Sunday, January 6, 2013

Fountain Hills


I took a drive out to Fountain Hills (east of Scottsdale) to bring you a photo of the famous Fountain Hills fountain.  This fountain was built in 1970 by Robert P McCulloch, the same man who brought the London Bridge to Lake Havasu City one year later.  The fountain is the fourth tallest in the world but, in 1970 it was the tallest when it was built.  Since then, it has been surpassed by fountains in Jeddah Saudi Arabia, St. Louis Missouri, and Karachi Pakistan.  The  Fountain Hills fountain sprays up to 562 feet in the air when all three pumps are engaged but, most of the time they only use two pumps so it rises up to 330 feet.  

Fountain Hills Arizona has grown up to a population of about 23,000 people who have homes in the rolling hills of the McDowell Mountains east of the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.  When I was standing there taking these photos I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen the fountain from ground level for maybe 15 to 20 years.  I have seen it several times from the air as we approach Phoenix for landing.  It seems to be right in the flight path.

I'll show you another Fountain Hills scene tomorrow.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Spectacular, especially against that amazingingly blue sky!

Lowell said...

Gorgeous photograph. And most interesting info re the fountain. We bought a Hallcraft home in Scottsdale (8401 East Edgemont, I believe) in 1959. There was nothing immediately east of our subdivision except an Indian reservation.

brattcat said...

fascinating.

Shaun said...

I think some one needs to tell the authorities that there is a leaking pipe nearby...

Lovely shot.

Judy said...

Where does the water come from?
It makes a nice picture.

Birdman said...

Ha! This is but a dream to me this week. Snow! 0ºF. Trade?

glenda said...

Very cool. We saw a balloon race here many years ago.

Catalyst said...

Oh, no, you're not gonna show us Joe Arpaio are you?

RedPat said...

it's amazing to realize how high it shoots the water. Nice reflection there, Sharon.

Thérèse said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thérèse said...

A very nice viewpoint. I do remember when as a family with our little ones at the time we went to see the Highest fountain in the World!

Mo said...

A spectacular fountain (and photo)

Randy said...

I used to love to go there for their 4th of July fireworks celebrations.

Jack said...

What do you mean Fountain Hills? It is Old Faithful. I'd recognize it anywhere.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Gosh that is tall Sharon, even with just the two pumps working it must be quite a sight.