Editing Cottonwood, Arizona (section)

==History==
As settlers arrived in the area, a stand of cottonwood trees near the [[Verde River]] served as a meeting place for travellers.<ref name="Cowan">{{cite book | last = Cowan | first = William L. | title = Verde Valley | publisher = Arcadia | year = 2011 | url = https://www.google.com/books/edition/Verde_Valley/eWhLW8LCrqMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover | pages = 83, 88}}</ref> Horses rested there before their journey up the mountains, and travellers would camp here.<ref name="Cowan"/>  This location would become the center of Cottonwood.<ref name="Cowan"/> A post office was established in 1885.<ref name="Cowan"/> Main Street in Cottonwood was created 1908, when two settlers "used a mule team to pull and drag through brush".<ref name="AC">{{cite web | title = About Cottonwood | publisher = The City of Cottonwood | url = https://cottonwoodaz.gov/389/About-Cottonwood | accessdate =  January 7, 2025}}</ref> In 1917, [[Clemenceau, Cottonwood|Clemenceau]], a mining town that is now part of Cottonwood, was established nearby.<ref name="AC"/>  The Clemenceau smelter closed in 1936, causing job loses and a disruption to the area.<ref name="AC"/> Cottonwood incorporated in 1960.<ref>{{cite web | title = About the Verde Valley | publisher = Greater Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce | url = https://www.cottonwoodchamberaz.org/about-the-verde-valley/ | accessdate = January 7, 2025}}</ref>