The Quinlan Mountains is a mountain range in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

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 ...

. Its highest point is

Kitt Peak Kitt Peak ( ood, Ioligam) is a mountain in the U.S. state of Arizona, and at is the highest point in the Quinlan Mountains. It is the location of the Kitt Peak National Observatory. The radio telescope at the observatory is one of ten dishes co ...

at , which is also the second-highest peak on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, after

Baboquivari Peak The Baboquivari Peak Wilderness or La Bestia is a wilderness area in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is located in the Baboquivari Mountains southwest of Tucson, Arizona. It is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The United States Cong ...

. The range lies on the eastern end of the reservation about southwest of

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. The Quinlan Mountains are north of the

Baboquivari Mountains Baboquivari may refer to: * 2059 Baboquivari, a near-Earth asteroid * Baboquivari Peak Wilderness, a protected area in the U.S. state of Arizona * Baboquivari National Forest Baboquivari National Forest was established as the Baboquivari Forest Re ...

, the two ranges separated by the pass at the head of the Pavo Kug Wash. The Quinlan range also sits southwest of the Coyote Mountains, separated from them by the Pan Tak Pass. When

George J. Roskruge George James Roskruge (April 10, 1845July 27, 1928) was the surveyor general of Arizona Territory from 1896 to 1897. Born in England, he emigrated to the United States in his mid-20s and became a naturalized citizen in 1876. He spent most of his ...

created the official map of

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the populati ...

in 1893, he named the range after James Quinlin, who had opened a stagecoach station in the nearby town of Quinlin in 1884. Although the range had also been known as the Quinlin or Quinuin mountains at different points in history, Quinlan became the official name as a result of a decision by the

Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal govern ...

on April 16, 1941.

References

{{Mountains of Arizona Mountain ranges of Pima County, Arizona Mountain ranges of the Sonoran Desert Sonoran Desert