& Zane Grey Cabin
Articles covering the history of Arizona’s Rim Country including Payson, Pine, Strawberry, Star Valley and Young, Arizona.
How It All Began The Mogollon Rim is approximately 200 miles long. Starting in northern Yavapai County it runs eastward ending near the border with New Mexico. It is the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau and the reason our area is called Rim Country. This place called the Rim Country embraces a 50 mile…
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…
Isadore Christopher was a French cartographer, army scout and explorer who first settled Christopher Creek, Arizona in the 1880’s. His first attempt to procure a mail order bride failed as the lady took one look at Isadore and his surroundings and immediately headed back East. The second attempt was a success and Mary Hope stayed…
Eager eyes were cast increasingly upon Payson, AZ. and the Rim Country from the Phoenix metropolitan area as desert dwellers longed for an easier road over the Mazatzal Mountains. The Northern Gila Country Chamber of Commerce was equally eager to receive tourists from the Valley. With pressure from both sides of the mountain, a new…
On January 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. “The manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors…” was banned in Arizona in 1915 – 5 years prior to the national moratorium. As a result Arizona was the 13th individual state to go “dry” before prohibition became the law of the…
In March of 1875 General George Crook was transferred to the Department of the Platte. In the northern territories the Sioux and Cheyenne were preparing to go on the warpath. Crook participated in the campaigns there until 1877. During the General’s absence from Arizona the Interior Department decided to move all the Indian bands from…
With the departure of Vincent Collier and his peace commission, General George Crook was ready to restart his campaign in February 1872. He was again halted by Washington politicians. This time they sent General Oliver O. Howard, a veteran of the Civil War. Howard had become extremely pious and had some success in the east…
George Crook was born on September 8, 1828 near Taylorsville, Ohio. He graduated from West Point in 1852 and was assigned to fight Indians in the Pacific Northwest. Crook rose steadily in rank. He was sent East to fight in the Civil War where he commanded an Ohio Volunteer Regiment, eventually reaching the rank of…
General Crook assumed command of the military district of Arizona early in 1871. His experience had convinced him that well outfitted units able to move quickly were important in Indian campaigns. He needed a supply road in order to connect the remote Fort Verde and more remote Fort Apache with the main supply base at…
