Tempe Butte

Tempe Butte
"A" Mountain
O'odham: ʼOidbaḍ Doʼag

Tempe Butte, or A Mountain, is a popular place to hike as it provides a view of ASU's Tempe campus and downtown Tempe.
Highest point
Elevation 1,398 ft (426 m)  NAVD 88[1]
Prominence 330 ft (100 m) [2]
Coordinates 33°25′42″N 111°56′09″W / 33.428234536°N 111.935780928°W / 33.428234536; -111.935780928Coordinates: 33°25′42″N 111°56′09″W / 33.428234536°N 111.935780928°W / 33.428234536; -111.935780928 [1]
Geography
Tempe Butte

Location Tempe
Maricopa County, Arizona, U.S.
Topo map USGS Tempe
Tempe Butte c1870.
Looking down on downtown Tempe from the butte.

Tempe Butte (O'odham: ʼOidbaḍ Doʼag) is the official name of an andesite butte of volcanic origin, located partially on Arizona State University's Tempe campus in Tempe, Arizona. It is often referred to by locals as A Mountain, after the 60-foot-tall (18 m) gold-painted letter 'A' near the top. Another name for the area, used by the City of Tempe, is Hayden Butte.

The highest point of Tempe Butte stands at 1,398 feet (426 m) in elevation, while its base is at approximately 1,150 feet (350 m) in elevation.

Tempe Butte is most often seen as the backdrop to games held in Sun Devil Stadium, including until recently the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, as well as Super Bowl XXX.

Geography

Originally, Tempe Butte was part of a series of horizontal layers, but the strata has been tilted associated with the formation of South Mountain, and millennia of erosion has created the distinctive hogback of resistant andesite, over sedimentary deposits and rhyolite beds.

Despite intensive development, the butte and its immediate surroundings continue to support a variety of native vegetation, including saguaro, Buckhorn Cholla, barrel cactus, creosote bush, palo verde, and mesquite. Native wildlife include jackrabbits, and small desert-adapted species such as pack rats.

History

Signs of early habitation by the Hohokam people have been found on Tempe Butte, including petroglyphs, pot shards, scrapers, and metate. The area just west of the butte would be settled by the 1870s in an area first known as Hayden's Ferry, then a major crossing for the Salt River which flows just north of the butte. The proximity of the community to the butte prompted Darrell Duppa to fancifully compare the area to the Vale of Tempe near Mount Olympus in Greece; therefore, the town was given its present name. The remains of the Hayden Flour Mill (which lends its name to main thoroughfare Mill Avenue) still stand near the western edge of the butte.

More recent alterations include two water tanks on the south flank of the butte, and several trails, at least one paved, to provide access to man-made structures. The east side of the butte was partially excavated in order to accommodate the construction of Sun Devil Stadium in 1958. A 50-foot-tall (15 m) radio tower was built on the top of the mountain in 1962 for the Salt River Project.[1]

Recent development along the adjacent stretch of the Salt River (which has been dammed to form Tempe Town Lake) has prompted several grassroots movements to preserve the butte from further environmental damage.[3]

The "A"

Originally, the letter on Tempe Butte was an 'N', built by Tempe Normal School's class of 1918. The school changed its name to Tempe State Teacher's College in 1925, and the 'N' was adapted into a 'T'. Subsequently, three years later, the school would change its name again to Arizona State Teacher's College, but the letter 'A' would not appear on Tempe Butte until 1938. This 'A' was destroyed by a bomb blast in 1952, prompting the construction of the current 'A' in 1955. The letter is made from reinforced steel and concrete, and is an external structure rather than being carved into the mountain or whitewashed directly on the rock.

Due to the existence of an "A Mountain" for the University of Arizona (Sentinel Peak) which predates the "A" on Tempe Butte, students from these rival schools often attempt to paint the other's 'A' in their school colors. Guarding the A is an annual ritual in the week leading up to the annual ASU-UA football game, the Territorial Cup. The A has been painted in other colors for various causes, and is painted white at the beginning of each school year, but is usually painted Gold, one of ASU's school colors. Most recently, UA students painted the A blue and white following Arizona's victory in the 2011 Duel in the Desert.[4] The A has also been painted colors by other schools, such as green by Oregon Ducks fans and purple by Grand Canyon University fans.[5][6] A tradition called "Guarding of the 'A"" started in order to prevent the "A" from being painted the color of the rival schools. The "A" is annually guarded the two nights leading up to the UofA v. ASU football game.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tempe Butte". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Tempe Butte, Arizona". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  3. ↑ "What a : Developers and anti-growth activists want a piece of Tempe's mythical mountain". Phoenix New Times. May 11, 2000. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Students restore 'A' Mountain after UA fans paint it blue". The State Press. November 21, 2011.
  5. ↑ Marissa Scott (October 18, 2012). "Giant A on ASU campus painted green". AZCentral.com. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
  6. ↑ "'A' Mountain painted purple". AZCentral.com. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
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