Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Young, AZ

Young is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in northeastern Gila County, Arizona, set in the Pleasant Valley and surrounded by the Tonto National Forest.

The 2020 census counted 588 people in Young, down from 666 in 2010, spread across a large CDP of about 47.8 square miles, a density of only about 12 people per square mile.

The 2020 census counted 235 households and 581 housing units in Young, so vacant and seasonal homes considerably outnumber occupied ones.

Young sits at an elevation of about 5,184 feet in Pleasant Valley, which is drained to the southeast by Cherry Creek, a tributary of the Salt River.

Young is best known as a center of the Pleasant Valley War, the range feud between the Graham and Tewksbury families in the 1880s, considered the deadliest range war in United States history with an estimated 35 to 50 people killed.

In September 1887, a posse led by Sheriff Mulvernon of Prescott killed John Graham and Charles Blevins in a shootout at the Perkins Store in Young.

Young lies along Arizona State Route 288, and no fully paved road connects it with any other highway; the routes north to State Route 260 and south to State Route 188 near Roosevelt Lake both include long unpaved stretches.

The nearest cities to Young are Payson, about 60 miles away by road, and Globe and Miami, about 65 miles away, so most medical emergencies in the community are handled by air ambulance.

Young did not receive outside electric power until 1965, and a cell tower erected on Turner Hill in 2008, along with a fiber-optic installation the same year, brought mobile phone service and DSL internet to the valley.

Services in Young include a public library, a community center, a volunteer fire department, a resident sheriff's deputy, and a weekly medical clinic, along with a vineyard, restaurants, a gas station, and a motel.