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Wayne Thornburg was an American politician from Arizona. He served two consecutive terms in the Arizona State Senate during the 7th and 8th Arizona State Legislatures, holding one of the two seats from Yavapai County. He was a cattle rancher and agriculturist near Phoenix, who at one point was the largest producer of sugar beet seed in the world.

Biography

Thornburg was born in 1891 in California. He moved from Van Nuys, California, to Arizona in 1919, originally locating in the Prescott area, where he managed several ranches: the Bixby ranch, the Diamond 2 Cattle Ranch, and the Three Links Cattle Ranch. In 1918, upon U. S. entrance into World War I, Thornburg enlisted in the U. S. Coast Guard. In October of that year, he attended their officer training program at Fort Monroe in Virginia. He graduated and was given the rank of Lieutenant. He was honorably discharged in February 1919. He moved from the Prescott area to Phoenix in 1927.

He was chairman of the public lands committee which was the driving force behind getting the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 passed into law. He pioneered the growing of both cardinal grapes and winter sweet corn in the Salt River Valley, and his ranch in Litchfield Park was one of the largest producers of cardinal grapes in the country. At one point, he and his partner, Floyd Smith were the largest producers of sugar beet seed in the world. He also developed and patented a variety of grape, the "robin grape". In addition to his grapes, he also grew cotton and alfalfa, as well as raising cattle. Thornburg died on August 8, 1980, in the Beatitudes Care Center in Glendale.

References

1. "Session laws, State of Arizona, 1925, Seventh Legislature, Regular Session". State of Arizona. p. ix. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
2. ^ "Wayne Thornburg Dies At 89; Leading Valley Agriculturalist". Arizona Republic. August 10, 1980. p. 22. Retrieved September 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Noted Long Beach Woman Here". Weekly Journal-Miner. September 29, 1920. p. 6. Retrieved September 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Thornburg Baby". Weekly Journal-Miner. November 17, 1920. p. 1. Retrieved September 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "News From the Boys In the Service". The Van Nuys News. September 27, 1918. p. 1. Retrieved September 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Recent Calls Clean Lists". The Van Nuys News. October 18, 1918. p. 1. Retrieved September 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Returned Soldiers Reach Van Nuys". The Van Nuys News. February 28, 1919. p. 1. Retrieved September 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

• Republican Party Arizona state senators
• 1891 births
• 1980 deaths
• People from Litchfield Park, Arizona
• Politicians from Los Angeles
• 20th-century members of the Arizona State Legislature