Let's Get Above It All and Take a Look at The Land

One thing is certain: We Share The Land

With all that have come before in our diverse heritage and all who will create our future legacy.
Everywhere is important producing "Echoes Down The Centuries" while we focus on all the people, places, and progress in the single century of Arizona's Centennial from 1912-2012.
Geographically, several large systems that characterize what is now the American Southwest and northern Mexico converge inside Arizona.
Historically, several groups of people have found their pathways converging here over the course of time, either following natural riverways and natural migration routes, or creating man-made trading, commerce, and transportation systems to move and connect resources both locally, across the nation and world-wide.
Santa Cruz County - where the first county-wide commemoration and celebration of Arizona's Centennial is initiated by the opportunity of participating in local working groups on The Heritage Mural Project funded in part by the Arizona Office of Tourism's Rural Tourism Development Grant Program - takes it name from the river named Santa Cruz, where it originates in the grasslands and headwaters of The San Rafael Valley, flows South into Mexico for 35 miles, and re-emerges in a vast watershed through what is now Kino Springs. We have two points on the map to mark connecting Nogales, an international port-of-entry, with Patagonia-Sonoita-Elgin, The Mountain Empire.
From Nogales the Santa Cruz River flows North - where towns and cities like Rio Rico [rich river], Tumacacori/Carmen, Tubac, and Amado - developed over the course of time along the riverway. Fertile grasslands gave birth to agriculture and farming, our cattle and ranch traditions. The rivers and valleys created habitats for migratory species [butterflies and birds included], territories for wildlife, and attractive areas to live. The geophysical features provided rich natural resources to establish mining as an industry in Arizona - drawing many here -while today those same resources maintain our quality of life.
Our mutual endeavors are based on the people, places, and progress that make Patagonia, Santa Cruz County, and Arizona what it is today and what we create as a legacy for future generations.