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PINAL COUNTY
Pinal County was
formed from portions of Maricopa and Pima counties on Feb. 1, 1875, in
response to the petition of residents of the upper Gila River Valley,
as Act #1 of the Eighth Territorial Legislature. Florence, established
in 1866, was designated and has remained the county seat.
The county
encompasses 5,374 square miles, of which 4.5 are water. In both economy
and geography, Pinal County has two distinct regions. The eastern
portion is characterized by mountains with elevations to 6,000 feet and
copper mining. The western area is primarily low desert valleys and
irrigated agriculture.
The communities of
Mammoth, Oracle, San Manuel, and Kearny have traditionally been active
in copper mining, smelting, milling and refining. Arizona City, Eloy,
Maricopa, Picacho, Red Rock and Stanfield have agriculture
based-economies. Apache Junction, Arizona City, Coolidge, Soy, and
particularly Casa Grande have diversified their economic base to
include manufacturing, trade and services. This expansion and
diversification has been facilitated by their location in the major
growth corridor between Phoenix and Tucson near the junction of 1-10
and I-B, except for Apache Junction, which is to the east of burgeoning
Mesa. Most of the southern 3/4 of Pinal County and a small area in
Apache Junction are designated as Enterprise Zones.
The county is home
to many interesting attractions, including the Old West Highway 60,
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Picacho Peak State Park, Picacho
Reservoir, Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum, Oracle State Park and
Columbia University's Biosphere II, McFarland State Park, Lost Dutchman
State Park, Skydive Arizona, the worlds largest skydiving drop-zone,
and the Florence Historical District, with 120 buildings on the
National Register.
The state of
Arizona is the county s largest landholder with 35 percent, followed by
individuals and corporations, 22 percent; Indian reservations, 23
percent; the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, 14
percent, and the remaining 6 percent is other public land.
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