Arizona Weekly Citizen: August 7, 1881 Back in the 1860’s to 1880’s, the terrorist threat to Anglo and Mexican Tucsonans was local and ever-present. Only back then, they weren’t called “terrorists”. They were called “Apaches”. Click on the picture to enlarge the article. Background to the Article In the 19th … Continue reading
How Tucson’s Wealthiest & Most Prominent Civic Leaders Committed Mass Murder & Got Away With It. Today, there’s nothing there. Nothing to suggest what happened in the early morning of April 30, 1871. Nothing to commemorate this blood-soaked ground where between 118 and 144 people, almost all women and children, … Continue reading
In the 1920’s, one of Tucson’s richest men was Albert Steinfeld. When he was 18-years-old, the German-born Steinfeld came to Tucson in 1872 via stagecoach to work for his uncle Louis’ mercantile, Zeckendorf’s. Originally, Zeckendorf’s was a large one-story adobe building with a flat roof situated just west of Calle … Continue reading
Part1 of 3: The Dillinger Phenomenon Editor’s Note: Tucson celebrates Dillinger Days every year in front of the Hotel Congress. 2019 will be January 18 & 19. It’s a hoot. John Dillinger robbed banks. To many, he became a popular folk hero, not unlike train robber Jessie James back in … Continue reading
The most common complaint I hear about Tucson is the awful condition of Tucson roads, particularly the proliferation of potholes. Every time this subject comes up I recall that Congress Street wasn’t even paved until 1912 the year Arizona became a state. From myriad accounts by travelers in those early years, any pavement was better than no pavement.
Continue readingThroughout the history of Tucson, people who lived here, and others who were just traveling through, occasionally recorded their impressions. These hardy pioneers left us with a way to peak into our past though a tiny knothole in time.
Continue readingIn 1942, Eve Ball, author and friend to many Mescalero Apaches (NM), convinced Asa (Ace) Daklugie, a Chiricahua Apache, to tell her the stories of his people’s war with the United States of America and the Republic of Mexico (1861-1886). These stories had been told many times by White Eyes: … Continue reading
“No white man who ever in the service, or employment, of the United States … can keep pace with an Apache on foot when he is in a hurry …” Lt. Charles Gatewood from His Apache Wars Memoir. **************** I have often thought that if Tucsonans knew the actual history … Continue reading
In the mid-19th century, in the remote southwest desert that was Arizona Territory, there were not many ways to earn a fortune. Life was mostly a struggle just to survive, let alone prosper. In the early 1850’s, 10’s of thousands of young men from the eastern United States, Midwest, and … Continue reading
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a National public work relief program. Operating from 1933 to 1942, it was organized to assist unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. The CCC provided jobs for these young men, helping families who were having difficulty finding jobs during … Continue reading
