14 February: Arizona Admission Day

It's Arizona Admission Day. Here are some things you might not know about this state.

1. Arizona became the 48th state on 14 February 1912. That makes it the last state in the contiguous United States to join the union. It almost became a state two days earlier, but since the 12th is Lincoln's birthday, it couldn't be then; the next day, the 13th, was considered unlucky, so Valentine's Day it was, resulting in Arizona's nickname, the Valentine State.
2. The state symbols are as follows: Fossil: petrified wood; Tree: Palo verde; Bird: cactus wren; Gemstone: Turquoise; Mammal: the ringtail (a shy, nocturnal fox-like creature); Amphibian: The Arizona tree frog; Reptile: Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake (one of thirteen species of rattlesnake in the state - that's more types of Rattlesnake than any other state); Colours: Blue and gold. Arizona even has an official state neckwear, the bola tie, which is a tie made from braided leather and secured with a decorative clasp. The state flower is the saguaro cactus blossom, which blooms on the tips of the largest American cactus (a fully grown one can store nine tons of Water) during May and June. These cacti grow very slowly - it can take 100 years for it to grow an arm in places where there isn't much rain. This is probably why you could face a prison sentence if you cut one down.
3. Another seemingly wacky law, that Camel hunting is prohibited, no doubt dates back to the time when camels were used to transport goods across Arizona. Laws with less obvious origins include: Donkeys may not sleep in Bathtubs; cars may not be driven in reverse in Glendale; Tucson women may not wear trousers; and in Tombstone it is illegal for anyone over 18 not to have at least one missing tooth visible when smiling.
4. Arizona has more parks and national monuments than any other state, more mountains than Switzerland, and more golf courses than Scotland. It also has more mountains than any of the states generally known for having mountains (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), 3,928 of them; Mount Humphreys is the highest at 12,643 feet. Mount Lemmon, in the Santa Catalina Mountains, is the southernmost Ski resort in the United States.
5. Sights to see on a visit include the Grand Canyon, the best preserved meteor crater in the world, the original London Bridge, the world's tallest fountain and the world’s largest Rose bush. It was planted in Tombstone in 1885, and has a 12-foot circumference trunk and covers an area of 9,000 square feet.
6. Arizona's most abundant mineral is copper. Copper mining was big business for a while with the mining town of Bisbee being the largest city between Saint Louis and San Francisco in its heyday. The booming copper industry is reflected in the roof of Arizona's Capitol Building in Phoenix, which has enough copper in its roof to make 4.8 million one cent pieces.
7. The name Arizona comes from a Native American word meaning "small spring". Talking of Native Americans, Arizona has the most land, in terms of percentage, set aside and designated as belonging to Native Americans than any other state.
8. Arizona once had a navy consisting of two boats on the Colorado River. It was to prevent California from encroaching on Arizona territory.
9. Arizona observes Mountain Standard Time all year round, and doesn't change its clocks to daylight savings time like everywhere else in the USA. There is one place, however, the Navajo Nation, located in the northeast corner of the state, where the clocks do change.
10. Oraibi, a Hopi village located in Navajo County, is reputed to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in America; it dates back to before A.D. 1200. Another notable village is Supai, located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, which is the only place in the US which has its mail delivered by Mule.

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