Snowflake is a small town with a population of about 5500 people, although the town of Taylor is immediately adjacent and has about 4200 people, and it appears quite a lot of development is taking place just outside the limits of the two towns. While still a small community, there is a WalMart in Taylor.
Both towns were established in 1878 by Mormon settlers sent here from Utah to "colonize" the Arizona territory, despite the fact that it was home to the Apache and Navajo tribes. Today there are about a half million Mormons in Arizona, and about one-quarter of Snowflake's citizens are Mormon. Snowflake was founded by William J. Flake, with assistance from church elder Erastus Snow. They decided to name it for a combination of their surnames. Flake descendants still live here, and former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake was born here (but now lives in Mesa).
Visitors are encouraged to take a walking tour of historic homes, but I drove around to get these photos. It's surprising how nice some of the homes from the 1800s still look. Of course, the original settlers started living in small adobe houses.
One of the really early homes is also preserved.
Like many Mormon communities, they have a strong respect for those who came before. On Main Street, a bronze sculpture pays tribute to the founders of Snowflake and recognizes the sacrifices they made to establish a settlement in what was then wild country.
With the strong sense of family shared by all Mormons I've encountered, the people in Snowflake have several bronze statues around town of young children at play.
I previously mentioned there are five Mormon temples in Arizona and one of the newest ones is in Snowflake. It sits on a hill that is the highest ground for miles around, making it a good place to view sunsets. I went there every night for that purpose, although most of the sunsets were not photo worthy. After four nights of standing in a cold, windy location for no good reason, I finally got a nice sunset that not only colored the western sky, but also lit up the clouds in the east, behind the temple. It was what I had hoped for, so I tried to capture every view and composition I could thin k of.
Twenty miles to the south is the town of Show Low, about the size of Snowflake and Taylor combined. Legend has it that two partners in a ranch had a falling out and decided to play cards, with the winner getting the ranch and the loser leaving town. After hours of play, it didn't appear the matter would be settled anytime soon. One said to the other, "let's cut the cards and whoever shows low card wins". The deuce of clubs was shown and won the ranch. Show Low became the town's name and its main street is Deuce of Clubs. The story is reflected in one of the town 's murals. Another mural depicts the fact that the town gets many visitors who come for outdoor recreation in the nearby White Mountains.
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