Evening Comes to the Desert

THE STORY OF A MAN WHO HELPED BUILD TUCSON AND SOUTHERN ARIZONA FROM TERRITORIAL DAYS ON

Harold Steinfeld succeeded his father as president of Steinfeld's in Tucson. He is carrying on policies his father, Albert Steinfeld, began years before. Elder Steinfeld's portrait is shown on wall.

Albert Steinfeld, Merchant

Across the virgin land it stretched-the old Santa Fe Trail-long caravans crawling through floating dust like monstrous snakes-their wagons heavily laden with bolts of calico, silks, ginghams, velvets, cutlery, firearms, tools and light hardware-their drivers facing untold dangers from Apache Indians, sickness and violent death, while through the mirage of golden dust they envisioned the fabulous city of the Holy Faith-Santa Fe-the end of the jornado.

Months had consumed the long journey from Independence. Missouri, but at last at San Miguel, the weary travelers caught sight of far vistas of many mountains over and beyond the Glorieta Range! There the travelers paused and their weariness seemed to vanish, for here they caught their first sight of the city which was their destination-Santa Fe at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Indians, dark-eyed laughing girls, soldiers, trappers, loafers, welcomed the caravan at the gates of the city-all waving their arms and shouting in unison, "Los Americanos! Los Carros! La entrada de la Caravana!" Aaron Zeckendorf arrived in old Santa Fe-his wagons laden with rich cargoes with which to open a new tienda. During the same year of 1854 the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico had been complete and ratified-opening up a vast, rich, new territory south of the Gila River and extending from the Rio Grande westward to the boiling Colorado. Lying on the high road and centered in this new territory was the ancient mud-walled Pueblo of Tucson, soon to be awakened from its lethargy by a series of commonplace events that were to become history, events we recognize today.

Also in the year of 1854, in the beautiful old city of Hanover, Germany, a baby boy was born. His proud and happy parents named him Albert Steinfeld. Months later Aaron Zeckendorf, the new merchant of Santa Fe, received the announcement of the birth of his nephew, for Aaron was the brother of Albert's mother. Thus three things happened in 1854 that were to color many lives and bear important influence in the destiny of Tucson as it is today, nearly a century later. The die had been cast for the future of Albert Steinfeld, and the pattern of the Old Pueblo and all Southern Arizona was waiting to be moulded from the impact of that same date.

The long romance of the history of Albert Steinfeld is like a kaleidoscope. The early flashes are prophetic, but a turn of the prism always reflects the individualism of a guiding hand.

In 1863, the Steinfeld family arrived in New York from Hanover, en route to Albuquerque. Since there were no schools in Albuquerque, young Albert was placed in a boarding school in New York, and his parents left behind them a lonely and sad-hearted little boy. There he continued his education until at the age of 14 he decided to go to work and make his own living. He took a position with the wholesale dry goods firm of George Bliss and Company as an errand and messenger boy. Frequently he had occasion to call upon Mr. A. T. Stewart, at that period the merchant prince of New York. It is probable that his future course was set by this association. In 1871, he joined his parents in Denver, to which city they had moved from Albuquerque.

In the meantime, the Zeckendorf firm had become firmly entrenched in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Aaron's brothers, Louis and William, had joined the firm. They had opened a branch in Albuquerque and another at Rio Mimbres, near what is Deming today.

They did a flourishing business and expanded rapidly. However, deflation followed the Civil War, as it has in all wars, and they found themselves with too much merchandise bought at war prices. They had heard of the little town of Tucson, from passing immigrant trains, where business was supposed to be quite prosperous. In 1867, Louis left Albuquerque with a train of twelve wagon loads of merchandise. It took four months to traverse the long stretch of deplorable trail through the Apache country to Tucson.

There were two general stores in Tucson, and they were not anxious to have a third. Therefore, a scarcity of merchandise in Tucson made it a simple matter for Louis Zeckendorf to sell the entire shipment to Chas. T. Hayden, father of our present day Senator Carl Hayden. In 1868, they decided to repeat the shipment and started for Tucson with sixteen wagonloads of merchandise. However, the merchandise situation was changed in Tucson, and they were com-pelled to open a store. They rented a small adobe room on Pearl street, just back of Main Street, and set up shop. The A. and L. Zeckendorf firm was born.

Aaron Zeckendorf visited Denver shortly after Albert's arrival there and offered him a job in Tucson at $50.00 per month. At the age of 17, he started out on the long trip to Tucson by rail to San Francisco . . . by boat to the little village of San Diego and thence by Butterfield stage to Tucson.

In his memoirs, Mr. Steinfeld wrote, "During the six days and nights of the stage trip the horses were changed about every 20 miles, and as the journey continued at night, the only sleep enjoyed by the weary travelers was at moments when cat naps could be stolen between jolts. The stage passed through the arid desert, now the famous Imperial Valley-which was so denuded of vegetation that not even a jackrabbit could exist there.

"The Apache Indians at that time were very bad. I remember stopping at the little town of Adamsville, now extinct, near where Florence is today, for quite a while, so as to pass a point known as Picacho Peak at night time. The Indians were never known to attack at night."

"My first impression of Tucson was very unfavorable. I did not expect to see much, but even in this respect I was disappointed, and I wondered if I had made a mistake in coming. I was very tired, worn out by the long stage trip. I went to bed early, and cried myself to sleep.

"I was somewhat refreshed in the morning, the sun was shining warmly, and I made up my mind that I was going to make the best of the situation, and even if I didn't like it, I was going to teach myself to like it."In the above decision we have the secret of Albert Steinfeld's greatness-disappointed in the looks of Tucson, weary, miles from home, in a desolate windswept barren desert hamlet, a lad of only 18 on that bleak day in February 1872, but he would "make the most of it."-and he did.

At that time there was really not much to make the most of. The store, located in an old adobe at the corner of Main and Pennington, had been added on to from time to time. It was in shambles. No one could find anything. Goods from the two New Mexico stores were scattered all about in bundles, others strewn over the floor and the crude counters.

The whole territory had less than 10,000 inhabitants. One thousand two hundred of them lived in Tucson. There were not more than five or six American women. The streets were untidy, and the houses were one story adobe with dirt roofs and dirt floors. The furniture was mostly hand made. Cooking stoves were scarce, and cooking was done in chimneys or outside in Dutch ovens. There were no sidewalks, no trees, nor vegetation of any kind, for there was no water except from shallow, contaminated wells in the homes. The only street well was at Elysian Grove, and from this well drinking water could be obtained for five cents a pail. There was no telegraph nor telephones. For light there were coal oil lamps in some stores and saloons, but oil was very expensive.The Apaches were a constant day threat to the peace and safety of the people. Sometimes they came right into the town and ran off cattle and horses.

There were merchandising problems, too. It took 60 days to obtain supplies from San Francisco and from four to six months if shipped from Eastern points. Freight rates were about seven cents per pound from Yuma and much more fromEastern points. They had to figure on carrying one stock of merchandise on hand, one stock in transit and one on order.

By the time the Southern Pacific Railroad reached Tucson in 1880, to simplify the transportation problems, young Albert Steinfeld, at the age 26 years, had already become the manager of the firm that was to become Albert Steinfeld and Company.

In February, 1883, the young and active head of this rapidly growing firm made a journey to Denver, Colorado, where the beautiful Bettina V. Donau awaited his arrival. Their marriage occurred in that city on February 15. Proudly he brought his lovely bride to Tucson, and they set up housekeeping in a tiny two room apartment. It was a small home but it contained absolute happiness and devotion, a devotion that lasted well past the celebration of their golden wedding anniversary. As the years rolled by this young couple were immensely popular and much sought after. Their home became the center of hospitality and gracious living. From the time of his marriage to Bettina Donau, Albert Steinfeld's career was greatly influenced by her untiring devotion and constant encouragement. As the years passed, two sons, Lester and Harold, and two daughters, Irene and Viola, blessed their home, which became foremost in Tucson for happiness, beauty and luxury. No event seemed complete without Mr. and Mrs. Steinfeld gracing it, and they in turn were quick to give of their time and abundance. Nothing ever failed to receive their generous response, be it cultural, charitable or otherwise.

Albert Steinfeld was always on the alert, absorbing a vast amount of information upon everything that entered into his life. He was resourceful, endowed with the power of con-centration, and rigid application to details. He was calm, deliberate and his personality endeared him to the people. He spoke the Spanish language as fluently as he did English and German. He was always looking ahead, seizing each opportunity that was presented. Above all, he had such confidence in his own studied judgment that no amount of discouraging influences were permitted to affect the eventual success of the enterprises which had his backing.

centration, and rigid application to details. He was calm, deliberate and his personality endeared him to the people. He spoke the Spanish language as fluently as he did English and German. He was always looking ahead, seizing each opportunity that was presented. Above all, he had such confidence in his own studied judgment that no amount of discouraging influences were permitted to affect the eventual success of the enterprises which had his backing.

His life was one of accomplishments, best expressed in an editorial in a Tucson newspaper at the time of the completion of a remodeling program of the old original store.

"This is not a business where merchandise is simply bought and sold and never has been. It is a place where industrial problems are worked out, financed, and industries made to produce."

Primarily, Albert Steinfeld was a merchandiser, but successful merchandising depended upon the development of the potential industries of the territory, and his foresight quickly became a prominent force in mining, the financing of commercial enterprises and numerous livestock and agricultural developments.

The Ray Copper Company at Ray, Arizona (now the Kennecott Copper Company) was reorganized by Albert Steinfeld after the original owners had failed, and for seventeen years he operated the mine. He sold the claims three times, but each time the mines came back on his hands. He never lost faith in the property. At one time he traveled to London, England, to interest British capital. He finally interested one of the big copper companies in this country to acquire the mines and to further develop and enlarge the

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