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LAPAZ COUNTY
La Paz County was created Jan. 1,1983, when Yuma County residents voted
to split their county into two sections. It is the 15th of Arizona’s 15
counties, with Parker the county seat
La Paz, which means “the peace” in Spanish, has historic
significance as the name of a boom town on the Colorado River. The
Colorado River town of La Paz was founded in 1862, after the
discovery of rich gold deposits nearby. By 1863, there were
probably 5,000 men working in the gold mines, making La Paz one of the
largest settlements in what was to become the Arizona Territory. The
decline of La Paz was caused by two factors the mines dried up and the
Colorado River changed its course in 1870, leaving the town “high and
dry.”
In addition to Parker, the river town of Ehrenberg, and inland towns of
Bouse, Quartzsite and Salome/Wenden in McMullen Valley are located in
La Paz County. The county’s rugged landscape and the Colorado River
attract thousands of visitors annually, making tourism the number one
industry with 1998 tourism revenues of $103 million. Agriculture adds
approximately $83 million to the county’s economy.
La Paz County encompasses 4,513 square miles and has 13 square miles of
water. It is the third smallest of Arizona’s counties and has the
lowest population density with slightly more than four persons per
square mile. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management controls 59 percent of
the land; the state of Arizona, 9 percent; other public lands, 19
percent; and 5 percent of the land is owned privately or by
corporations. The Colorado River Indian Tribe owns 8 percent of the
land All of La Paz County is an Enterprise Zone.
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