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Dec 15, 2013

Hillside Letters of Arizona

Have you ever noticed that lots of small towns in Arizona have the first letter of their city's name painted on a mountain? I have noticed these, and only recently did I discover that they have a name: hillside letters.

These hillside letters (or 'mountain monikers') are largely a western phenomenon. You won't find them east of the Mississippi River, but they are quite prevalent in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and even as far west as Texas. Not much is known about how or why the practice originated.

After scouring through my photo archives, it turns out that I have a number of these photos from around Arizona.

Here are some of Arizona's hillside letters that I have spotted:

A - University of Arizona

 B - Bisbee
 G - Globe

 J - Jerome

 M - Miami 

 Q - Quartzsite
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous12/15/2013 11:42 AM

    Don't forget about the Sunnyslope S. Here is the Sunnyslope Mountain wikipedia page.

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  2. Unknown5/14/2014 5:30 PM

    At one point, in the early 90s, there was a DV on the southside of the Hedgpeth Hills for Deer Valley. I lived nearby. Perhaps a photo will trun up one of these days.

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