Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Small Left Large Mark



A very small memorial pays tribute to The Small Legacy as "Father of Arizona Highways."  That's right, Charles Churchill (C.C.) Small was so highly regarded during his 13 years with the Arizona State Highway Department, his peers bestowed the honor of that special title upon the engineer.

The C.C. Small Memorial is located on the Yarnell Hill Overlook along old US 89.  Very little is known of Engineer Small.  The only information we could find comes from Page 58 of the 2004 ADOT publication entitled, "Good Roads Everywhere, A History of Road Building in Arizona."  

"The creation of the Arizona state highway system can be credited to often nameless staff members, but two highway department employees stand out for their contributions. One was Charles Churchill (C.C.) Small, a civil engineer who had begun his career as a railroad location engineer in Massachusetts. At the time, there were few professionals trained in the new science of highway construction, and many highway engineers came from the railroads. He joined the State Engineer’s Office in 1919 as chief location engineer. When Small joined the department, the state boasted about 1,000 miles of highways, most in the two roads established as Territorial Highways in 1909. During the 13 years Small worked for the department, the state highway mileage doubled, and he oversaw several major construction projects including the building of the third state highway, which is the route that became U.S. Highway 66. Small also directed the modernization of the old Territorial Highway from Phoenix to Duncan (later U.S. Highway 70), and the route from Nogales to Flagstaff over Yarnell Hill (later designated U.S. Highway 89). After Small had been named chief deputy state engineer, he initiated the construction of the final section of U.S. Highway 60 from Globe to Show Low, including the bridge over the daunting Salt River Canyon. A junior member of his staff remembered Small as “the guy who ran the place. State engineers came and went [but] he was the one who had the say.” On a treacherous stretch of U.S. Highway 89 between Wickenburg and Prescott, a monument on the slopes of Yarnell Hill reads, “In memory of Charles Churchill Small, member, American Society of Civil Engineers, 1872-1932, Father of Arizona Highways” (Gray 1995a:3)."

For more location information and additional photos see: 


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