Pillars of early days, 5 C’s vital yet today
Most Arizonans grew up hearing about the five pillars of Arizona’s economic success: cattle, citrus, climate, copper and cotton. Those five C’s might not be the be stalwarts in modern Arizona that they once were, but each is still important.
In the early years there were far more cattle than people in Arizona. In 1918 it was estimated there were 1.75 million head of cattle in the state compared to 320,000 people.
The number of cattle has dropped to about half of the 1918 total, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, but beef and dairy production are still big business here.
Irrigation efforts starting in the 1860s, most notably the Arizona Canal, helped drive citrus production.
The ability to deliver water (aided by gravity) made the land south of the canal productive and the first large citrus grove was planted near Phoenix in 1889.
Citrus production in the state really took off in 1928 with the creation of the Arizona Citrus Growers Association. The power of that group helped solve some of the distribution issues that had been hampering growth.
Arizona’s citrus output has been outpaced by other states (most notably Florida, but California and Texas are also largescale producers) but Arizona remains one of the leading states for growing citrus fruit, according to USDA statistics.
Of the five C’s, climate has perhaps the biggest impact in Arizona now.
In the early days, many people were attracted to the Phoenix area for perceived benefits of the warm, dry climate.
Now, the state’s 300 days of sunshine each year, mild winters in the low elevations and pleasant weather for summer adventures in the higher elevations have helped tourism become big business in Arizona.
According to the Arizona Office of Tourism, 42.1 million people visited the state in 2015 and spent $21 billion.
Copper mining helped draw people to Arizona starting in the 1850s and really took off about 20 years later. Cities such as Bisbee, Clifton, Globe, Jerome and Miami owe their growth to mining.
Though copper is no longer the leading industry in the state (that started to change about 60 years ago), Arizona still yields more copper than any other state and it remains big business here.
Arizona’s cotton industry blossomed in the early 20th century when demand for the long-staple variety grew during World War I. Egyptian cotton wasn’t available at that time and Pima longstaple was used in products including airplane wings and tires. Goodyear has its roots in the cotton grown by the tire company in that area during the early 1900s.
During the peak years, about 800,000 acres of cotton were planted in Arizona. That total is now closer to 200,000 acres, according to USDA statistics.