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Gila River Indian Reservation

Pinal County · Junction of Arizona 187 with Arizona 87 between Olberg and Chandler, overlooking the valley of the Gila River. · location approximate

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GILA RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION Established 1859 Here the first government Indian School was established for Pimas and Maricopas in 1871, with Rev. Charles H. Cook as teacher. It was the location of Pima villages, friendly resting place for travelers during the Mexican War and the Gold Rush. It also was the birth- place of Ira Hayes, a Pima, one of the U.S. Marines in the famed flag-raising at Iwo Jima.

Named in the Arizona Department of Transportation's 1997 list of markers standing in its right of way. That 1997 list covers only state highway right of way, so it does not reach markers on city streets, on tribal land, or in state and national parks.

1958 text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people. The book proposed 100 markers for Arizona's highways and records 14 as cast when it went to press.

Arizona still marks its history under the same law: the State Historical Advisory Commission approves a marker, the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records certifies that its text is authentic and historically correct, and the Arizona Department of Transportation erects and maintains the markers on state highway right-of-way. Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records ↗

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: Historical Markers in Arizona, Vols. I-II (Arizona Development Board, 1958), text by Bert Fireman

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