ArizonaRealCountry.com 9 January 2019 For the remaining results, please visit www.arizonajuniorrodeo.com the area, the town adopted the name Tortilla Flats. This old stage layover, or rest station, later established its own postal service. This service was officially activated on February 15, 1928, with Mathis Johnson as Postmaster. It is still in operation to date. In the meantime, at the bottom of the Mesa-Roosevelt Road, now more often referred to as the Apache Trail, a gentleman by the name of George Cleveland Curtis, a native of Logan, Utah, homesteaded 160 acres. Curtis made his entry, staked and posted the land on February 1, 1923. By April, he had erected a building 35 feet square. Living quarters were in the rear. The front was turned over to the business. Curtis had a Union Oil Company gasoline pump and a counter with some stools to sell groceries and lunches. He still had to go on the road selling ready-to-wear clothing to keep him in funds, but when construction began on Horse Mesa Dam in 1923, business picked up. Curtis continued to expand his businesses, one which became the first zoo in Arizona. In 1940, he leased his business to Jack F. Anderson, who took over the property with an option to buy. Anderson exercised his option in 1945, and the town of Apache Junction was well on its way to becoming a proud and thriving community. In 1931, Marie L. Porter camped with her husband and Mr. and Mrs. Russell Perkins across the street from where the Professional Plaza is today in the Junction. The Perkins moved to Tortilla Flat where they operated a store and the Post Office while the Porters moved to Phoenix. After her husband’s death, Mrs. Porter drove the Star Route from Mesa to Tortilla Flat, starting July 1, 1942. She drove for eight years along the treacherous route and was the driving force resulting in the establishment of the Apache Junction Post Office on August 16, 1950. It was located in a 6 foot by 9-foot space at the Apache Junction Inn, and Marie was officially appointed Postmaster on May 22, 1952. The Post Office relocated three more times to its present location. The successful expansion of the Apache Junction Post Office reflects the prosperous growth of the area. It can be said, in all honesty, the Apache Trail, with Goldfield, Tortilla Flat, and Roosevelt, all played significant roles in Arizona’s quest for statehood. Today, visitors from around the world come to see firsthand the wonders of Arizona’s proud heritage on display. The lake systems offer fishing and boating unsurpassed and our National Forest and Wilderness Area offer hiking and horseback riding in some of the most beautiful natural surroundings to be found on earth. What is more, much of what existed during those turbulent years more than a century ago still remains unchanged. The names of some of Arizona’s most prominent pioneers were all directly linked with the perpetuation and prosecution of the success of Goldfield.