Comments on: The Gila River’s Sustaining and Stubborn History http://arizonaoddities.com/2009/06/gila-rivers-stubborn-history/ Thu, 17 May 2012 23:21:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Ewing Young: The Southwest’s Premier Mountain Man |http://arizonaoddities.com/2009/06/gila-rivers-stubborn-history/comment-page-1/#comment-1162 Ewing Young: The Southwest’s Premier Mountain Man | Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:20:23 +0000 http://arizonaoddities.com/?p=164#comment-1162 [...] Arizona, was the first to trap the Salt and Verde Rivers and was the first American to explore the Gila River to its mouth.Ewing Young is one of the most elusive figures in Southwest history. This quiet [...] [...] Arizona, was the first to trap the Salt and Verde Rivers and was the first American to explore the Gila River to its mouth.Ewing Young is one of the most elusive figures in Southwest history. This quiet [...]

]]> By: Joe Schallanhttp://arizonaoddities.com/2009/06/gila-rivers-stubborn-history/comment-page-1/#comment-83 Joe Schallan Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:53:56 +0000 http://arizonaoddities.com/?p=164#comment-83 The U.S. Census for 1900 shows a Mr. Gila Howard, a barber, living in Lake County, California. His birth date is given as November 1849 in Arizona. The same gentleman appears in the 1860, 1880, 1910, and 1920 censuses and is listed as living in various locations in northern California, with longest residence in Lake County. Each census dutifully records his place of birth as Arizona except 1860, which says New Mexico, since in that year we were still part of New Mexico. In Volume 1 of Thomas Edward Farish's History of Arizona (Phoenix, 1915), we find the following on page 234: "On the first of November, 1849, a flatboat, which had made the voyage down the Gila from the Pima villages, with Mr. Howard and family, and two men, a doctor and a clergyman, on board, arrived at the camp. [Camp Calhoun, on the California side of the Colorado River, which had been established to aid the many goldseekers traversing the Gila River route.] During this voyage a son was born to Mrs. Howard, said to have been the first child born in Arizona of American parentage." The U.S. Census for 1900 shows a Mr. Gila Howard, a barber, living in Lake County, California. His birth date is given as November 1849 in Arizona. The same gentleman appears in the 1860, 1880, 1910, and 1920 censuses and is listed as living in various locations in northern California, with longest residence in Lake County. Each census dutifully records his place of birth as Arizona except 1860, which says New Mexico, since in that year we were still part of New Mexico.

In Volume 1 of Thomas Edward Farish’s History of Arizona (Phoenix, 1915), we find the following on page 234:

“On the first of November, 1849, a flatboat, which had made the voyage down the Gila from the Pima villages, with Mr. Howard and family, and two men, a doctor and a clergyman, on board, arrived at the camp. [Camp Calhoun, on the California side of the Colorado River, which had been established to aid the many goldseekers traversing the Gila River route.] During this voyage a son was born to Mrs. Howard, said to have been the first child born in Arizona of American parentage.”

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