Government Accountability Editor Pat Flannery takes us through how Arizona became the 48th state.
In 1881, the Earp brothers fought against the McLaurys and Clantons in a lot behind the O.K. Corral. In 30 seconds, three people were dead. Wyatt Earp was the only man to go unharmed during battle. Wochit
Government Accountability Editor Pat Flannery talks about a heinous double murder that captured the nation's attention.
Gary Tison and another killer broke out of the Arizona State Prison in 1978 with the help of Tison’s three sons and began a murderous rampage. Here is the story of those terror-filled days, from the perspective of those who pursued them.
More than 100,000 Japanese-Americans were relocated to internment camps during World War Two as a result of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, signed on Feb. 19, 1942. Wochit
Luke Air Force Base was built in 1940 and named after Frank Luke Jr. Wochit
Government Accountability Editor Pat Flannery explains how Governor Mecham was impeached.
Here's a brief overview of two U.S. Supreme Court justices who have Arizona ties: Sandra Day O'Connor and William Rehnquist. Wochit
Paul Fritz, a chimpanzee trainer at the Phoenix Zoo, and his assistant (and later wife) Jo Chambers founded the Primate Foundation of Arizona. But how are they connected to Mesa Monkey Farm? Wochit
The one-time stagecoach stop now has an eatery that is an authentic remnant of the Old West. Mark Henle/azcentral.com
Arnold's Pickles, a long-time pickle producer, merged with rival, Mrs. Klein's Pickle Company. The pickle legacy continues under a different brand. Wochit
What happened to Manzanita Speedway? The track first opened in August 1951 and closed in 2009. The last race was April 11, 2009. Wochit
From before the dawn of statehood to the heart of the digital age, in hard times and happy times, tragedies and triumphs, we were there. Right here, where we’ll always be.
Arizona becomes the 48th state in the Union
The story of the gunfight at O.K. Corral
Winnie Ruth Judd: The Jodi Arias of the 1930s
Pure Evil: The True Story of the Tison Gang
5 things to know about Arizona's World War II internment camps
Luke Air Force Base
Arizona Governor Evan Mecham's Impeachment
Arizona's ties to 2 U.S. Supreme Court justices
Mesa "Monkey Farm": An urban legend or primate sancturary?
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Whatever happened to Arizona favorite Arnold's Pickles?
What happened to Manzanita Speedway?
We were there: 125 years of The Arizona Republic
It's hard to imagine that a town as pristine and tranquil as Young, where majestic elk, cardinals and blue jays meander and flitter among towering Ponderosa and plump juniper trees, could own such a dubious and bloody past.
But the sleepy hamlet 30 miles southeast of Payson along the Mogollon Rim, far removed from the hustle and bustle of, well, anything, wasn't always as undisturbed as it is today — far from it.
In fact, during the 1880s as two dueling families – the Grahams and Tewksburys – turned the town of Pleasant Valley, as it was known back then, into a scene right out of a horror film. Think Arizona's Hatfields and McCoys. Bloodshed and bullets flew as the two clans fought over cattle, sheep, grazing land and other perceived slights.
The Graham-Tewksbury Feud, better known as the Pleasant Valley War, lasted for 10 years from 1882-1892 and is considered one of the longest and bloodiest feuds of its kind in the West.
Sheep, cattle, horse rustling, ambushes and vigilantes
A placard outside of an old church in town reads: “...The Grahams and Tewksburys had been in the cattle business and it seems probable that they first fell out over the division of cattle they jointly owned... Sheep were introduced into the valley in 1887 and this was an aggravating factor, drawing in cattle and sheepmen from Holbrook and Flagstaff. Historians still debate the details of the feud that include brand changing, cattle and horse rustling, ambushes, murder, vigilantes, and lynching. But it is well known that as many as twenty men lay dead by its conclusion.”
MORE: Was the Pleasant Valley War really the bloodbath of legend?
Some estimates put the death toll as high as 50 as fighting spilled beyond Pleasant Valley into Globe and Holbrook. Things became so messy and unruly that it was thought that the Pleasant Valley War may have delayed Arizona's statehood, which wouldn't come until 1912.
Author Rob Lammle wrote in “4 Bloody Feuds in American History” that the situation became “more violent in February 1887, when Thomas Graham shot a Tewksbury hired hand who had been herding sheep on contested grazing land. In retaliation, Graham was shot by Ed Tewksbury, who immediately went on the lam. Shortly after, the Grahams and their sympathizers laid siege to the Tewksbury cabin, engaging in a shootout that lasted for hours.”
The war's final shot
The feud finally came to an end in 1892, Lammle writes, when Tom Graham, Jr., the last surviving member of his family, was shot and killed in Tempe by the fugitive Ed Tewksbury, the last of his clan. Tewksbury was tried and convicted, but due to a legal technicality, his case was dismissed in 1895. Tewksbury died of natural causes in 1904 as the sole survivor of The Pleasant Valley War.
During it all, as a bit of a side note, Pleasant Valley in 1890 was renamed Young after the area's first postmaster, Olla Beth Young, perhaps trying to shed its unpleasant reputation.
We'll take wildlife over chaos and prefer the serenity of modern-day Young.
Contact “Only in Arizona” columnist Mark Nothaft at marknothaft.onlyinaz@gmail.com. Send him the weird and fun facts and places found #OnlyInArizona.
READ MORE:
Arizona's deadliest Old West shootout
Arizona's last train robbery took place on Southern Pacific line
How Arizona's version of the Hatfields and McCoys ended in Tempe
Here's why John Wayne loved Arizona and adopted it as his own
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