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Payson is a town in northern Gila County, Arizona, United States. Its location puts it very near to the geographic center of Arizona. Payson has been called "The Heart of Arizona". The county seat is in Globe, AZ. The Payson police department executive director is the Arizona state coordinator of the 1033 program. The town is surrounded by the Tonto National Forest and has many outdoor activities year round. ==History== Payson considers its founding year as 1882, at which time it was known as Green Valley. On March 3, 1884, a post office was established with the help of Illinois Representative Lewis Edwin Payson. The first postmaster was Frank C. Hise. In honor of Representative Payson’s help, the town's name was changed to Payson. Payson had its first rodeo in 1884. Payson considers its rodeo the "world's oldest continuous" as it has been held every year since. In 1918 author Zane Grey made his first trip to the area surrounding Payson. He would come back with regularity through 1929, and would purchase two plots of land near Tonto Creek, including from Sampson Elam Boles under Myrtle Point. Grey wrote numerous books about the area and also filmed some movies, such as ''To the Last Man'', in the Payson area in the 1920s. During Prohibition the manufacture, sale, and distribution of liquor was plentiful. The transactions took place on historic Bootleg Alley.〔Payson Roundup, December 4, 2002〕 During the 1930s an effort began to try to get Payson a better road to connect it to the outside world. At that time Payson was very isolated, with a trip from Phoenix to Payson taking eight to twelve hours. Throughout the 1950s work on a paved road from Phoenix to Payson progressed and the paving was completed in 1958. A few years ago this highway, State Route 87 (also known as the "Beeline Highway"), was expanded to four lanes. ==Geography== Located at (34.239462, -111.327456), at an elevation of , the town has a total area of . The Mogollon Rim that is the Southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau lies to the north of Payson; there are many cold water lakes on top of the rim. They are stocked with fish by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Nearby communities include Star Valley, Pine, Strawberry, Gisela and Rye, all within Gila County. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Payson, Arizona」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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