Cucamonga Junction was never a railroad junction. Not all places named "Junction" were named for railroad junctions, examples include Junction City, Kansas (river junction), Grand Junction, Colorado (river junction), BETO Junction (highway junction). When the Crookton New Line was completed, the location became a tourist attraction; with directions to the site naming Cucamonga Road, a named location recorded within Google Earth. Railfan tourists used the Cucamonga name for the road with no mention of "Junction".
The primary evidence of publication of the name Cucamonga Junction is in U.S. and other government publications. The U.S. Forest service was the owner of the land and mining and home building both required leases from the U.S. Forest service. From its foundation, the Forest Service established several communities for leased "recreational residences", even if this was not quite the situation here. Effectively, it was their choice what name to used on their maps of their jurisdictions.
The collection of the first individual quarries were known to wholesalers as Cucamonga Junction by the 1950s.
Although this location of individual quarries had no mineral claims at first, a claim named "Cucamunga X" was made after 1955 just north of "town", and later quarries on the evicted site continued to use the name "Cucamonga" in Arizona mining directories into the 2010s.
By the 1950s, the large Armstrong business claims opened adjacent to Cucamonga quarries, providing additional employment for rock doodlers who lived in Cucamonga Junction.
With the great increase in demand for Coconino flagstone, several quarries opened in the ravine just west of the settlement, increasing rock doodler employment.
The above locations were connected by the "one good road" to the markets in Williams.
Many other quarries were then opened up to 16 miles to the west in more direct connection with Ash Fork, but over only primitive, unimproved roads.
By the 1970s, the Forest Service began evicting and demolishing all tribal, recreational, occupational, and squatter housing throughout the nation.
Attestations
Independent testaments to the existence and name of the community
Year
Name
Source
Independent Testament
1990s-present
Cucamunga Quarries, Cucomunga Quarries
Directory of Active Mines in Arizona
Recorded use of the name in claims, especially by the Horner family.
1950s-present
Cucamonga Road
Arizona Geological Survey
The name "Cucamonga Rd" can appear on online maps, particularly when viewing FS 124/Double A Ranch Road near Holden Lake.[1]
present
Cucamonga Road
Bing Maps
Bing Maps labels most of FS 124 as "Cucamonga Rd".[2]
This is the earliest mapping of a quarry in the county, flagstone or otherwise, showing the notability even before any out of state promotion.[6]
The 1987 topo that first used the name (in a topo, that is) also still shows a few structures, there may have still been some permitted population for a few years, I am thinking specifically the quarry owners, like the Horners and G.B. Madison (honeymooned there).
G.B. Madison - Superintendent, Western States Stone Company, Ash Fork, Plant P.O. Box 316 - Ash Fork 86220 - Phone 637-2542 - Employees 25 - Quarries located in Coconino, Yavapai, Maricopa, Mohave, and Yuma counties - Commercial and decorative building stone marketed locally and out of state.
Coconino County claim quarries are not named as they are in later editions; that is to say, either Cucamonga was not a quarry name until after mid-1990s or the flagstone quarries were not named until then.
1997 K.A. Phillips, N.J. Niemuth, and C.R. Bain (1997). Directory of Active Mines in Arizona(PDF). Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources. Retrieved 2023-01-15. [Page 6] AMERICAN SANDSTONE [operates at] Cucamunga Quarries T22N R1 W Sec. 9 [page 15] HORNER STONE [operates at] Cucomunga Quarry((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Cucamonga Quarry under American Sandstone.
2001-2 K.A. Phillips, N.J. Niemuth, and D.R. Bain (2001–2002). Directory of Active Mines in Arizona(PDF). Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources. Retrieved 2022-12-20. [Page 11] AMERICAN SANDSTONE [operates at] Cucamunga Quarries T22N R1 W Sec. 9 [page 15] HORNER STONE [operates at] Cucomunga Quarry((cite book)): CS1 maint: date format (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Two companies working the old quarries under the Cucamonga name in the Cucamonga sections in early 2000s. The Horner company is notable for the Horners raising 8 children at a relatively improved home at the Cucamonga quarries in the 1950s.
2007 N.J. Niemuth, D.R. Bain, and F.S. Kimbler (2007). Directory of Active Mines in Arizona(PDF). Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources. Retrieved 2022-12-23. [Page 8] AMERICAN SANDSTONE [operates at] Cucamunga Quarries T22N R1 W Sec. 9 [page 15] HORNER STONE [operates at] Cucomunga Quarry((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Same two companies. Horner Stone seems now defunct.
The grand expansion of the flagstone industry after the 1940s prompted a number of profiles of the industry. Together, these provide decades of early Coconino flagstone history.
1952"Williams Area Boasts Rich Stone Deposits". Arizona Republic: 2 (Section 3). August 31, 1952. Retrieved 2023-01-13. About 75 per cent of if the quarries' output is high grade flag under 1 1/2 inches thick—a rare item in the world stone market. The greatest problem of the flagstone industry is the quarry workers. The quarries are isolated, housing is scarce, and water is scarcer. Next greatest problem is poor roads, [because of this many] quarries have to shut down in the winter.
Most of the stone is the globally rare, high-grade, thin flagstone; tough and thinner than 1 1/2 inches.
1955"Stone Industry Now Employs 200". The Williams News: 1. March 31, 1955. Retrieved 2022-12-11. At present, employment at the quarries has reached an estimated 200. In the earlier days, people in the communities were wont to drive out into the flagstone country and help themselves to the stone where they found it. ... There was a rush to mining claims, and today much of the best yielding area has been secured through filing mining claims ... Western States payroll alone runs in the neighborhood of half a million dollars a year.
1957 Ralph Mahoney (July 28, 1957). "Beauty in Stone". Arizona Republic: 20-22. Retrieved 2023-01-13. [several photographs of operations]
Topos and road maps
/* Geography*/ The first Coconino flagstone quarry was located in Ash Fork Draw, a half mile up from where it is joined by the Jaun Tank Canyon. An improved road came miles out from Williams to join the primitive road coming up from Corva Station, this having a short, steep trail down to the community quarry at the bottom of the canyon. To the west is another square mile of Coconino outcrop that would be opened in the 1950s, and beyond that is a cinder range topped by the cinder cone of Fitgerald Hill.
Prior to the mid-1930s, no quarry is indicated, yet Ash Fork Draw is indicated.
Shows the first, single quarry in the county, technically, mostly just picking up loose rock lying around, on Ash Fork Draw with the road to the Corva station.
By 1949, the improved road from Williams is now a Forest Service "highway", and is now extended down into Ash Fork Draw and up the easy slope of the quarry through to Double A Ranch. It is clear why FS-124 is also labeled "Double A Ranch Road" and "Cucamonga Rd" in recent maps.
Shows that the Arizona Highway Department identified 15 residences within a mile of the church (this excludes innumerable tents, shelters, shacks, and trailers), but only mark 6 residences within the remaining 16 miles of quarries.
Shows that the only graded and drained road to Cucamonga came in from Williams; all other roads were primative to unimproved, including to Ash Fork.
Shows the name Cucamonga Junction at the church location. Very few structures remain.
Federal land occupancy, eviction, and demolition
I have yet to locate any publication covering the evictions and demolitions. (Fayrenne Hume said there were meetings in Ash Fork about how to cope with far more evictees than the town had residences.) Clearly, the evictions and demolitions did happen, but I don't yet have a clear date to give to the William-Grand Canyon News for them to search for coverage in their unscanned archive.
Witnesses to the Cucamonga Junction describe the eviction as a distinct event, but the topos show removal of buildings over time.
Coming into the 1970s, Federal policy changed. Seeking increased revenue from camping and hiking, the USFS began serving notice of termination of leases for recreation residences with the intent of repurposing and "re-wildernessing" the sites for this use. "Nobody drives to the forest to see modern hillbilly shacks."
By this time, many recreational residence communities had shifted from seasonal to year-round occupancy, with many residents shifting their use from vacation to retirement living, and others seeking the relative low-cost housing, even with general absence of utilities (water, electricity, gas, or sewer).
Few traces of the homes of the Cucamonga Junction remain today, and the location is open as roadside camping with hiking trails. Blasting in the quarries is restricted to nighttime to reduce risk to hikers.
Commonly called by this name, capitalized or not, the church is where GNIS pinned the Cucamonga Junction name. This church appears in the maps of the 1960s and 1970s, and is the site of the GNIS location.
1956 Cavalry Baptist mission Sunday school begins in unoccupied buildings within the eastern quarries. "Cavalry Baptist Church Serves Williams and Quarry". The Williams News: 19. November 21, 1963. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
1959 The mission church is completed enough to be used for classes and services. "Cavalry Baptist Conducting Bible School At Quarries". The Williams News: 3. August 6, 1959. Retrieved 2022-12-23. The Cavalry Baptist Church is currently conducting a daily Bible school at the rock quarries northwest of town. ... Cavalry Baptist reports progress on their building at the quarry with walls up, roof on, and a piano moved in.
1960 Services are held at the church each Sunday afternoon. Attendance averages about 25. "Out of the past: Week of June 16, 2010 / 50 Years Ago". williamsnews.com. [clips from Williams News archive] Work is progressing on the Calvary Baptist Church building at the rock quarries northwest of town. The frame structure, 20 by 30 feet, has been in use for the past year. But from time to time additional work is done on it. At present the exterior rock walls are placed and sheet rock is on hand for the inside. Services are held at the church each Sunday afternoon. Attendance averages about 25.
1962 20 children attend the mission's summer bible school. "Cavalry Baptist Bible School". The Williams News: 7. June 28, 1962. Retrieved 2022-12-23. In conjunction with the Cavalry Baptist Bible school is the mission church at the Quarry. Six young people [of Williams] are teaching there. ... Ken Framzel, Los Angeles, ... will be preaching there during the summer. Daily average [bible school children] attendance at the Williams church is 62, and at the quarry church, 20.
1964 The ATSF Railway donates a bell to the mission church. Helen Pearson (October 17, 1964). "Rock Quarry Church Has Acquired a 'Bell'". The Arizona Republic: 18. Retrieved 2022-12-11. ... northwest of Williams ... Situated between a fork in the road, ... [the junction where the GNIS pin is set] ... 17 miles from Williams. ... A bell was donated by Santa Fe Railway. Mr. Taylor conducts services on Sunday afternoon, after delivering the morning sermon at the church in Williams. The church is a mission project of Calvary Baptist Church in Williams. Under the direction of Rev. Ray construction of the building was begun in 1957 and Taylor, meetings started even before the work was finished.
Note: Rev. William R. (Ray) Taylor and his wife are interred in Ash Fork Cemetary.
1964 The Rock Quarry Baptist Church northwest of Williams is now open and holds services each Sunday. Helen Pearson (October 20, 1964). "Rock Quarry's Church". Arizona Daily Sun: 5. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
1965 The mission church receives a donated generator, permitting educational night classes. "Williams Aids Rock Quarry Baptist Church". Arizona Daily Sun: 3. September 25, 1965. Retrieved 2022-12-23. One Williams man donated a generator, and another a building to house it, making possible electric lights for the church building at the quarries. Rev. Ray Taylor ... installed the generator. And now his wife, Madeline, Williams school nurse, is going to offer a Red Cross ... class at the quarries two nights a week. ... she will also offer a Civil Defense course ....
1965 There are appoximately 50 families in the community. Helen Pearson (November 10, 1965). "With Help of Several Williams Organizations, Rock Quarries Get Red Cross Course". Arizona Daily Sun: 19. Retrieved 2022-12-23. There are appoximately 50 families living in the area about 15 miles northwest of [Williams] generally referred to as the "rock quarries". The men are engaged in extracting flagstone from the ground, and the women keep house and tend the children under conditions somewhat less than ideal. There is no power, natural gas, modern plumbing, or telephone service to the quarries. Water is hauled from town, and the children are bussed to Williams to school. ... Students in the [Red Cross] class ranged from fifth graders to adults -- one of whom cannot read or write.
1965 Still no electicity, phone, natural gas, or water utilities. Helen Pearson (November 13, 1965). "Electricity Aids Night Classes". The Arizona Republic: 2. Retrieved 2022-12-23. The area generally reffered to as the "quarries" is 15 milesd from Williams. Although the distance is nothing amazing in the way of miles, in some respects life there is farm removed from what it is in town. ... There are no phone lines, no homes equipped with electricity, natural gas, or modern plumbing at the quarries.
1967 The Taylors leave Willaims for continuing education. "Rev. Taylor Leaving Pulpit For Further Study". The Williams News: 1. August 3, 1967. Retrieved 2022-12-23. After 12 years as pastor of the Cavlary Baptist Church in Williams, Rev. William [Ray] Taylor is resigning [for further study]. ... Also a small but sturdy church has been built and maintained at the rock quarries northwest of town, under the direction of Rev. Taylor. He has conducted services at the little quarry church every Sunday for the past nine years. ... Taylor's wife Madeline ...
Rock doodlers
DYK ... "rock doodlers" living on quarries in the Kaibab NF at Cucamonga Junction made Ash Fork, Arizona, "The Flagstone Capital of the World"?
1955 : "I have been running into what to me is a new term, lately. The word is "Rock doodler". They tell me there are 200 of them out at the quarries." Williams News 31 Mar 1955, Thu · Page 6
1955 : "From a few quarry-men at the start, the number of men digging out rock has grown to some 200 and more. In addition to the quarry workers (rock doodlers) ....." Williams News 05 May 1955, Thu · Page 6
1958 : "Some of the [elderly] men have posed almost hopeless problems. They couldn't tell Mrs. Brownd where or when they were born. They couldn't even sign their own names." Don Dedera (January 14, 1958). "Good Morning!". The Arizona Republic: 19. Retrieved 2022-12-11. Some of the [elderly] men have posed almost hopeless problems. They couldn't tell Mrs. Brownd where or when they were born. They couldn't even sign their own names.
1958 : Several of the oldest men living on the quarries, often unable to read and write, were not able to support themselve when they became too old to work. Don Dedera (January 14, 1958). "Good Morning!". The Arizona Republic: 19. Retrieved 2022-12-11. Some of the [elderly] men have posed almost hopeless problems. They couldn't tell Mrs. Brownd where or when they were born. They couldn't even sign their own names.
1963 : "Quarried and loaded by workers known as "rock doodlers," the sandstone is handled mainly by three dealers." "Tucked among the trees and clinging to the hillsides are the homes of the doodlers. Some of the houses are modest dwellings, attractively veneered with the flagstone or sandstone. Others are mere shelters." Helen Person (April 3, 1963). "$3 Million Industry in Sandstone". Arizona Republic: 8. (quotations hidden)
2018 : "The rock doodlers, we called them. Uh. They weren't underground miners. They were, they quarried the flagstone, famous flagstone. ... And, oh, boy, on Saturday night it was pretty wild. It got pretty western in those bars." Arizona Historymakers Oral History Transcript : Marshall Trimble
2022 : "By the time the 1930s rolled around, rock quarries were the economic driver in Ash Fork. In fact, "until the mid-1990s, 'rock doodlers' still lived on their rock claims around Ash Fork," said Cox." Heide Brandes, Route Magazine. "The Angel of Ash Fork: Fayrene Hume continues her contributions to Ash Fork history and families". WilliamsNews.com. "I'm the pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Ash Fork, and one of my first weddings in the '80s was for a rock doodler. That's what we called the rock workers. It used to be a tradition that when a rock doodler got married, he had to push his bride around at least one block in a rockhand track, which is what they hauled rock in."
Books titled for the community
In the deletion discussion, two books were mentioned, but discarded out of hand. I obtained and read these books, and both evidenced distinct familiarity with the community. Hopefully, I can comment on their relevance to the topic without making a book review.
Kukamunga Junction, by Ashley B. Jones, 2022
The book is autobiography of Edith Marie Depew, born Edith Marie Coulston. The text was transcribed and published by her granddaughter, Ashley Jones. Many newspaper articles confirm elements of the biography.
Edith's parents were Clarence and Ada Coulston, burried in Willaims. Edith married Hardy Harrison, March 29, 1966. They lived in a brick house on Main Street, Ash Fork. (Marshall Trimble told me that the brick houses on Main Street were the "mansions" of Ash Fork.) Edith later married Bruce Depew and lives in Pheonix.
Son: Michael Dale Depew
Son: Robert Alan Depew m. Jenny
Daughter: Ashely Depew m. Kyle Jones
Page vii : In the 1970s, all homes were bulldozed by the Forest Service [except for a few better homes of owners of some of the businesses there were also later demolished]. This was part of the effort to "rewilderness" the Federal park lands.
Page vii : The walkthrough begins on the FS 124 road approaching the church from the east. She then describes the community up the hill from the church to the tracks, then down the Ash Fork Draw to the Armstrong quarry. "Homer" is possibly a typesetting error for "Horner". The Horners were more upstanding rock doodlers, building their own frame home with flagstone veneer. The Horner family ran their stone business in Ash Fork through to the 2010s. Their quarries were named Cucamunga.
Page 7 : Ada was from Tennesse, and her children were named Floyd, Edith (Harrison of Ash Fork), Glenda aka Jody, Darrell, Everett.Williams News, 21 Apr 1966, Thu · Page 1 (Page 39 : "My baby sister's name is Glenda, but we call her Jody")
Page 65 : The church is well-attested in the section above. "Talbot" is probably a corruption of Taylor. Taylor's wife was indeed the William's school nurse.
Page ix : The next relatively well furnished home up from the "Homers" was the "Bolins"; perhaps they were the Bowen husband-wife team pictured twice in Arizona Republic 28 Jul 1957, Sun · Page 97.
Page 39 Joe and Judy Homer Kids: Jerry, Hazel, Walter, Henry
The author correctly describes the flora and fauna of Cucamonga Junction. The Getty stock image book cover, however, is clearly not Cucamonga Junction because of the wrong types of trees.
Cucamonga Junction, by Frank Bohan, 2018
"Since it was published in 2019, it's not at all unlikely that all the author knew about it came from Wikipedia." — an editor that never read it.
Having no knowledge of either Ash Fork or Cucamonga Junction older than three weeks, my experience with the book was along the lines of "Hey, I've talked to that person.", "I've read about that person.", "I've seen pictures of that business." Pioneers Days is for real. However, as I read his non-fiction "prequel", even as I read in each chapter of Living on the Edge elements that made it into Cucamonga Junction.
Before supposedly "writing the book from WP", the author lived off the grid in the Ash Fork/Cucamonga Junction area for 15 years, essentially the same conditions experienced by those living in Cucamonga Junction, but with solar panels.
In my first week of studying the deletion, it was clear that author had swapped the name of Cucamonga Junction to Ash Fork, so, I bought the book.
The book concludes with the burning an buldozing of "Cucamonga Junction". The real Ash Fork is reputed for three major fires that each destroyed much of the town. Much of Ash Fork did burn in the 70s, and the real Cucamonga Junction was bulldozed in the 70s following a change in Forest Service enforcement policy; so, the events were unrelated in reality.
For the most part, the real Cucamonga Junction is not mentioned, but the 1970s Forest Service demolition is alluded to in the Epilog. The demolition was part of a broader effort within the Federal lands to remove human impact not directly related to the tourist aspects of the parks.