Mesa del Caballo, AZ

Mesa del Caballo is a Gila County census-designated place atop Houston Mesa, a low ridge northeast of Payson. The name means 'plateau of the horse' in Spanish, and Houston Mesa Road links the community to Arizona 87 and the town below. The local fire district began in 1977 as the Mesa del Caballo Fire District, serving an 'island' of private land surrounded by Tonto National Forest. That boundary detail is the useful local clue: Mesa del Caballo is a small residential pocket on a forested plateau, close to Payson but with its own name, road, and service history.