February
 |
| A sprayer and the Brown house in 1984 |
The speaker for our
February meeting was Kathy Pendley Shaw. Kathy is the granddaughter of Frank
Pendley who first homesteaded 58 acres of land in Oak Creek Canyon's Slide Rock.
The Slide Rock Park today has more than 250,00 visitors each year. Many of the
original buildings and trees (Arkansas Black Heritage Tree) remain there and
are cared for by volunteers. He planted 13 varieties of apples, and raised 9
children. When he retired Kathy's father Tom continued to care for the trees
each summer. The park now has 16 varieties of apples, peaches, apricots, and
pears. Kathy continues to volunteer by caring for the trees with the Friends of
Slide Rock. Their next volunteer day for pruning is on Feb. 25th from 9am-12pm.
Contact Kathy if you want more information (kathypshaw85@gmail.com).
From the park web site:
This history is from the book Arizona
State Parks: The Beginning Edited by Charles R. Eatherly. Filled
with fascinating histories and stories, this spiral bound book is available
from our Gift Catalog. Your purchase will directly support Arizona State Parks.
http://azstateparks.com/Parks/SLRO/history.html
Frank Pendley homesteaded the land
immediately south of Slide Rock in the early 1900’s and developed a large apple
orchard along with vegetable crops. Tom Pendley, his son, continued to operate
and manage the property, and in the 1980’s it was one of the largest parcels of
land in Oak Creek Canyon in private ownership. In 1982, the family decided it
was time to sell the property. When Governor Babbitt learned of this, he
contacted the family to see about acquiring the property as a State Park. The
Governor grew up in Flagstaff, had visited Slide Rock many times, and was well
acquainted with the Pendley family. Tom Pendley told the Governor that he was
reluctant to sell the land to a governmental entity because of the difficulties
he had experienced in dealing with the Forest Service. At the same time
Governor Babbitt was talking with the family, William G. Roe from the Nature
Conservancy was corresponding with State Parks Director Mike Ramnes, to let him
know the property adjacent to Slide Rock was for sale.
In 1983, Governor Babbitt created
the Arizona Parklands Foundation and appointed members comprised of business,
political and community leaders. In creating this Foundation, the Governor was
implementing one of the recommendations that had come from the Governor’s Task
Force on Parks and Recreation in Arizona, a special task force the Governor had
appointed the year before. The Foundation was a non-profit corporation charged
with acquiring property and receiving gifts for State Parks. All land the
Foundation acquired would be donated to Arizona State Parks. Working with the
Parks Board, a list of desirable properties for future State Parks was
developed, including the Pendley property. After two years of negotiations, an
agreement was reached with the Pendley family for sale of the property. This
was the first property acquired by the Foundation.
Now the Foundation had to come up
with the necessary funding to complete the transaction. The Governor assisted
the Foundation in working with four major banks to secure a loan to acquire the
property. The banks that agreed to loan the $4,000,000 were The Valley National
Bank, First InterState Bank, Arizona Bank, and United Bank of Arizona. Shortly
after the loan was secured, the Foundation purchased the Pendley property on
February 7, 1985, for $3,600,000.
The Foundation soon learned they
were not going to get the anticipated donations to support the acquisition of
the Pendley property. The Foundation, Arizona State Parks Board, and the
Governor, working in concert, requested that the legislature provide funding
for the acquisition.
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