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Flagstaff is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. The city's name commemorates a Ponderosa Pine tree that was made into a tall flagpole by members of a scouting party from Boston, Massachusetts on July 4, 1876 to celebrate the United States Centennial. Flagstaff lies near the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau and along the western side of the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest on earth at an elevation of around 7,000 ft. Flagstaff is located just south of the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountain range in the state of Arizona. In 1855, then-Lieutenant Beale, surveyed a road from the Rio Grande in New Mexico to Fort Tejon in California. He passed over the spot where Flagstaff now stands, and camped out at the eastern extremity of the present town. The lieutenant had his men cut the limbs from a straight pine tree in order to fly the United States flag. Flagstaff’s first recognized permanent settler was Thomas F. McMillan, who arrived in 1876 and built a cabin at the base of Mars Hill. During the 1880s, Flagstaff began to grow, opening its first post office and attracting the booming railroad industry. The town's economy largely consisted of timber, sheep and cattle, and by 1886, Flagstaff was the biggest city on the main line between Albuquerque and the West Coast.