FLASHBACK TO FIELD COURSE:  MAY, 1998
GGR 480: Undergraduate capstone course for Geography majors at N.A.U.
Professor George Van Otten
Professor Tom Paradis

Last year's field course included an intensive three weeks of field trips and projects.  We travelled to some very familiar places, and to some other places "off the beaten path".  If there were dirt roads available, we usually found them.  Our trips took us to the Snow Bowl on the San Francisco Peaks, through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona, down into the Verde Valley and Black Hills, onto the Navajo and Hopi Reservations, and into several small communities including Clarkdale, Jerome, and Camp Verde.  In this year's version of the field class, we may revisit some of these places, but a very different itinerary is being devised by Dr. Lee Dexter and myself.  Stay tuned for further announcements!
        The 11 photos that follow are just a sample of the places that we experienced, and not all of our trips are represented here.  Still, they may give you a good idea of the types of activities and discussions that took place during the field course.  Enjoy!
(All photos, except for the first one, taken by Tom Paradis)


Camp Verde, AZ. The entire ggr480 class.  Photo taken by Camp Verde Public
Librarian at the end of our last day "in the field".  Proof that everyone did
survive the three-week adventure, most with smiles on their faces!
      Do you recognize any of these geographers?


Corner of San Franciso Street and Butler Avenue, Flagstaff.  Dr. George Van Otten,
affectionately known as "Arizona George," shouts over traffic while discussing the
historical development of "Southside".
 


Downtown Flagstaff.  Small towns and cities across the nation are "redeveloping" their commercial centers through historic preservation, tourism promotion, and theme development.  Students in our class experienced this process up close and personal in the heart of Flagstaff.
 


Jerome, Arizona, looking North.  In the 1960s the former mining town of Jerome promoted itself as the "largest ghost town in the United States".  Today that theme persists, although many community members would like to see the ghost town image disappear as the town grows once again.  Our class examined the derelict landscapes of past mining activity in the Verde Valley region, and Jerome was a must-see!  (Is that a stratovolcano in the distance?)


Sometimes you have to look carefully in the cultural landscape to find evidence of community "sense of place".  What does this window sign tell us about Jerome's sense of place?
 


Creativity abounded when some of us attempted to understand how this old piece of machinery actually worked, found now at the Jerome State Historic Park.
 


It was not hard to find evidence of past copper mining activity in the Verde Valley.  These copper tailings, seen here from Tuzigoot National Monument, revealed to us the importance of environmental sustainability.


Clarkdale, Arizona.  As a mining company town, Clarkdale was planned all at once in 1914 and was divided into four neighborhoods: Upper town, Lower Town, Rio Vista, and Patio Park. We learned how such planning encouraged the segregation of these neighborhoods geographically, architecturally, and socially.  The most up-scale housing is found in Upper town, represented by numerous Bungalows and Craftsman-style homes like the one above.  Most of the residential and commercial structures in Clarkdale still survive today.
 


Patio Town, seen above, was designed to house Clarkdale's Mexican smelter laborers.  They were effectively segregated from Clarkdale's Anglo population up on the hill.  The streets of Patio Town, named Fiesta and Siesta,  were oriented toward the Smelter, seen here in the background.


Dr. Van Otten enjoyed talking with community members.  While students were conducting library research in Clarkdale, "Arizona George" advised this resident with some gardening tips.


In Camp Verde, we were intrigued by the irrigation system that had been devised originally for farmers in the Verde River Valley.  Today many of these irrigation ditches are used to water lawns, like this one just south of the Verde River.


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