“When Major Green scouted the area in 1869 for a location to establish a fort, he wrote to his commanding officer, ““I have selected a site for a military post on the White Mountain River which is the finest I ever saw. 

The climate is delicious, and said by the Indians to be perfectly healthy, free from all malaria. Excellently well wooded and watered. It appears this one corner of Arizona were almost its garden spot, the beauty of its scenery, the fertility of its soil and facilities for irrigation are not surpassed by any place that ever came under my observation. It is a description that still holds true today”.(www.pinetoplakesideaz.gov)