Arizona Before Statehood

   Before Arizona became a state in 1912, the land of the Southwest was a mysterious yet beautiful place which inhabited ingenious people who developed ways to survive in the hot desert.

   The vast desert, with extreme temperatures, suffered drought and flooding, but somehow supported significant agricultural growth and large civilizations of Native Americans.

   One of the earliest civilizations to inhabit the land that is now the southern part of Arizona, were the Hohokam. The Hohokam civilization dates back to around 1300 to 1400 A.D. They were the early pioneers who grew cotton and traded copper. Their culture is still studied today with great speculation as to what exactly happened to them.

   Marshall Trimble, a historian who has taught at SCC since 1972, explained that, "The Hohokam showed evidence of great intelligence then just disappeared. We don't know why. It's one of the great mysteries of the southwest".

   Flash forward about 100 years when the Apache tribes inhabited the southwest and remain until today. But as the Spanish explorers entered the area in the 1500s, hostility quickly arose. The peace between the Apache and Spanish was not reached for another 300 years.

   As hostility grew between the Apache and the Spanish in the late 1700s, wars broke out. By this time America was inhabited not only by the natives and Spanish, but now British, English, Dutch, and several other settlers, taking the land from the natives.

   In the late 1700s, "There had been a relative peace with the Spanish and the Apache which stopped a lot of the raiding and warfare. From about 1780 to about 1820 it was 40 years of relative peace, it was a continuing revolution," Trimble said.

   But the natives were then placed on reservations, land that had been specified for tribes to live on. The majority of the land that was occupied by early Indian tribes was taken and America became a country. The territory that we know as Arizona gained notoriety with its wars and native hostility.

   "When you combine the raiding of the Apaches, and even the Navajos, along with the hostile environment of the desert itself, it was a scary place to cross to get to California," Trimble said.  "As soon as you hit these hot deserts of southern Arizona, it was the land itself that was more dangerous than any enemy or predator you may meet along the way."

   Before 1912, Arizona was only land that people used to get to other areas, such as the Gold Rush in California. Native Americans were initially the only ones interested in using the land for its resources. But finally, as people made their way to the Gold Rush they came through, liked it, and stayed.

   Now that the land had generally been taken from the natives, people from all areas of the country began to take over.

   "Gold was discovered in large amounts in Arizona beginning in 1858 and right into the 1860s. That brought a lot of explorers here," Trimble said. "It was really the ore, silver, copper and gold that made President Lincoln decide to make Arizona a territory."

   With the high demand for mineral resources, mining in Arizona began, which not only created employment for a population, but also provided a source of economy.

   Philip Vandermeer, faculty head for the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies at ASU, explained, "The discovery of mineral resources such as silver, copper and gold in the south in the 1860s brought people to settle in the area. Transportation routes like railroads, dams, and canals made Phoenix the territorial capitol in 1889,"  Vandermeer said. "By 1900 there was some tourism along the railroads and around 1900 to 1910 the Bisbee-Douglas area became bigger than Phoenix because it had copper mining."

   Arizona grew in popularity for several reasons mainly because of its resources. Arizona was one of the nation's largest producers of copper.

   "The ranchers and farmers came in to grow crops and feed the miners. When the Indian wars came to an end in the 1880s, the ranchers could get government contracts to supply beef for the Indians because that was part of the deal when they made peace," Trimble said.  "All the old Indian ground was now populated by others." An agreement was made stating that, "We'll provide the beef and you keep the peace so we can stay on the reservation," Trimble explained.

   Peace played a large part in Arizona becoming a state in the U.S. because for many years the Southwest was hostile territory.  Another reason for Arizona's notoriety was its reputation as being a lawless area, an area where outlaws ran free.

The Wild Wild West

   The Southwest had a certain reputation before it became a state. Droughts, flooding, war between natives and Spanish, as well as the outlaws in the late 19th century - the Southwest region was unpredictable with both natural and human inhabitants.

   "With the coming of the mines we had the arrival of a wide gamut of society from gamblers, prostitutes, con-men, entrepreneurs, merchants, saloon keepers, and ranchers. When the trains came it became an outlaw haven," Trimble said.

   The large desert and mountain landscape provided certain restrictions for human travel and allowed criminals safe cover from the law.

   "The land was so wild, you could just vanish into the mountains of eastern Arizona. The towns were few and far between so law enforcement was almost non-existent outside the towns. This became the last refuge for outlaws," Trimble said.

   Similar to today, the reputation spread that everyone in the southwest territory was an outlaw. Jesse James, Buffalo Bill, Indians chasing stagecoaches, all became sensationalized like a Hollywood film.