Volume 7 Issue 4
$5.99 Jul-Aug 2018 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now
Arizona’s Timeless MagAzine
The Trucking Issue
• • • • • • •
Mike Poppe Moves Near-Impossible Loads Still “Truckin” at 84: Don “Pops” Poppe Creating a Smooth Asphalt Ride: Arizona Refining Company Playful Construction: Vintage Toy Trucks Semi-in-the-Sky: Marie’s Truck Stop in Benson Joe Bing Wong, AIA: Multi-Faceted Architect Boosting Cement Mixers: Cook Brothers Equipment
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Beating the heat at the movies
Publisher William Horner Billy@arizcc.com
Favorite AZ Summer Activity?
Editor Douglas Towne Douglas@arizcc.com
Staycations Contributors at the Alison Bailin Batz resorts Norman S. Fulton III, Esq. Tom Gibbons Watching the Tom Hogarty Diamondbacks MacKinley Lutes-Adlhoch Art Smith Abigail Spong Swimming Laura Stack with a coconut I Love smoo thie Doug Sydnor swimming Andy Wei
Production Manager Laura Horner Laura@arizcc.com
Wet “n” Wild
Magazine Advisor Chuck Runbeck Chuck@arizcc.com Publisher’s Representatives Tom Hogarty Tom@arizcc.com Barry Warner Barry@arizcc.com
Fireworks on the 4th
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Visit us online at arizcc.com Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community… Then & Now Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published bi-monthly (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, and Nov/Dec). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history. Content including text, photographs or illustrations may not be reproduced without the written permission from the publisher. The publisher does not assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions. ACC reserves the right to reject any editorial and advertising material and reserves the right to edit all submitted content material. Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2018 All rights reserved.
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ublisher’s Representative Tom Hogarty joined the Arizona Contractor & Community sales staff four years ago, after moving with his wife, Donna, from San Diego to Scottsdale. People ask Tom, ‘You moved from California to Arizona?’ He just nods. “Why spread the good word? What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” he says, showing that native New York City dry wit. Tom grew up in Queens— the same borough that gave us Tony Bennett, Jimmy Durante, and Ethel Merman. This may explain why Tom sings a lot and is a member of the barbershop quartet organization called The Harmony Society. Tom started his career as editor of New York Construction News and transitioned into construction industry public relations. He moved to California in 1987 where he published EGCA Magazine, for the Engineering & General Contractors Association of San Diego. “I’m as busy now as I want to be,” Tom says, who also publishes a newsletter for Trafficade. “I have been truly blessed.” His family includes four daughters and five grandchildren. Tom is one of those people who seems to have a song in his heart or on his lips. So when he stops by your office, be ready to sing a chorus or two of any Sinatra song—or “Coney Island Baby.”
Article on page 52 rt Smith was born in Pittsburgh and moved to Arizona in 1961. He spent his early years in Tucson and attended the University of Arizona before moving to Phoenix. For the last 30 years, Smith lived in Sunnyslope, beneath the shadow of the ‘S’ Mountain. He worked as an art teacher at Moon Valley High School. Smith retired from teaching high school several years ago. Through the Arizona Artist Guild, he taught classes to veterans, elders, non-English-speaking refugees, and young women who were victims of sexual assault and trafficking. His paintings and smallscale dioramas have been featured in galleries in the Valley, Tucson, and Bisbee, and are in private and corporate collections. He is also a short story author, and his work has appeared in many poetry magazines, periodicals, and anthologies. Smith and his wife recently moved to Mt. Holly, New Jersey. Living in the East provides him the opportunity to be close to family and to reconnect with his origins. They live in a turnof-the-century historic home. He still paints and writes, and finds the environment and weather of the East Coast a source of new inspiration. Smith continues to be an avid toy collector in an area rich with flea markets and antique shops. Jul-Aug 2018
For Information Contact: Brad Cable (602) 415-0449 • Cell (602) 763-8039 Email: bradc@rec-reuter.com arizcc.com
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From The Editor: Still Delivering: Trucks from Shuttered Arizona Businesses - Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When: Fun By The Carload Douglas Towne Moving the (Near) Impossible: Mike Poppe’s Precision Heavy Haul - Douglas Towne Still “Truckin” at 84: Don “Pops” Poppe Douglas Towne Special Advertising Section - Buesing Corp Creating a Smooth Ride: Arizona Refining Company Tom Gibbons Playful Construction: Heavy-Duty Toy Trucks Art Smith Semi-in-the-Sky: Marie’s Truck Stop Douglas Towne Architect’s Perspective: Joe Bing Wong, AIA: Multi-Faceted Architect - Doug Sydnor
Digging Through the Archives: Cook Brothers Equipment - William Horner
61
Bid Results - Bidjudge
62
ACC Advertisers’ Index
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EIGHT
Mike Poppe transports a Euclid B-70 belly dump truck for United Metro. Article on page 32.
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Editor’s Column: Still Delivering: Trucks from Shuttered Arizona Businesses Douglas Towne
L
ong after the demise of a business, there’s a chance that the enterprise might just keep trucking along. This is especially true in rural Arizona. Used work trucks from businesses often find second lives hauling supplies on farms and ranches. And when they are all used up, the trucks are often consigned to the scrap yard, slowly fading in the sun. The truck logos reflect the history of some intriguing Arizona companies, including the following two firms. Wheat Nursery at 3414 North 40th Street in Phoenix was part of a business that was started by James Kellogg Wheat in 1906. Wheat came to Phoenix from Minnesota in 1898, and originally raised and trained horses at the site of the former Territorial Fairgrounds at 1930 South Central Avenue with his wife, Lucy. The nursery’s biggest sellers were palm, chinaberry, and mulberry trees. The latter were in demand for early mining TEN
camps to shade company houses, for “… they were the only trees hardy enough to survive smelter fumes,” according to Wheat’s son, DeWitt, in an article in the Arizona Republic in 1966. Wheat noted that the trees had to be grown from seeds as trees were not shipped to Phoenix until around 1912. The nursery also had to contend with alkaline groundwater from its wells, which can make micronutrients less available to plants. The problem was improved when water from the Verde River was piped to Phoenix in 1922. Wheat passed away in 1927 but his wife kept working in the nursery business with her son, DeWitt, until her death in 1951. DeWitt recalls his mother, Lucy Wheat, revealing the key to successful tree planting. “It is better to put a 50-cent plant in a five-dollar hole than a five-dollar plant in a 50-cent hole.” The Wheat family owned four nurser-
ies in the Valley during the 1950s, including the North 40th Street location. In 1969, this outlet was sold and became Baker Nursery. The nursery closed in 2014 and has been redeveloped as the Villas at Baker Park. Arizona Refining Company, which had offices in Flagstaff, Fredonia and Phoenix, the latter at 1505 North Arco Drive, is documented in a feature article in this issue. The company had a secondary role in Arizona’s only oil refinery, Arizona Fuels Corporation; located in Fredonia on the Arizona Strip. The plant opened in 1969, after briefly operating in Page, according to an article in the Republic in 1979. The refinery processed crude oil from the Escalante Field in southern Top: Baker Nursery sign. Utah, along with Right: Wheat Nurseries truck logo.
Jul-Aug 2018
Top: Former Arizona Refining Company truck.
Images Courtesy of Author
Below: Former Wheat Nurseries truck. excess supplies trucked in from Southern mile pipeline to tap mand nationalizaCalifornia. The plant could refine 6,000 the Four Corners tion.” barrels a day into diesel, gas, and other oil Pipeline. The pipeline would cross the ColThree years later, the refinery was shut products in 1979, with production set to orado River on the Marble Canyon Bridge. down after failing to tap the Four Corners expand to 10,000 barrels. The company would also Pipeline, this time in Kingman. The comThirty percent of the The refinery processed continue drilling explor- pany proposed an emergency crude-oil refinery’s production was atory oil wells on the Ari- loading depot in a residential neighborcrude oil from the asphalt, a byproduct after zona Strip, “…until we hit hood, from which the commodity could Escalante Field in fuels had been refined. it [oil]. It’s got to be in the be trucked to Fredonia. But the firm had The Arizona Refining ComSouthern Utah, along area,” said the refinery already been placed in receivership after pany built a plant next to president, Gene Dalton. failing to pay the federal government for with excess supplies the refinery and piped the Still, Dalton was not opti- oil-production entitlements. asphalt to their facility. The mistic about the future of The Arizona Fuels Corporation parent trucked in from two operations were the his business. “We know corporation, the Arizona Refining CompaSouthern California. largest employer on the that ultimately the feder- ny, was purchased by their rival, Sahuaro Arizona Strip. al government will not be Petroleum & Asphalt Company, in 1985. To increase their crude oil supply, Ar- satisfied until the oil companies look so bad Their vintage truck, however, survives for izona Fuels Corporation proposed a 100- to the American people that they will de- another run at success.
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TWELVE
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Feedback
Message from the “Underground”
I read the last issue from cover to cover, great job. The coverage is fantastic and articles very informative. I had utterly forSouthern Exposure gotten Hagen Construction; they were still a big factor when I worked for Kelton ConI enjoy the Arizona Contractor & Commu- tracting. I just subscribed; love the maganity magazine as it provides a different his- zine! torical perspective of the state which I find interesting. Having moved to Phoenix from Phil Berger Tucson in 1994, it brings me up to speed on Senior Underground Estimator the history of the Valley. I am glad to see Markham Contracting, Phoenix, Arizona that the magazine covers the whole state, but since I grew up in Tucson, especially enHigh-Wire Research joy the nostalgic value of articles concerning southern Arizona. The acrobatic couple in your “Back Keep up the good work, When” column (Mar/Apr 2018) John T. Owens Jr., was Betty and Regional Contract Manager Benny Fox, who Century Link, Phoenix, Arizona performed their “Dance of Death” We hope you enjoyed our recent article across the counabout the rehabilitation of Tucson’s Marist try. They were College, Arizona’s tallest adobe building. in Phoenix to promote their event at Cinema Park Drive-In on a specially constructed stage 140 feet in the air above Time Does Fly the theater’s screen to aid the United Red Feather Fund, a forerunner of the United Congrats on seven years! Wow, time flies as Way. It sounds like they performed a simiI remember when you were just gathering lar stunt on the roof of Korrick’s too. construction information. I’m glad for your success and for the awesome magazine Laura Lovato Stenzel, Treasurer that you distribute. Friends of the Orpheum Theater Phoenix, Arizona Billy Anderson, Owner/Operator Connect 202 Partners, Mesa, Arizona
Music to Our Ears
Marital Discord Wow, I will not give my husband back his March/April issue, because it is a marvelous walk through history. It’s just so fabulous to read. Blaine Drake, Eugene Pierson, on and on. I’m going to send you a copy of my book; you might enjoy it. Posey Nash, Author Phoenix, Arizona The Digger’s Daughter is a history of the 100-year-old A.L. Moore and Sons Mortuary in Phoenix.
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I enjoyed reading “The ‘Wrap’ on Phoenix’s Reynolds Aluminum Plant” by Douglas Towne in the May-June issue. The article notes that “The plant’s 3,300-person workforce at the time included M. A. Machell, who previously was a concert cellist. ‘I prefer music, but I took the job here because I felt it was my patriotic duty to do everything in my power for the war effort,’ he told the Arizona Republic in 1945.” It’s always interesting to connect the dots in our large complex world. M. A. Machell was Montague Arthur Machell. He and his wife, Cora Lee Machell, designed and built their home in the Cattle Track neighborhood of Scottsdale in 1952. My wife and I now live in this house. The Machell’s were a fascinating couple who lived more than a dozen years in this residence,
which some believe was designed by Blaine Drake, a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright. Montague was born on July 29, 1888, and received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Arizona in 1939. He performed in the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and is credited with forming the Scottsdale High School Band in 1942 and the Boys Glee Club. His wife, Cora Lee, was a pianist who would provide musical accompaniments. Both were known as cello, piano, and violin teachers. Our small living room had two or three pianos, and there were more than 40 violins in the back bedroom. Montague also hosted KOY Classics, which were an hour of recorded classical and romantic music by Tchaikovsky, Kostelanetz, and others. Cora Lee taught piano at the Loloma Elementary School, which was the original 1928 Scottsdale Grammar School No. 2 designed by Lescher and Mahoney Architects. I was fortunate to work with the Scottsdale Artists School to develop an adaptive reuse of this school to suit their program in 1993. Cora Lee was also known as a gifted gardener and composter, who traded flower bulbs for horse manure and other organic material. Her garden had enough large trees to cover the entire house in the shade and dozens of rose bushes, which Sunset magazine featured in the 1960s. Montague came from England and belonged to a mystical cult, the Theosophical Society, whose members believed they could choose when to die. Cora Lee also held such a belief when she went to Scottsdale Memorial Hospital-Osborn Campus (now Honor Health) in 1973. Witnesses confirmed that she determined, 5 minutes before her death, of when to pass away. She was 79. Montague died in 1975 at the age of 86 in Texas. Douglas B. Sydnor, FAIA, Principal Douglas Sydnor Architect + Associates, Inc. Scottsdale, Arizona
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PROJECTs • PEOPLE • PRACTICES
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA
Trucks “Piggybacked” Through Arizona Tom Hogarty
J
oe Lilly, a long-time fixture in the Arizona construction industry, recently met a three-part challenge. Now retired and living in Texas, Lilly was asked to haul three semi-truck cab units from Los Angeles to arizcc.com
Midland, Texas. There was just one hitch to the 86-foot-long problem: he couldn’t back up. Lilly found a solution, putting together a three-truck hauling scheme in which the front wheels were removed from each truck. Lilly’s scheme worked for three days, as he stopped at truck stops along the way. His luck gave out in pouring rain near Willcox, Arizona. One of the truck’s brakes
“froze” and could not be released. He worked with a local mechanic to find a solution. Lying on his back in two inches of cold water with the temperature near 35 degrees, Lilly maneuvered the faulty brake and got it to release. What did Lilly do to celebrate the repair? “After it was over, the truck stop’s hot shower felt great,” he said.
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