Lookout Mountain in Paradise Valley, Arizona is a historical landmark with a long interesting history

Lookout Mountain (2054 ft elevation, 626m) rises out of residential north Phoenix. Lookout Mountain is located in what was once called the original Paradise Valley, in Arizona, before the name was changed by politics, to North Phoenix. This city will always be considered my old home and Paradise Valley, regardless of who took the name for their own living area. Older valley residents will agree that the name, Paradise Valley, should have always remained here.
Lookout Mountain today is a far cry from 1953. The valley was young, and the population was small then. Large residential areas and a city charter did not exist. The valley was mostly a Sonoran Desert complimented by various kinds of cacti, mesquite trees, brush, tumbleweeds, and wildlife. It was not uncommon to see whirlwinds (dust devils), horny toads, stickers or devil claws. Today, it would be a rare incident if such things were observed by anyone.
As children, we would climb this magnificent mountain and find something new everytime we climbed it, a new path, assorted rocks or catch a glimpse of an animal or bird. Lookout Mountain has a long line of history behind it. At the top of this mountain, you could see the Black Hills, Shadow Mountain, North Mountain, Cloud 9 Mountain, Moon Valley, Deer Valley, most of Paradise Valley, Pinnacle Peak, the Turf Paradise horse track, the old corner bar on Cavecreek road and Bell. This mountain served as a lookout point for early Indian cultures, a landmark for early settlers and cavalry units, a home base for valley residents, and that it has a history of volcanic activity over sixteen million years ago.
The ‘Lookout Mountain Golf Club’, took its name after the big mountain, as did other businesses. These places are located a short distance from this attractive mountain. ‘Lookout’ is also considered the most popular mountain in the valley and known throughout all Phoenix areas. I have no idea what the future will bring for ‘old Lookout’, but that one can only hope that the people living in the valley today preserve this mountain of history, attraction and beauty.
Jim Heitmeyer