Tag: early arizona
Uncle Jim: The Last of Arizona’s Bonafide Gunfighters
The old West was fading from reality into the realm of myth by the mid-1920s. Most of the bonafide gunfighters were gone and Hollywood took up the chore of telling how it really was. Tom Mix was earning over $17,000 a week performing super-human feats from atop his famous horse, Tony, and the public loved ...Arizona History Trivia: Can You Pass?
Test your knowledge of Arizona history with this short quiz, originally published in Marshall Trimble’s Official Arizona Trivia. Don’t scroll down too quickly. The answers are posted shortly below the questions. When you’re finished, leave a comment with your score. 1. Before Arizona became a territory in 1863, it was part of which ...The Partial Resurrection of Fairbank in Southern Arizona
In its prime, Fairbank was the site of a hotel, school, mercantile, several houses, stage depots and four railroads. Not bad for a town which, even at the height of its popularity, had only about 500 residents. But those days are gone and Fairbank is now a mere remnant of its glory days as a ...Lieutenant Amiel Whipple’s Good Deed Saved 47 Lives
On a hot afternoon in 1849 not far from the Yuma River Crossing, a small party of Army Topographical Engineers came upon a young Indian girl wandering in the desert. She was nearly dead from exposure, hunger and thirst. Many would have left the youngster to her fate. It was a tough, unforgiving land where ...Arizona Place Names (Pt. 3): Surprising Towns Named After People
Long ago, Arizona settlers felt inspired to attach names to the special places they found. Sometimes they achieved palpable immortality by naming it after themselves; and sometimes it backfired. Like the time Henry Mortimer Coane was running a small store in the Verde Valley. Folks wanted to use the place as a post office, so Coane ...The Case of The Vanishing Train Robbers
On the evening of April 27, 1887, southern Arizona's only passenger train, the Sunset Express, was making its run toward Tucson. The train was a few minutes behind schedule, so the engineer gave her a little more steam to make up time. About 20 miles east of Tucson, the yellow streak from the headlight picked ...Why Does New Mexico Have a Stronger Hispanic Heritage Than Arizona?
Today’s question: If Arizona and New Mexico were both settled by the Spanish, why does New Mexico seem to have a much stronger Hispanic heritage than we do? That’s a good one. For help on this I turned to good old Marshall Trimble, author, singer, teacher, Arizona state historian and all-around swell guy. The answer in a ...The Legend of Red Ghost
Most folks will tell you camels are not found in Arizona's high country. Truth is, those adaptable beasts can thrive in just about any kind of terrain. The U.S. Army introduced camels to the Southwest back in the 1850s, using them as beasts of burden while surveying a road across northern Arizona. But, the Civil ...Life in Old Boom Towns with Jackass Prospectors
The gold and silver rushes, more than anything else, provided the inspiration for people to give up relative comforts in the East and come west. Opportunity to get rich quick is a uniquely American article of faith and was virtually born in the West. With a single lucky break, one could instantly make more money ...Doc Flower: One of Old Arizona’s Great Con Men
Today's disreputable land promoters selling lake shore lots on edges of mirages are mere amateurs when compared to the wheeler dealers of yesteryear. The lawless Arizona territory attracted the wide gamut of frontier con men ranging from tin horn gamblers to stock swindlers. One was Doctor Richard Flower. Doc Flower wasn’t really a doctor. He ...
