Taylor, Arizona

Taylor is a sister-town of Snowflake, located right against the southern line of Snowflake. The 2 towns presently share their Chamber of Commerce, court and police services. I drove through Taylor on a Saturday morning and was lucky enough to have breakfast at the table next to a pair of older women who were born and raised here. They told me stories they'd heard from their grandparents who were among the early settlers in this area in the late 1870's. It was a great conversation (but I can't remember a lot of it) and when I got up to pay for their breakfasts and mine, they offered to take me on a tour through the whole area. I should have taken them up on it but I was in a rush to get to Petrified Forest National Park before the monsoon rains began again in the afternoon... Obviously I have to go back.

Taylor was founded by Mormon settlers a few months before the Flake party arrived in Snowflake and bought out the rancher who'd claimed that property. Silver Creek, which flows northward from the White Mountains to join with the Little Colorado River on the Colorado Plateau, passes directly through Taylor. Taylor was named in honor of John Taylor, 3rd President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.