How Usery Mountain Got Its Name: King Usery and the Giant PHOENIX Sign

Usery Mountain in northeast Mesa is named for King Usery, a cattleman who ran stock in the area in the late 1870s and early 1880s. "King" was his first name, not a title. He later moved to the Tonto Basin and was convicted in an early-1890s stagecoach robbery, which is why locals still tell his story.

If you have driven north on Ellsworth Road past the US 60, you have seen the Usery Mountains and the giant white word "PHOENIX" on the hillside. I get asked about both all the time when I show homes in northeast Mesa, so here is the story as best the records tell it.

Who Was King Usery?

According to Maricopa County Parks, King Usery was a local cattleman who worked this desert in the late 1870s and early 1880s. People often assume "King" was a nickname. It was simply his given name.

Ranching in this desert was hard work, and the county's park history says Usery struggled to make a go of it. He eventually left the area and moved northeast to the Tonto Basin. That is where his story takes a turn.

The Stagecoach Robbery

In the early 1890s, Usery was tied to the holdup of a stagecoach carrying silver bullion. The county places it in 1892, and a travel history of the park describes it as a Globe to Florence stage. An old Arizona history index lists a 1963 article about the same holdup with a headline that suggests he was not a very good robber, and that index dates the robbery to 1891. The sources don't agree on the exact year, so I will just say it happened in the early 1890s.

What everyone agrees on is how it ended. Usery was caught, tried and convicted, and he was sent to prison. The county says he was pardoned after serving part of his sentence. After that he was in trouble again, this time over stolen livestock, and after a short sentence he simply drops out of the historical record.

The Mountains, the Pass and "Scarface"

The Usery Mountains are a cluster of rocky peaks south of the Salt River and west of Usery Pass Road. Across the road to the east is Pass Mountain, which is part of the Goldfield Mountains. Locally, Pass Mountain is often called "Scarface," a nickname the county uses too.

Usery Pass itself was a working route long before it was a scenic drive. The county notes it was an important livestock route, especially for sheep drives. Today Ellsworth Road becomes Usery Pass Road as it heads north, climbs a low saddle between the mountains, and connects with the Bush Highway and the Tonto National Forest. Keep going and you reach Saguaro Lake.

The Giant "PHOENIX" Sign on the Mountain

The other question I get is about that huge white word on the hillside. It is an air marker, built in the 1950s to point pilots toward the Phoenix airport to the west. A county park ranger told KJZZ that a Boy Scout troop built it under the direction of a former World War II pilot, and that it took the boys about five and a half years of their free time.

Each letter is about 100 feet tall, and the whole marker stretches roughly 1,000 feet, with an arrow pointing the way. It is made of rocks gathered from the mountainside and painted white, not concrete. Other Scout troops have kept it up over the years. KJZZ reported that one troop used about 430 gallons of paint on a single refresh in 2010. Decades later, it is still one of the first things people notice on the drive to the park.

Usery Mountain Regional Park Today

The land around the mountains became part of the Maricopa County regional park system in the 1960s, and the park now covers 3,648 acres along the Tonto National Forest. The main entrance is at 3939 N. Usery Pass Road in Mesa.

The star of the park is the Wind Cave Trail, a short but steep climb up Pass Mountain. The "cave" is really a wide, sheltered alcove that formed where volcanic tuff meets granite. Water seeps from its ceiling and supports hanging gardens of rock daisy, which surprises a lot of first-time visitors. The trail is popular enough that the trailhead has parking limits, so go early on cool weekends.

The park has close to 30 miles of multi-use trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, a campground with hookups, a group camp, an archery range and a nature center. From November 1 through April 30, the park is open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the nature center is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, according to the county.

Living Near the Usery Mountains

Several northeast Mesa neighborhoods sit right up against this desert. Red Mountain Ranch borders the park, and Las Sendas has big views of the Usery Mountains, Red Mountain and the Superstitions. My Moving to Mesa guide covers the rest of the city, and you can browse homes for sale in Mesa any time. For another piece of East Valley history, read how Falcon Field got its name.

Questions People Ask

Who was Usery Mountain named after?
It was named after King Usery, a cattleman who ran stock in the area in the late 1870s and early 1880s. "King" was his first name, not a title.

Who built the PHOENIX sign on Usery Mountain?
A Boy Scout troop built it in the 1950s, led by a former World War II pilot, as an air marker pointing pilots toward Phoenix. It is made of white-painted rocks, with letters about 100 feet tall.

What is the Wind Cave at Usery Mountain?
It is a large, shallow alcove on Pass Mountain, not a deep cave. It formed where volcanic tuff meets granite, and seeping water feeds hanging plants inside.

Terry Day, REALTOR®, DeLex Realty, 10115 E Bell Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85260.