Fork Cemetary.


 * 1964 The Rock Quarry Baptist Church northwest of Williams is now open and holds services each Sunday.


 * 1965 The mission church receives a donated generator, permitting educational night classes.


 * 1965 There are appoximately 50 families in the community.


 * 1965 Still no electicity, phone, natural gas, or water utilities.


 * 1967 The Taylors leave Willaims for continuing education.

Rock doodlers
DYK ... "rock doodlers" living on quarries in the Kaibab NF at Cucamonga Junction made Ash Fork, Arizona, "The Flagstone Capital of the World"?

Remember the term "cutters" in Breaking Away?


 * 1955 : "I have been running into what to me is a new term, lately. The word is "Rock doodler". They tell me there are 200 of them out at the quarries." Williams News 31 Mar 1955, Thu · Page 6


 * 1955 : "From a few quarry-men at the start, the number of men digging out rock has grown to some 200 and more. In addition to the quarry workers (rock doodlers) ....." Williams News 05 May 1955, Thu · Page 6


 * 1956 : "The Episcopal church rock doodlers 4 strong, hauled in 8 truck loads of rocks Sunday afternoon." Williams News 03 May 1956, Thu · Page 4


 * 1956 : "Welcome! Cowboy, dude, sheepherder, rock doodler, and YOU ...." Williams News 02 Aug 1956, Thu · Page 1


 * 1958 : "These quarries are where rock doodlers as they call themselves dig the flagstone ...." Williams Daily News 02 Sep 1958, Tue · Page 1


 * 1958 : "Some of the [elderly] men have posed almost hopeless problems. They couldn't tell Mrs. Brownd where or when they were born. They couldn't even sign their own names."


 * 1958 : "... hearty welcome to solid citizen, cowboy, rock doodler, logger, sheepherder, etc, ...." Williams News 14 Aug 1958, Thu · Page 12


 * 1958 : Several of the oldest men living on the quarries, often unable to read and write, were not able to support themselve when they became too old to work.


 * 1963 : "Quarried and loaded by workers known as "rock doodlers," the sandstone is handled mainly by three dealers." "Tucked among the trees and clinging to the hillsides are the homes of the doodlers. Some of the houses are modest dwellings, attractively veneered with the flagstone or sandstone. Others are mere shelters."


 * 1968 : This is a real hardship on some of our "rock doodler" families whose paychecks come from Santa Clara Arizona Republic 06 Jan 1968, Sat · Page 14


 * 2018 : "The rock doodlers, we called them. Uh. They weren't underground miners. They were, they quarried the flagstone, famous flagstone. ... And, oh, boy, on Saturday night it was pretty wild. It got pretty western in those bars." Arizona Historymakers Oral History Transcript : Marshall Trimble


 * 2022 : "By the time the 1930s rolled around, rock quarries were the economic driver in Ash Fork. In fact, "until the mid-1990s, 'rock doodlers' still lived on their rock claims around Ash Fork," said Cox."

Books titled for the community
In the deletion discussion, two books were mentioned, but discarded out of hand. I obtained and read these books, and both evidenced distinct familiarity with the community. Hopefully, I can comment on their relevance to the topic without making a book review.

Kukamunga Junction, by Ashley B. Jones, 2022
The book is autobiography of Edith Marie Depew, born Edith Marie Coulston. The text was transcribed and published by her granddaughter, Ashley Jones. Many newspaper articles confirm elements of the biography.

Edith's parents were Clarence and Ada Coulston, burried in Willaims. Edith married Hardy Harrison, March 29, 1966. They lived in a brick house on Main Street, Ash Fork. (Marshall Trimble told me that the brick houses on Main Street were the "mansions" of Ash Fork.) Edith later married Bruce Depew and lives in Pheonix.
 * Son: Michael Dale Depew
 * Son: Robert Alan Depew m. Jenny
 * Daughter: Ashely Depew m. Kyle Jones


 * Page vii : In the 1970s, all homes were bulldozed by the Forest Service [except for a few better homes of owners of some of the businesses there were also later demolished]. This was part of the effort to "rewilderness" the Federal park lands.


 * Page vii : The walkthrough begins on the FS 124 road approaching the church from the east. She then describes the community up the hill from the church to the tracks, then down the Ash Fork Draw to the Armstrong quarry. "Homer" is possibly a typesetting error for "Horner". The Horners were more upstanding rock doodlers, building their own frame home with flagstone veneer. The Horner family ran their stone business in Ash Fork through to the 2010s.  Their quarries were named Cucamunga.
 * The Armstrong and Cucamunga quarries were the suppliers to the Williams wholesalers in 1956. Williams News 05 Jan 1956, Thu · Page 1


 * Page 5 : Clarence had two sons from a prior marriage.Williams News, 21 Apr 1966, Thu · Page 1


 * Page 7 : Ada was from Tennesse, and her children were named Floyd, Edith (Harrison of Ash Fork), Glenda aka Jody, Darrell, Everett.Williams News, 21 Apr 1966, Thu · Page 1 (Page 39 : "My baby sister's name is Glenda, but we call her Jody")
 * Ada and Glenda are pictured in a Williams News article.Williams News, 04 Nov 1965, Thu · Page 1


 * Page 22 : Zettlers was a store in Ash Fork.


 * Page 50 : Children were bussed to Williams for school.Arizona Republic 24 Jun 1970, Wed · Page 23


 * Page 63 : Sheriff Clark Cole.Williams News 28 Dec 1972, Thu · Page 7


 * Page 65 : The church is well-attested in the section above. "Talbot" is probably a corruption of Taylor. Taylor's wife was indeed the William's school nurse.


 * Page 67 : Momma and daddy ended up in jail for neglect and children placed in foster care.Arizona Daily Sun 02 Jun 1961, Fri · Page 5


 * Page 68 : Edith's foster care was in Flagstaff.Arizona Daily Sun 02 Jun 1961, Fri · Page 5


 * Page 76 : Floyd killed by Rinky, a corruption of Rippey.Williams News 13 Sep 1962, Thu · Page 1


 * Page 77 : Floyd was burried in Williams. The Coulstons are given a plot in Williams.Williams News 13 Sep 1962, Thu · Page 8


 * Page 82 : Everett found Brown dead, but the name disaggrees with the newpaper.Arizona Daily Sun 21 Mar 1960, Mon · Page 1


 * Page 88: Clarence and Ada died withing a week of each other.Williams News, 21 Apr 1966, Thu · Page 1


 * Page 89 : Correct spelling for Reverend Taylor.


 * Page ix : The next relatively well furnished home up from the "Homers" was the "Bolins"; perhaps they were the Bowen husband-wife team pictured twice in Arizona Republic 28 Jul 1957, Sun · Page 97.

Page 39 Joe and Judy Homer Kids: Jerry, Hazel, Walter, Henry


 * The author correctly describes the flora and fauna of Cucamonga Junction. The Getty stock image book cover, however, is clearly not Cucamonga Junction because of the wrong types of trees.

Cucamonga Junction, by Frank Bohan, 2018

 * "Since it was published in 2019, it's not at all unlikely that all the author knew about it came from Wikipedia." — an editor that never read it.

Having no knowledge of either Ash Fork or Cucamonga Junction older than three weeks, my experience with the book was along the lines of "Hey, I've talked to that person.", "I've read about that person.", "I've seen pictures of that business." Pioneers Days is for real. However, as I read his non-fiction "prequel", even as I read in each chapter of Living on the Edge elements that made it into Cucamonga Junction.
 * Before supposedly "writing the book from WP", the author lived off the grid in the Ash Fork/Cucamonga Junction area for 15 years, essentially the same conditions experienced by those living in Cucamonga Junction, but with solar panels.
 * In my first week of studying the deletion, it was clear that author had swapped the name of Cucamonga Junction to Ash Fork, so, I bought the book.
 * The book concludes with the burning an buldozing of "Cucamonga Junction". The real Ash Fork is reputed for three major fires that each destroyed much of the town. Much of Ash Fork did burn in the 70s, and the real Cucamonga Junction was bulldozed in the 70s following a change in Forest Service enforcement policy; so, the events were unrelated in reality.
 * For the most part, the real Cucamonga Junction is not mentioned, but the 1970s Forest Service demolition is alluded to in the Epilog. The demolition was part of a broader effort within the Federal lands to remove human impact not directly related to the tourist aspects of the parks.
 * Ash Creek is named rather that Ash Fork.