The Land Of Dates, part 2

I will now quote from "The Old U.S. 80 Highway Traveler's Guide, Phoenix to San Diego," by Eric J. Finley for information about Dateland's name.
  "The town's name (on some older maps as 'Datelan'), comes from a grove of of date trees to which a Mrs. William Harrison tended in the 1930s. She built a home and work buildings here, but they are gone."
  "In February of 1994, a Montana investor purchased the entire site for $400,000. upon making the purchase at an auction held in town, the gentleman stated the he probably would make inprovements to the aging desert hamlet so that it could start turning a profit from passersby on the interstate."
  The first time I was ever in Dateland, in approximately 1993, it was essentially a ghost town. The convenience stores were not there and everything on Old Highway 80 was abandoned and desolate. I am not sure what was north of the interstate back then because I did not venture up that way, but it was little, if anything. Just about everything that is north of the freeway now is of a more recent vintage. 
  Dateland, in its original incarnation, was not much more than "a wide spot in the road" that most likely never had more than about 100 people, after the old Army Airfield closed. It basically just served travelers on U.S. Highway 80. I doubt the population was much more than just the employees of the few businesses that were in the town.  At any rate, these businesses that were located in the old Dateland must have been a welcome sight to travelers in the hot summer months in an area that routinely has temperatures of 120 degrees or more for about 3 to 4 weeks of each year. 
 The convenience stores today do a brisk business because they are the only services for about 30 miles towards the west and about 50 miles towards the east.
  There are still alot of date palm trees in Dateland, reinforcing the town's name. They are all planted, of course, because the only wild palms in Arizona grow in Palm Canyon in the northern part of Yuma County.