Topic: Arizona History

Felix Aubrey, who was identified with the Santa Fe Trade, was the first explorer of a wagon route over the 35th parallel, he having driven a wagon all the way from San Jose, California, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1854. Aubrey was accompanied by sixty men, and brought with him to Peralta the wagon which was driven the entire distance, thus furnishing irrefutable evidence that both a wagon road and a railroad were practicable to San Francisco over the 35th parallel. His notes of the journey were printed in the Missouri Republican of September 26th, 1854, and it is … Read more

As we have heretofore seen, numerous attempts had been made by citizens of what is now Arizona, and also citizens of New Mexico, to organize the Territory of, Arizona, which attempts, up to the winter of 186263, did not seem to have been taken seriously by Congress, this territory being considered practically worthless and the home of the wildest set of Indians that ever cursed any portion of the continent, and it is doubtful whether the Territory would have been organized had it not been for the discovery of gold and silver within its boundaries. The first discoveries, as we … Read more

The first natives of Arizona to submit to Spanish authority were the Moquis, who occupied the territory which at that time was known as the province of Tusayan. These Indians had practically the same habits, customs and government as the Indians of Cibola. They were very intelligent and far advanced in civilization. Their houses were ordinarily three or four stories high, but some were seven stories. Of them, Casteñada says: “They cover their privy parts and all the immodest parts with cloths made like a sort of table napkin, with fringed edges and a tassel at each corner, which they … Read more

Up to 1862, beyond the explorations made by Lieutenant Beale, Felix Aubrey, and others, along the Beale road, nothing was known of Central Arizona, its mines, its forests, and its agricultural possibilities. It was the home of the Apache, the most treacherous and dangerous of all the Indian tribes. The first expedition to explore this section of the country was known as the “Walker Party.” Captain Joseph P. Walker, who commanded the expedition, was an old hunter and trapper. In 1837, and 1838, in company with Jack Ralston, who later died, he discovered in this part of the country a … Read more

The journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, Andres Dorantes, Alonzo del Castillo Maldonado, and Estevan, the Arab Negro slave of Dorantes, across the continent from near what is now Galveston, Texas, to Culiacan and San Miguel, a few miles from the Pacific coast, as published in the Relacion of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, and translated by Fanny Bandelier, with an introduction by Ad. F. Bandelier is a story full of romance and adventure, exceeded by none of the early Spanish explorers. These men were the sole survivors of the Narvaez expedition of four hundred men … Read more

Exploring parties sent out by the Government, particularly those along the southern part of what is now Arizona, gave some attention in a casual way to the mineral resources of the country, and these reports reaching San Francisco, probably much magnified, gave rise to the organization of the first exploring party sent into what is now Arizona. Sometime in the latter part of the year 1854, a company was formed by Major B. Allen, J. D. Wilson, William Blanding, A. S. Wright, and others, which was known as the Arizona Mining & Trading Company, under the direction of E. E. … Read more

The town of Yuma was surveyed in 1854, one year after the sale of the territory embraced in the Gadsden Purchase had been agreed upon between the two governments. In reference to this survey, Colonel C. D. Poston, in an article printed in the Overland Monthly, July, 1894, says: ”As the geography of the country was not well understood at the time, it was not known to the makers of the treaty that the boundary line would include both banks of the Colorado River in the American boundary, but it does. By a curious turn in the Colorado River, after … Read more

At the time of which we are writing, 1849, Tucson was a part of Sonera, and the Government maintained only a precarious possession of that town. Continued raiding of the Apaches, driving off their livestock, made life in the Old Pueblo one of constant annoyance and danger. Retaliatory raids by the soldiers became less frequent, and although the Papago allies were somewhat more successful in repelling and pursuing the savages, there was a constant diminution of population. The census report of September, 1848, gave Tucson 760 inhabitants and Tubac 249. In December of that year after an attack in which … Read more

At this time Tucson was the leading town or settlement of Arizona. It had a population of perhaps a thousand, mostly Mexicans. The American flag had been raised there by a company of United States Dragoons, but its citizenship was not of a class to inspire confidence in peaceful, law abiding Americans. In the absence of civil law, the nearest courts being in New Mexico, every man was a law unto himself, and the consequence was that its graveyards were largely filled with the victims of private quarrels, but there were, among its citizenship, many of that class of Americans … Read more

Upon the disbanding of the Whig party and the organization of the Native American Know Nothing party, Henry A. Crabb became its leader in California. He was a man of scholarly attainments, of integrity and moral worth. In the fall election of 1855, the Know Nothing party carried the State of California and secured a majority in the Legislature. Crabb was a candidate for Senator and was endorsed in caucus by his party. Senator Flint from San Francisco refused to abide by the decision of the caucus because Crabb was a Southern man. This defeated the election at that session … Read more