Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
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| Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument | |
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IUCN Category III (Natural Monument)
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| Location | Pima County, Arizona, USA |
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| Nearest city | Ajo, AZ |
| Coordinates | 32°02′40″N 112°51′28″W / 32.04444°N 112.85778°WCoordinates: 32°02′40″N 112°51′28″W / 32.04444°N 112.85778°W |
| Area | 330,688 (1,338 km²) |
| Established | April 13, 1937 |
| Visitors | 183,739 (in 2004) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a U.S. National Monument and UNESCO biosphere reserve located in extreme southern Arizona which shares a border with the Mexican state of Sonora. The park is the only place in the United States where the Organ Pipe Cactus grows wild. Along with Organ Pipe, many other types of cacti, as well as other desert flora native to the Sonoran Desert grow here. The Park is a beautiful preservation of the American Southwest.
Land for the graded road through the Monument was donated by the Arizona state legislature to the federal government during Prohibition knowing that the north-south road would be improved and make contraband alcohol easier to import from Mexico. In 1937 the land was officially opened as a national monument.[1]
At the north entrance of the park is the city of Why, Arizona; the town of Lukeville, Arizona, sits at the park's southern border. Lukeville is a border crossing point to Sonoita, Sonora, Mexico.
On August 9, 2002, Ranger Kris Eggle was shot and killed by a suspected Mexican drug smuggler during a US Border Patrol operation. The visitor center has been named in his honor.
[edit] Gallery
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[edit] See also
- Bates Well Ranch, listed on the National Register of Historic Places within the park
- Dos Lomitas Ranch, also listed on the NRHP
[edit] References
- ^ Miller, Tom. On the Border: Portraits of America’s Southwestern Frontier, p. 184.
[edit] External links
Media related to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument at Wikimedia Commons- Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - Official U.S. National Park Service site
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