When Arizona Became a Territory

When Arizona Became a

THE ROAR of powerful motors. An airplane soars over Phoenix, a fair city that has been made to blossom as the rose from the heart of the desert. The plane lands, and the newspaper men rush forward. The Governor has returned from an important conference in Washington.

Let us turn back the pages of history, and follow the journey of the first Governor who came to found the Territory of Arizona.

Arizona was created out of the western half of the Territory of New Mexico, by an Act of Congress, February 24, 1863. The Act was approved by President Lincoln. The President was authorized by the Act to approve the next federal officers. In May, 1863, he named the following: Governor, John Gurley, Ohio. John passed away before the party was ready to set out for the new territory, and Chief Justice John Goodwin of Maine, was made Governor.

Secretary, Richard McCormick, New York.

Associate Justices, Wm. T. Howell, Michigan, and John P. Allyn, Connecticut.

District Attorney, John Titus, Pennsylvania.

U. S. Marshal, M. B. Duffield, California.

Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Charles D. Poston, who claimed Arizona as his home, having spent several years in the territory, in the western part of what was then New Mexico. Poston made the trip by way of San Francisco, where he met the new marshal, Duffield, and A. White, Indian agent forthe Pimas. They sailed from San Francisco to San Pedro, and crossed the desert to Southern Arizona, and did not join the Governor's party until it had left Navajo Springs and reached Fort Whipple, which was the official capital for several years.

By ELIZABETH TOOHEY Arizona State Historian

Later in May, Levi Bradford was appointed Surveyor General, and W. F. Turner of Iowa, was appointed Chief Justice in John Goodwin's place.

Excepting Poston, the whole party finally gathered at Fort Larnard in Nebraska, according to Jonathan Richmond's letters, a young man who was a member of the Governor's party. From the letters of this young man written to his parents, we are indebted for the almost daily happenings from the time the party left Fort Larnard.

Tucson was originally named as the capital but when the bill finally passed, the name Tucson was stricken and the capital left open. This was due, supposedly to the representation of several army officers then in Washington, who had served in New Mexico.

The Civil War was then raging, and Tucson was represented as being a hotbed of Confederate sympathizers, peopled mainly by ignorant Mexicans. They urged that the capital be in Northern Arizona, where they would be free of political intrigue.

The original act creating the territory provided that in order to receive pay for the year 1863, the party must be within the lines of Arizona, and take official oath before the last day of December, 1863.

The story of the party's journey westward is best told in the letters of Jonathan Richmond, which follow.

Governor Goodwin's party left Fort Larnard, in Nebraska, on October 5, 1863.

We camped about a mile east of Fort Riley, Kansas, on a small creek called Cow Creek. There were encamped here a train of twenty-eight wagons drawn by two hundred and eighty oxen, and one company of Missouri Cavalry as an escort, for the Indians were very troublesome beyond here.

There are camped near here five hundred Indians who have lately arrived from the north of Texas. They are a

NOVEMBER, 1934. ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 7 Territory The Record of the Journey of Governor Goodwin and His Party to Navajo Springs in the Year 1863

savage looking tribe, most of them naked, others wearing buffalo hides.

They have but a few guns, their principal weapons are bows and arrows. The Major commanding our escort, Company I, Eleventh Missouri Cavalry, and Company H, Fourth Missouri Cavalry, is very strict in the issue of orders in having a strong guard at night. We broke camp at Fort Riley on Monday, October 5, and on Tuesday we saw the first buffalo, which to our disappointment, proved to be a tame one feeding with cattle. On Wednesday we saw a small buffalo calf. One of the soldiers separated it from a herd of tame cattle and killed it.

Late that afternoon just before camping, one of the soldiers on the advance dismounted by the roadside to light his pipe. He threw the match down, and in less than a minute the prairie was a running fire. The fire was not long in reaching and destroying the house, barn, and out buildings of a poor farmer about a mile distant. About an hour after camping, the farmer appeared in camp, stating that he had lost everything. We collected about five hundred dollars which we gave to him.

On Thursday we routed a herd of fifty-seven buffalo and killed four which furnished roast and steaks for the evening meal.

The country through which we have come thus far is a vast prairie, not a tree to be seen for miles. Most of the grass along the road has been burned by the Indians in order to keep the buffalo off the track of the white man. We anticipate a great deal of trouble in the Raton mountains from the Indians, and are making great preparations for a strong resistance. The ox train which accompanies us from here to Santa Fe, is loaded with guns and ammunition for the regiments. The trains combined will make sixty-eight wagons; three companies of cavalry, and about twenty teamsters, besides our party of eighteen.

Fort Lyon, Colorado. October 27, 1863.

Broke camp at Fort Larned, Kansas, October 15, and traveled sixteen miles. On Friday traveled thirty-two miles. Saturday very cold. Camped on the Arkansas.

It is amusing to see all, from the Governor down, out on the prairie, bagin hand, collecting buffalo chips which we use for fuel.

Traveled twenty miles on Monday. Met the stage carrying the United States' mail.

Tuesday very cold. Met the stage bound east.

On Sunday we arrived here (FortLyon), and are enjoying the luxury of wood fires, fresh beef, etc. The buildings officers' quarters, barracks, etc., are of stone one story high, with mud roofs.

Lyon), and are enjoying the luxury of wood fires, fresh beef, etc. The buildings officers' quarters, barracks, etc., are of stone one story high, with mud roofs.

There are about six hundred troops stationed here, three companies of cav-

alry