Part I: After the Civil War Editor’s Note. It’s not like the Apache Wars are ancient history. When my father was born in Tucson in 1919, Geronimo had been dead for only 10 years. Moreover, we have excellent contemporary accounts from participants on all sides of these brutal conflicts. They … Continue reading
Camillus Sidney Fly was a Tombstone photographer. Most folks called him “Buck”. The other Tombstone photographer was Mrs. Fly, known as Mollie. Together they chronicled the Old West as no one before them had. Their photographs were published in big city newspapers and major magazines throughout the United States. The … Continue reading
The Sierra Madre Occidental in Northern Sonora and Chihuahua Mexico is vast and extremely rugged. The interior consists of high lave rock plateaus covered with fertile soil, thick pine and oak forests, and deep river canyons, including magnificent Copper Canyon, four times larger than Arizona’s Grand Canyon. People could get … Continue reading
Many of Tucson’s first streets were named for early pioneers, folks who came to the Old Pueblo in the 1860’s or early ’70’s. I was struck by how many of our street names honor pioneers who were killed by Apaches. Then I got to wondering, how many Tucson street names … Continue reading
Unlike the many images we have of Geronimo today, no photograph of Cochise exists. We only know what he looked like from contemporary written accounts; mostly American and Mexican. These we owe to the very few people of European descent who lived to tell about their close encounter with the … Continue reading
(Editor’s Note: After reading my review of books I have used as resources in writing about local history in general and Apaches in particular, one of our newsletter readers, Tim Simmons, sent me an additional list from his own library. Several of these will be added to my own library … Continue reading
Editor’s Note. Karen Weston Gonzales is a talented free lance writer. I first read her story about Southern Arizona pioneer, Tom Jeffords, in Tombstone Times to which I subscribe. The story is reprinted here with permission. The story is true and offers a clear account of one of the most … Continue reading
For a quarter century, 1861 to 1886, Ft. Bowie was prime real estate known as Apache Pass. The Americans wanted it for their stagecoaches & supply wagons. The Chiricahua Apaches wanted it because their people had lived here for at least two centuries. Both sides were willing to pay for it in blood.
Continue reading(Editor’s note: A few weeks ago, Tim Simmons, one of our readers wrote to ask if we would write about Mickey Free. Mr. Simmons explained that Mickey was a Mexican fighting alongside the White Mountain Apaches against other Apaches for the Americans. We thought that was certainly unusual and that … Continue reading
Our perfect 3-Day Road Trip started in Tucson and headed east to (A) Willcox. From there we continued on I-10 over the AZ-New Mexico border to NM Hwy 80. Then south to Rodeo, NM where we visited the Chiricahua Desert Museum. Leaving Rodeo, we continued south on 80 to (B) … Continue reading
