The Dude Fire in June 1990 was a firestorm consuming over 28,000 acres of the Rim Country’s forest. On June 26, 1990 the fire claimed the lives of 6 firefighters of the Perryville Crew. Today we honor their memory. Sandra Bachman James Ellis Joseph Chacon Alex Contreras James Denney Curtis Springfield   For additional information […]

How It All Began This place called the Rim Country embraces a 50 mile radius around the town of Payson.  The area is named after the Mogollon Rim.  The spectacular escarpment rises 2000 feet above the foothills and canyons dominating the lives of all who live and visit in the area. When Zane Grey’s travels […]

In the late 1880’s, August Pieper staked claims on the land from south McLane Road east beyond what would eventually become State Highway 87.  More than half a century later, the sons of Frank Owens eyed it as a perfect place for their sawmill.  In 1951 the Owens family located their sawmill in the old […]

Henry and Sarah Haught come to Rim Country In the summer of 1897 Henry and Sarah arrived in the Arizona Territory.  They brought with them 5 children and Henry’s widowed mother, Mary Ann (“Gaggy”). The family was living in Oklahoma when Henry received word from his cousin Fred Haught that the country in Arizona was […]