In 1880, the Mesa authorities took steps to provide a better highway to
Globe, this with the active cooperation of their friend, Chas. T. Hayden.
Globe was a rich market for agricultural products, yet could be reached
only by way of Florence and the Cane Springs and Pioneer road, over
the summit of the Pinal Mountains, or by way of the almost impassable
Reno Mountain road from McDowell into Tonto Basin, a road that was ridden
in pain, but philosophically, by the members of the Erastus Snow party
that passed in 1878. The idea of 1880 was to get through the Pinal
Mountains, near Silver King. A new part of this route now is being taken
by a State road that starts at Superior, cutting a shelf along the canyon
side of Queen Creek, to establish the shortest possible road between Mesa
and Globe. The first adequate highway ever had from Mesa eastward was the
Roosevelt road, later known as the Apache Trail, built in 1905 by the
Reclamation Service, to connect the valley with Roosevelt, which lies at
the southern point of Tonto Basin.