2015
The WESTERN DESERT is recognized for its many resources including a great, natural,
dark, night sky. But in the early 1920’s, it was the regions cloud free daytime
sky that earned it one of the first solar observatories in North America.
Today
Kitt Peak near Tucson, is an international recognized observatory that includes a
solar telescope.
However clear skies and close proximity to a railroad, plus
its 5,600 foot elevation made Harquahala Peak the choice for the Harquahala Smithsonian
Observatory in 1920.
A specially designed camera converted the suns energy onto
a glass plate that made a graph which could be analyzed. The studies goal was to
determine if the Solar Constant affected the earths weather. Today, studies of the
Sun continue using satellites.
In the 1990’s the Bureau of Land Management stabilized
the historic building that was used for research
and living quarters on this remote
mountain top.
This challenging research site shows how capable people were in
the 1920’s!
Article covering the Mt. Harqua Hala Smithsonian Observatory by Bureau
of Land Management. Web site with good observatory details by Arizona Pioneer &
Cemetery Research Project.
Four-
Harqua Hala Letters
The story of Arizona’s forgotten Smithsonian Observatory,
by Pieter Burggraaf is part of the BLM Cultural Resource Series. You can download
the 1996 book at Arizona Memory Project and it is free!
Personal achievement from the 1920’s can be seen in a few desert homesteads. But
as worthy of recognition is the work by Pieter Burggraaf, who uncovered then assembled,
a set of articulate letters that provide insight to
daily life at the
remote mountain
top observatory.
Rain has damaged byway to the top of Harquahala Peak. Check road condition with BLM
Hassayampa Field Office in Phoenix at 623-
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