A Town is Born

In 1881, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad began building a bridge over a deep, wide canyon in northern Arizona known as the Devil’s Canyon or Canyon Diablo. When construction halted due to financial troubles, a town sprang up around it filled with dance halls, saloons and rampant crime. The town was rumored to have been more dangerous than Tombstone. The bridge was finally completed, and on July 1, 1882, the first train crossed over the canyon. In this lesson students will learn about the effects of human migration on places and how changes in technology affect the location of economic activities in places.