Gold Canyon, Arizona AZ Hotels/Motels/Lodging

This is the current conditions weather report for Gold Canyon. The report was made 35 minutes ago, at 01:47 UTC. The wind was blowing at a speed of 6 miles per hour / 9.3 kilometers per hour from the east (100°). The temperature was 48°F / 9°C, with a dew-point at 48°F / 9°C. The temperature felt like 46°F / 8°C. The atmospheric pressure was 30.06 inHg / 1019 hPa. The relative humidity was 40%. The skies were partly cloudy.

Once what we now call Gold Canyon was part of the Barkley Cattle Ranch established in the wild west days of the late 1800s. A large spread of open land, peppered with prickly scrub brush and hungry cattle. In 1946 New York resident Julian King brought his wife Lucille to a spot that he thought was paradise. He had bought some acreage and decided to build of all things... a guest ranch. Life was difficult in those early days; Lucille King enjoyed telling the story about going to Mesa for ice. They would start out for home with 50 pound blocks wrapped in burlap and arrive with only about 25 pounds. No electricity, no phone lines and wild animals ventured all too close to the buildings. Lucille and Julian did build that guest ranch and decided to call it Kings Ranch Resort. Then the Kings started inviting friends from New York to come to Arizona. They fell in love with the desert and wanted to have homes in the area, so Julian started selling parcels to people who felt the same way about the area as he and Lucille. Kings Ranch Resortremained, rustic and very isolated for many years.

In the very early 1970s a small group purchased the majority of the land that was once the Barkley Cattle Ranch. The initial plan was to bring housing development and resort with golf course to this pristine area. The biggest problem was lack of water. That problem was finally solved by bringing water from Apache Junction. The oil crisis occurring at that time caused people to avoid living so far from Phoenix so plans for the resort and community were put on hold for almost a decade. By the early 1980s however the Gold Canyon Golf Resort was in place and people started discovering the area. Today Gold Canyon is a growing location for people who enjoy beautiful mountain views and desert living.

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