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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 Keamy have
traditionally been active in copper mining, smelting, milling and
refining. Arizona City, Eloy, Maricopa, Picacho, Red Rock and Stanfleld
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 world’s
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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