Pinal City, Arizona

After an abortive settlement by troops under General George Stoneman from November 1870 to August 1871 the area was developed by prospectors and ranchers. Silver was discovered resulting in a boom town of about two thousand residents at the foot of Picket Post Mountain by 1878. In 1879 the town's name was changed from "Picket Post" to "Pinal," or "Pinal City."

Pinal City's biggest claim to fame is as the death place of Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock, Wyatt Earp's common law wife on 4 July 1888, from an alcohol and laudanum overdose.

Shortly after the Silver King mine had played out, and Pinal City was no more by the end of the year.

The nearby Silver Queen mine continued and gradually became a better producer of copper, forming the basis of the townsite of Superior by 1900.

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park now sits on the site of Pinal City. [ [http://www.geocities.com/zybt/suhist.htm History of the Superior Region] ]

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