Somewhere back in the hills of Pinal County, where mining once flourished and claim jumpers and robbers made a decent living, there’s a place called Slinkard Springs. The exact location has been pretty much obscured by time and development, but the story behind its name remains intact. It happened this way:

Back in 1889, a trio of ne’er-do-wells robbed a Chinese immigrant named Sam Gee. The victim owned gardens where he raised produce to sell to the mining camps. He kept his earnings in a small safe. One of the robbers was Frank Slinkard; the others were Fin Clanton and Tom Deloche.

Shortly after the robbery, the trio was apprehended because of Fin Clanton. He had a deformed hand that caused him to wear a special glove to conceal the infirmity, and he carelessly dropped the glove near the safe as the robbers fled. Lawmen quickly identified it as Clanton’s and apprehended the culprits. And the site received a new name.