MESA, Ariz. – Arizona was founded on the five Cs: copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate.

As time has moved on, citrus has fallen off, but the city of Mesa is trying to preserve that part of our agricultural history.

What we know:

More than 200 acres are tucked away in the city of Mesa at Gene Autry Park.

“These are one of the last bastions here of citrus here in the East Valley,” Mesa Mayor Mark Freeman said. “Ironically, this area is one of the last city of Mesa-owned orchards. We’re here at Gene Autry Park. These trees are well over 90 years old.”

The land these oranges are grown on can’t be used for much else.

“We’ve created a safety zone for the aircraft flying back and forth through Falcon Field, and so this area will always be predominantly citrus,” Mayor Freeman said.

So citrus it will remain – beautiful, a great smell when they bloom – but also a history lesson growing right in front of our eyes that started in the 1910s.

“These orchards were established and, remember, there was nothing out here and this citrus here, it was sent all over the world because, predominantly, the competition was between California, Arizona and Florida,” Mayor Freeman explained.

Dig deeper:

Over the years, as Mesa’s population has exploded, orange groves have become more and more rare.

“The land has become more valuable for development, so the landowners that own their land in citrus today are selling to developers for building homes or other things,” Mayor Freeman said.

But, these Valencia oranges will remain.

Once they’re ready, they’ll be sold and shipped to Yuma where they’ll be squeezed for fresh orange juice. 

That’s the way it will be, because these trees will grow just like the city of Mesa, and they aren’t going anywhere.

“The protection of our agriculture is so important and Mesa stands ready to preserve that,” Mayor Freeman said.

Map of where Gene Autry Park is:

What you can do:

Click here to learn more about Arizona’s 5 Cs.

Associated Press

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Mason White hit three of Arizona’s program-record eight home runs and the No. 2 seed Wildcats beat fourth-seeded Utah Valley 14-4 on Saturday night at the Eugene Regional.

Arizona (41-18) can clinch a berth in the super regionals with a win Sunday against the winner of an elimination game between Utah Valley, which beat host and No. 12 national seed Oregon 6-5 on Friday and No. 3 seed Cal Poly — which eliminated the Ducks with a 10-8 win earlier Saturday. Both the Wolverines and the Mustangs would have to beat the Arizona twice to win the double-elimination regional.

Tommy Splaine, Brendan Summerhill, Garen Caulfield, Aaron Walton and Adonys Guzman also hit home runs for the Wildcats.

Casey Hintz (7-4) pitched three no-hit innings of relief and Michael Hilker Jr. allowed a hit with seven strikeouts over three scoreless innings for his first save of the season. Starter Raul Garayzar lasted just three innings and gave up four runs, three earned.

White hit a two-run home run off starter Colton Kennedy (5-5) in the first inning and the Wildcats never trailed.

Mason Strong and Dominic Longo II each hit and RBI single in the first, and CJ Colyer and DJ Massey had run-scoring groundouts in the fourth for Utah Valley (33-28).

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports