By Kristy McCaffrey
Located in northern Arizona, Flagstaff lies at the base of
the highest mountain range in Arizona—the San Francisco Peaks. Since the mid-19th
century, the town has been a popular tourist destination due to its close
proximity (75 miles) to the Grand Canyon.
 |
| The San Francisco Peaks. Mt. Humphreys is the tallest mountain in Arizona at 12,637 feet. |
On July 4, 1876 a group of campers at the base of the San
Francisco Peaks stripped a pine tree and used it to raise an American flag.
This tree inspired the name “Flagstaff.”
 |
| Flagstaff circa 1882. |
The early economy of Flagstaff consisted of timber, sheep,
and cattle. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad arrived in 1880. When the Santa
Fe Railroad purchased it in 1885, Flagstaff became the largest town between
Albuquerque and the Pacific Ocean.
The Babbitt sons arrived in 1881 with $17,000 and eventually
settled in Flagstaff, creating the famous CO Bar Ranch which still exists
today. The establishment of the Babbitt Brothers Trading Company in 1889—along with
several other businesses in northern Arizona—greatly aided the growth and
development of the area.
 |
| The Babbitt brothers. |
Flagstaff suffered its share of criminal activity. “Cattle
rustling was rampant and only conquered by stringing the culprits to a limb of
a tree and riddling the bodies with bullets. Many were the shootings in the
town….They write about Tombstone and other early settlements, but Flagstaff was
as bad as any of them.” (from A Brand
From the Burning by Charles C. Stemmer, 1959)
The Northern Arizona Normal School was established in 1899.
In 1966, it was renamed Northern Arizona University.
 |
| Flagstaff circa 1899. |
Massachusetts astronomer Percival Lowell established Lowell
Observatory in 1894, naming Flagstaff an ideal location due to its elevation.
Pluto was discovered here by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, and in 1978 Pluto’s moon,
Charon, was also identified.
 |
| Lowell Observatory, 1897. |
Today, Flagstaff still has a strong tourism economy due to
its location to the Grand Canyon, Historic Route 66, the Arizona Snowbowl Ski
Area, Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon, Meteor Crater, and the Navajo and Hopi
Indian Reservations.
***********
My novel, Into the
Land of Shadows, begins and ends in Flagstaff.
Kate Kinsella has no choice but to go after Charley Barstow
and talk some sense into him. After all, he's skipped town, leaving a string of
broken hearts and his pregnant fiancée, Agnes McPherson. But Kate didn't count
on being kidnapped by a band of criminals along the way!
Ethan Barstow is hot on his younger brother's trail, too. He
rescues Kate, believing her to be Charley's fiancée, and suggests they try to
find him together. Kate's reluctance has him baffled.
All hell breaks loose when they discover Charley in search
of a copper mine—not wishing to be found by anyone; certainly not Kate! But,
then, Kate was always trouble—and now she's brought it to his doorstep, with
tales of a pregnant fiancée and his brother Ethan, who he hasn't seen in five
years.
Can Ethan and Kate ever find their own love and happiness
with one another through the dark deception and hurt? Or will they both return
INTO THE LAND OF SHADOWS...
Kristy McCaffrey has been writing since she was very young, but it wasn’t until she was a stay-at-home mom that she considered becoming published. She’s the author of several historical western romances, all set in the American southwest. She lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, two chocolate labs, and whichever of their four teenaged children happen to be in residence.
