Falfa and Kaka were Arizona towns, but Las Vegas?

From June 23, 2008:

How did the Arizona towns of Falfa and Kaka get their names?

I don’t think Falfa was ever much of a town in the proper sense of the word. It was a hay-loading station on the railroad and was located south of what is now Elliot Road between Arizona Avenue and McQueen Road.

Its name was a contraction of alfalfa, which was widely grown around those parts. Why they didn’t just call it Alfalfa, I don’t know.

I learned this in “Arizona Place Names,” by Will Banes, a book I recommend to all of you.

Kaka is a small town in the far southeastern corner of Maricopa County, about 115 miles from Phoenix.

According to “Arizona’s Names: X Marks the Spot,” by Byrd Howell Granger, Father Kino visited the village in 1698 and called it El Gaga.

Ka is a Pima word meaning “a clearing for a field.” Kaka is the plural.

Is it true Las Vegas, Nev., should by rights be part of Arizona?

By rights? Well, I guess so, if you want to hold a grudge.

When the Arizona Territory was created in 1864, it had four counties: Pima, Yuma, Yavapai and Mohave.

The next year, the territorial Legislature created Pah-Ute County along the northern edge of Mohave County. It included what is now Clark County, Nev., home of Las Vegas. Its county seat was Callville, on what is now the Nevada side of the Colorado River. It was the northern-most navigable stop on the Colorado River.

In 1866, Nevada’s territorial representatives in Washington, D.C., were able to persuade Congress to give PahUte County to Nevada. The Arizona Territorial Legislature protested mightily, but to no avail.

Residents of the area, mostly Mormon settlers, also resisted the change and sent representatives to the Arizona Legislature for a while.

Some history books still refer to PahUte as “Arizona’s Lost County.”