Pinedale is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Navajo County
Navajo County is in the northern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 106,717. The county seat is Holbrook.
Navajo County comprises the Show Low, Arizona Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Navajo County co ...
,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, United States. The population was 487 at the
2010 census. The elevation is approximately and it is part of the
Mogollon Rim
The Mogollon Rim ( or or ) is a topographical and geological feature cutting across the northern half of the U.S. state of Arizona. It extends approximately , starting in northern Yavapai County and running eastward, ending near the border ...
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
.
Pinedale was first known as Mortensen, after Niels Petersen who established a
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
settlement there in 1879. It was also known as
Percheron
The Percheron is a breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray or black in color, Percherons are well muscled, and k ...
, for the breed of
stallion
A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated).
Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...
s which Mortensen had brought with him. By 1888, however, the settlement was called Pinedale.
Pre-history
About 220 million years ago this area was once a swamp land – part of a great inland sea. Because of violent physical upheaval in past ages of time, the earth's surface has been uplifted to the present elevation of around 6500 feet above sea level. Erosion has exposed the evidence of that past. Petrified wood and rocks containing shells, fossilized plants and animals can be found on hillsides.
Long before the white man arrived, many Native Americans had inhabited the land. Ancient petroglyphs can be found on canyon walls. Ruins of the mysterious Anasazi, Mogollon and other Indians exist in abundance in these hills. In the 19th century, the Apache claimed the area and during the 19th-century Indian Wars, launched a number of attacks on the white settlers throughout the area before they were eventually subdued by the US military.
History
In 1879, the first permanent settlers, the Petersen and Mortensen families, settled along the "Mortensen Wash" located east of what was known as "Snowflake Camp," as residents of Snowflake camped out there to harvest timber. The large virgin pine forests in the area furnished lumber to build many homes in Taylor and Snowflake. The original settlement came to be known as "Mortensen". Most of the early settlers to come here were Mormon pioneers who came from Utah to help settle Arizona, and
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
became a central fixture in the community.
Some of the early families to settle here were: Mortensen, Petersen, Brewer, Bryan, Dalton, Lewis, Crancell, Beebee, Burke, Owens, Cheney, Jackson, Webb, Thomas, McClever, Johnson and others. Many descendants of these early pioneers continue to live in Pinedale.
In the fall of 1880, brothers James and Erastus Willard Mortensen (sons of Niels) secured a government contact to grade a railbed for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad between Joseph City, Arizona and Winslow; and later secured an additional contract to extend the rail bed to Canyon Diablo. They assembled several work teams from the Mortensen settlement as well as the communities of Snowflake and Taylor for the work. While they were away, an Apache uprising was launched in the area in September 1881; most of the families retreated to Snowflake and Taylor for safety until the US Cavalry overcame the Apaches and they returned to the area in October 1881, about the same time that the rail bed grading contracts were completed.
An Indian uprising in 1881 sent most families to Taylor for safety. One band of renegade Apaches destroyed the belongings of Lyman Hancock after he had fled with his family, but the Indian Wars were mostly over. The people came back to Pinedale to stay.
In the latter part of the winter of 1882, brothers James and Willard Mortensen went to Illinois and bought back two Percheron Stallions and three mares with the intention of establishing a breeding farm. In June 1883, the Apaches again broke out, and one of the bands came through in the vicinity of the Mortensen ranch and three head of horses were stolen from a small pasture, including one of the Percheron mares, and other horses were stolen from the range. None were ever recovered. That fall the Mortensens traded what Percheron horses they had left to Miner Prisby for his band of horses and cattle.
Cowboys resented the settlers who fenced off the open range lands. The
Aztec Land & Cattle Company, formed in 1884/1885 to raise cattle along much of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad right-of-way in Arizona, especially caused problems in what came to be known as the
Pleasant Valley War
The Pleasant Valley War, sometimes called the Tonto Basin Feud, or Tonto Basin War, or Tewksbury-Graham Feud, was a range war fought in Pleasant Valley, Arizona in the years 1882–1892. The conflict involved two feuding families, the Grahams an ...
. The company regularly led assaults against the local settlers – harassment, driving off livestock, burning down building, and physical violence. Niels Petersen and others were severely beaten. These actions so threatened the settlement that settlers had to regularly carry arms to defend themselves and their families until the hostilities finally came to an end in 1892.
The name of the town was changed to "Pinedale" in 1887.
In 1889, President Wilford Woodruff of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints called several of the Mortensen and Peterson families to relocate to Mexico and establish a Mormon colony later named Colónia Dublán, about 60 miles south of the US border in Chihuahua State.
Economics
Sawmills, cattle, sheep and dry-farming have always been the main source of income and sustenance. The U.S. Forest Service also provides a presence. The Cady Lumber Company mill was located south of Pinedale in the 1920s and 1930s in what was called Standard. During the operation of the mill, the town grew to over 500 residents, with its own stores and a hospital.
1976 US Bi-Centennial
In 1976, as a Pinedale community Bi-Centennial project, celebrating 200 years as the United States of America, the covered bridge was erected over Pinedale Wash. A few years later, the community constructed the bell tower in the middle of town and installed the original 1892 School Bell, which had hung in all of the early Pinedale Schools.
Historic buildings
![MARRETA B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/MARRETA_B._THOMAS_COVERED_BRIDGE.jpg)
The former
Pinedale Elementary School is now a historic building.
The Community Center in Pinedale was originally a two-room/auditorium schoolhouse and is listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.
The Verde Trail, General Crook's military trail from Fort Apache to Camp Verde built in the late 19th century, passed through this area. A mile marker for the trail is located just north of the Marreta B. Thomas covered bridge (located on the north end of town on the main road into Pinedale from AZ 260). It is the post with a V (chevron) attached.
Demographics
As of the census
of 2020, there were 482 people, 186 households, and 135 families residing in Pinedale.
References
External links
Pinedale Website
{{authority control
Populated places of the Mogollon Rim
Unincorporated communities in Navajo County, Arizona
Populated places established in 1879
Unincorporated communities in Arizona