Volume. 2 Issue. 2
• “Mad Man” Chuck Runbeck • Korrick’s Sunlit Basement • Legend City Celebration Summer 2013 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community …Then & Now
• Paolo Soleri Timeline • Arizona’s Most Important Point • Rolling with the Bingham Brothers
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Arizona Contractor & Community Magazine Working with the following Associations Publisher William Horner Billy@arizcc.com
Alliance of Construction Trades Jim Kuliesh - Executive Director (520) 624-3002 www.actaz.net 465 W. St Marys Rd Tucson, AZ 85701
Arizona Chapter Associated General Contractors David M. Martin - President (602) 252-3926 www.azagc.org 1825 W. Adams, Phoenix, AZ
Editor Douglas Towne Douglas@arizcc.com Marketing & Sales Consultant Chuck Runbeck Chuck@arizcc.com 602-881-0907 Advertising Manager Shane Addington Shane@arizcc.com 623-826-8598
American Rental Association of Arizona Bob Nally - Executive Director (602) 272-7368 www.ararental.org 249 S. 59�� Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85043
American Subcontractors Association of Arizona Carol Floco - Executive Director (602) 274-8979 www.asaaz.com 4105 N. 20th St. Ste. 230, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Production Manager Laura Harley Laura@arizcc.com Columnist Paul Beaulieu John Bueker
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Steve Trussell - Executive Director (602)271-0346 www.azrockproducts.org 916 W. Adams St. Phoenix, AZ 85007
Contributing Writers Connor Descheemaker Roberta Graham Taz Loomans
View our online magazine at: www.arizcc.com Printed at Lithotech National Utility Contractors Association of Arizona Connie Corder - Executive Director (480) 775-3943 www.nucaaz.org PO Box 66935. Phoenix, AZ 85082
Tucson Utility Contractors Association Ramon A. Gaanderse - Executive Director (520) 623-0444 www.tuca-az.org 1842 W. Grant Rd, Ste. 103, Tucson, AZ 85745
Published in the interest of the entire construction industry and those allied with it.
Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, & winter). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, 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 assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved.
Volume. 2 Issue. 2 Summer 2013
CONTENTS
8.
Editor’s Column: Arizona’s Most Important Point - Douglas Towne
10. 22. 24. 30. 32. 34. 36. 40. 42. 44.
Construction Around Arizona - William Horner Taking the Basement to a New Level: Korrick’s Sidewalk Sunshine - Roberta L. Graham Legend City: Crandall’s Dream at 50 - John Bueker ‘70s Slowdown: Fuel for Freeways Ebbs - Douglas Towne Construction Column: Fair and Honest - Paul Beaulieu Vanishing Phoenix: Beyond Beef: Uptown Gathering Place Reborn - Connor Descheemaker Arizona’s Original Mad Man: Chuck Runbeck - Douglas Towne In Memoriam: A Timeline of the Amazing Life and Work of Paolo Soleri - Taz Loomans Digging Through the Archives: The Bingham Brothers - William Horner Construction Marketplace and Bid Results - Bidjudge
Front Cover - Legend City Legend City was an 87-acre amusement park which opened in 1963 on East Washington Street in Phoenix near Tempe. The photo shows construction of the park’s amphitheater with Tanner Metro Rock cement mixer. See the article on page 24.
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Arizona’s Most Important Point Douglas Towne
I
Despite its importance, Monument Hill doesn’t attract much attention. A few curious geographically inclined souls do the easy hike to the summit; in 2002 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bird watchers are lured by the avian life, due to the nearby Salt River flows that are mostly the result of releases from the City of Phoenix’s wastewater treatment plant. Monument Hill, also known as “Rattlesnake Hill,” is often climbed not for an historic reason but rather for the free view of the roaring action immediately to the west at Phoenix International Raceway. This nondescript hill has been making news since as far back as 1848, 64 years before Arizona became a state, when it became the focal point of an international accord. When the Mexican War ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the northern boundary of Mexico was designated at the northernmost point of the Gila River, which is at Monument Hill. To mark the international boundary, a cairn was built there in 1851 by the U.S. and Mexico
Boundary Commission surveyors. Monument Hill’s status as an international boundary, however, was short lived; the Gadsden Purchase by the U.S. in 1853 moved the border south to its present location. This early geographic prominence was likely the reason John A. Clark, Surveyor General selected the hill in 1865 to be the initial point for all the land ownership in Arizona. The state had separated from New Mexico during the Civil War to become its own U.S. territory. That year, the original marker to grant land deeds was placed atop Monument Hill. Survey work began on what we now call the Gila and Salt River Meridian and Baseline, in 1867. William Pierce led a seven-man crew who surveyed two perpendicular lines beginning at the Monument Hill marker. Using tools that today would be considered primitive, the surveyors determined direction using a Burt's solar compass. The men used a rod and chain (a 33-feet-long chain made up of 50 links, each 7.92 inches long) for distance.
Image courtesy of author
t’s the most unique knoll in Arizona. Despite its scenic location at the confluence of the Salt and Gila rivers in a verdant riparian corridor teeming with wildlife, nature enthusiasts are surprisingly often outnumbered by motor sports spectators. The hill’s Native American petroglyphs are almost an afterthought for history buffs who are fixated on what is located at the top. The views aren’t especially impressive, but no other Valley vista comes with this assertion: as far as the eye can see - and even much, much further – no land is untouched by what transpires here. The site is Monument Hill, which bears a survey marker designating the zero point from which almost every legal property description in Arizona is tied. Each house, business, park, monument, and street in the state is identified by its position relative to this physically unremarkable granite outcrop south of Avondale. For the construction industry, this “brass marker” atop Monument Hill is a vital reference point for every project.
Eight
“The views aren’t especially impressive, but no other Valley vista comes with this assertion: as far as the eye can see - and even much, much further – no land is untouched by what transpires here.”
Images courtesy of author
Opposite page: Maddock & Associates engineers working at the Surrey Heights Phase 2 subdivision in Phoenix in 1962. Top Right: City of Phoenix brass cap, 1985. Right: Monument Hill and Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) in the late 1970s. Bottom right: Mario Andretti next to rebuilt Brawner Hawk Dean Van Lines car (#12) at PIR in 1982. Bottom: U.S. Geological Survey topographic map of Monument Hill and Phoenix International Raceway.
Image courtesy of Steve Stroud
In five days, the Pierce party surveyed the Gila and Salt River Baseline 36 miles east, into what is today Mesa. This latitudinal line, measuring east-west longitudinal distance, would later become known as Baseline Road. The Gila and Salt River Meridian, a longitudinal line which ran to the north measuring northsouth latitudinal distance, was supposed to be delineated for 96 miles. Pierce’s crew only made it 24 miles, however, before they had to stop. The U.S. Army troops assigned to protect them from possible hostile Indians was sent elsewhere. This meridian later became known as Avondale Boulevard. The survey work Pierce began atop Monument Hill eventually created the Valley’s grid layout and delineated all the land boundaries across the state’s 60 million acres except for a small portion in northeastern Arizona that uses the Navajo Baseline and Meridian. So whether you fancy a flowing river in the desert or want to cheer on your favorite NASCAR driver, a hike up this hill will also provide newfound appreciation for the exact location where the cornerstone on your next building is laid.
Arizona Contractor & Community
Image courtesy of George Raymond Photography
Construction Around Arizona
Construction Around Arizona Freeways • Roadways Commercial • Residential William Horner Above: New bridge approach on the Interstate 10-Loop 303 interchange built by Pulice Construction. Right: Kyle Hunter and Tyler Smitcson of Bryco Asphalt Milling and Robert B. Smith of Visus, Inc., working on the Town of Guadalupe street improvement project. Scope of work includes milling of existing streets, and new curbs, sidewalks, and pavement.
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