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MOHAVE
COUNTY
Mohave County, at the time of
its creation by Arizona
s first Territorial Assembly in 1864, actually included portions of
present day Nevada. In 1865, the northern portion of Mohave County was
split off as Pah-Ute County. And in 1867, parts of both counties
including the present site of Las Vegas were attached to Nevada, which
had become a state in 1864. The much reduced Pah-Ute County was merged
with Mohave County in 1871. Today, most of the historic sites of
Arizona's Lost County are covered by the waters of Lake Mead.
The area that is now Mohave
County began to attract settlers shortly after it was brought into the
United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The 1860s
saw an influx of miners after gold was discovered, and Mormons who were
sent south from Utah by their church.
Mohave County is
geographically the second largest in the state. Most of it is
classified as desert, but of its 13,470 square miles, 158 square miles
are water. The county boasts 1,000 miles of shoreline and is a great
water sports center. It also has the longest stretch of historic Route
66. The Colorado River and two man-made lakes, Lake Mohave and Lake
Havasu, play an important role in the growth of Lake Havasu City and
Bullhead City.
Kingman, the county seat,
was not founded until the 1880s with the coming of the railroad. Before
being moved to Kingman in 1887, the county seat had been located in the
communities of Mohave City, Hardyville, Cerbat, and Mineral Park none
of which exist today. Although these communities did not survive, the
forces that led to their establishment mining, the Colorado River, and
the railroad are still important to the county
s economy. Part of Mohave County and all of Colorado City are
designated Enterprise Zones.
The U.S. Forest Service and
Bureau of Land management own 61 percent of the land; Indian
reservations, 6 percent; the state of Arizona, 7 percent; individual or
corporate, 18 percent; and other public lands, 8 percent.
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