Phoenix, Arizona, is located at the intersection of Interstate Highways 10 and 17 in the south central part of the state. During the period from 700 A.D. through 1400 A.D. the Hohokam culture flourished in the entire region around present day Phoenix. Spanish explorers and missionaries visited the area as early as the seventeenth century and Eusebio Kino named the Salt River that flows through the valley. In the early nineteenth century fur traders passed through. At the conclusion of the Mexican War in 1848 this area passed to the control of the United States. In 1867 Jack Swilling, visited the area and decided to establish a farm. Other settlers joined with him in constructing a canal to bring water to their fields from the Salt River. Swilling was a former Confederate soldier and wanted to name the community that was forming Stonewall in honor of Stonewall Jackson, but Darrell Duppa suggested that because they were resurrecting farmland that had supported an earlier civilization Phoenix would be a more appropriate name. Maricopa County was formed in 1871 and, in 1889, Phoenix replaced Prescott as the capital of Arizona Territory. In 1895 the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad inaugurated service to northern Arizona.
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