Sunday, July 9
On this date in 1857, the first mail to go through Arizona was carried on horseback from San Antonio by James E. Mason. It arrived in Tucson on Aug. 19 after being delayed by American Indian attacks east of El Paso.
On this date in 1901, the city of Williams was incorporated.
On this date in 1952, Coronado National Forest was established.
Monday, July 10
On this date in 1861, federal troops destroyed and abandoned Fort Breckinridge as they were called east for duty in the Civil War. The fort was re-established by troops from the California Column in 1862 and became Camp Grant in 1865.
On this date in 1917, the mill and warehouse of the Tempe Milling Co. which had been built in 1877, was destroyed by fire.
On this date in 1917, two cattle cars were loaded with IWW members and strikers and removed from Jerome. Fifty members of the Prescott Home Guard met the train at Jerome Junction, arrested nine of its occupants and sent the others, loaded on freight cars, on to Needles, California.
On this date in 1926, Gov. George W.P. Hunt reported that the doors and windows of the dining room in the state prison had been equipped with screens for the first time and the place was now sanitary.
Tuesday, July 11
this date in 1835, Captain James H. Tevis, early Arizona pioneer and founder of Tevistown, now known as Bowie, was born.
On this date in 1850, Louis J.F. Yeager arrived with 11 other men to establish a ferry at Yuma Crossing. They began by building a stockade on the California side of the river.
On this date in 1854, William Fourr, pioneer Arizona miner and rancher, was born.
On this date in 1923, the Arizona Cattle Growers Association met at Flagstaff and voted to incorporate.
On this date in 1958, the 30,000-acre Monument Valley Tribal Park, the first park established on the Navajo reservation, was established by a resolution of the Navajo Advisory Committee of the Navajo Tribal Council.
Wednesday, July 12
On this date in 1832, William Kirkland, who is said to have been the man who raised the first American flag in Tucson in 1855, was born.
On this date in 1917, it was reported that a burro slaughter house had been set up at the Arivaca Land and Cattle Co. ranch. Burro meat and hides were reportedly being dried and shipped east.
On this date in 1917, nearly 1,200 IWW strikers were deported from Bisbee by county officials and citizens posses. Strikers were held at the ballpark until a special 24-car train arrived from Douglas to pick them up.
Thursday, July 13
On this date in 1890, John Charles Fremont, Army officer, explorer, presidential nominee and the fifth Territorial Governor of Arizona, died.
On this date in 1903, at the town of Bonita, some three miles from Fort Grant, men from Troops I and M of the 14th Cavalry became involved in a spectacular fight with men from Troop E of the same regiment. Revolvers, carbines, knives and sling shots were used. One hundred shots were fired, a house was wrecked and one man died.
Friday, July 14
On this date in 1882, Johnny Ringo was found shot to death in Turkey Creek Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains.
On this date in 1890, a fire, originating on Whiskey Row in a miner’s shack, almost destroyed Prescott. Banks, hotels, stores, the newspaper plant and scores of dwellings were burned.
On this date in 1908, Bisbee High School Alumni launched the first scholarship assistance movement in Arizona.
On this date in 1917, the Livestock Sanitary Board reported it had 18,500 cattle brands on file at the State Capitol.
On this date in 1922, Santa Cruz County Sheriff George White was killed and his deputy, L.A. Smith, was seriously injured in a car crash on the Tucson-Nogales highway. The men were transporting the convicted murderers of the Ruby postmaster to the state prison in Florence. The prisoners escaped, setting off one of the largest manhunts in southern Arizona history.
Saturday, July 15
On this date in 1859, Alexander John Chandler, first veterinary surgeon in Arizona, the introducer of long staple cotton, builder of the Consolidated Canal and San Marcos Resort Hotel and founder of Chandler, was born.
On this date in 1862, advance troops of the California Column were ambushed in Apache Pass by Indians led by Cochise and Mangus Coloradas. The Apaches were finally driven off, but they surrounded the spring in the pass, keeping the troops from the water. The Apaches were finally dislodged from the rocks around the spring with the use of howitzers which the Indians had never seen before.
On this date in 1865, three Hualapai chiefs granted right of way for the Mojave-Prescott toll road to William H. Hardy in exchange for $150 in merchandise.
On this date in 1883, the city of Mesa was incorporated.
On this date in 1898, Jean Baptiste Salpointe, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Arizona, died.
On this date in 1948, a state Supreme Court decision leads to American Indians gaining the right to vote in Arizona.
On this date in 1960, a Navajo forked pole hogan was tree ring dated to 1387, the earliest date on record.
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