Chronology of Cochise County Between 1847-1912

Transcribed by Wilola Follett

References:

An Arizona Chronology - The Territorial Years 1846-1912, by Douglas D. Martin 1963

Arizona Territory 1863-192 A Political History, By Jay Wagoner, U of A Press 1870

1846 May-President James K. Polk declares war between U.S. and Mexico.

1846 Dec-Lt. Col. Phillip St. George Cooke's Mormon Battalion crosses thru Cochise County.

1848 Feb-Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. End of Mexican War.

1848-1849-Gold discovered in California, which increased traffic of the trails in Cochise County.

1853-Gadsden Purchase- area south of Gila River to present day international boundary with Mexico. It was ratified and signed by Pres. Franklin Pierce April 1854. Arizona was part of the New Mexico Territory.

1858-Butterfield Overland Stage Station built north of Dragoon Springs and east of Dragoon.

1860-Cochise Co. part of Ewell and Messilla Co., NM.

1860-U.S. Decennial Census. AZ enumerated with NM Territory.

1861 Feb-2nd Lt. George H. Bascom attempts to capture Chief Cochise at Apache Pass.

1861 Aug-Lt. Col. John R. Baylor, CSA, declares AZ to be Confederate Territory.

1862 July-Apaches attack Gen. James H. Carlton, Union. Carleton leaves soldiers at Apache Pass.

1862 July-Camp Bowie is established.

1863 Feb-Congress passes bill creating Arizona Territory. John Goodwin first Territorial Governor.

1864-Four original counties created - Mohave, Pima, Yavapai, Yuma.

1864 May-U.S. Marshal Milton B. Duffield completes First Census of Arizona Territory.

1869 Apr-Express rider from east attacked by Indians at Apache Pass; mail captured for 3rd time in three months.

1870-U.S. Decennial Federal Census - AZ Territory enumerated separately.

1872-General Howard and Chief Cochise, draft and signed a peace treaty in camp near Dragoon Springs.

1872-Creation of the Chiricahua Indian Reservation.

1874 June-Cochise, Chief of Chiricahua Apaches, dies in tribe's stronghold in Dragoon Mountains.

1876-Chiricahua Apaches move from their reservation to San Carlos Reservation.

1876 Apr-Chiricahua Apaches jump reservation; kill 2 station helpers at Sulpher Springs, murder 1 rancher.

1876 July-Renegade Chiricahua kill 2 prospectors.

1877 Mar-Camp Huachuca established (renamed Fort Huachuca in 1881).

1877 Aug-John Dunn, government scout, finds first ore in Bisbee District.

1877 Sept-Ed Scheffelin records first Tombstone silver claim.

1879 Oct-First issue of The Nugget is published in Tombstone.

1880-U.S. Decennial Federal Census - AZ Territory.

1880 Mar-First Southern Pacific train reaches Tucson, crossing Cochise County.

1880 May-John P. Clum prints 1st issue of the Tombstone Epitaph in a tent.

1880 July-George Warren bets his interest in Copper Queen Mine (Bisbee) on race against a horse and looses. His share became worth $20,000,000.

1881-A judge passed a law that no Orientals would be welcome in Bisbee.They were allowed on the streets only from dawn to sunset and had to leave town at night.

1881 Jan-Tucson, Yuma, Tombstone connected with all points east and west by telegraph lines along Southern Pacific Railroad Route.

1881 Jan 3-Cochise County created by carving up Pima County.

1881 Jan-Services held in newly finished Catholic Church in Tombstone.

1881 Mar-Water appears in rich silver mines in Tombstone.

1881 June-Barrel of whiskey explodes in Tombstone saloon, fire erupts and destroys business section.

1881 Oct-OK Corral Battle, Tombstone. Earps, Clantons and McLowrys.

1881 Dec-Marshall Virgil Earp of Tombstone shot in back and crippled for life.

1881 Dec-City of Tombstone, Cochise County, incorporated.

1882-Cochise Co. Hospital established at Tombstone. First Dr, George Goodfellow, specialized in gunshot wounds. Hospital was moved to Douglas in 1909.

1882 Mar-Morgan Earp killed from ambush in Tombstone. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday ride out of Tombstone and never return.

1882 May-President Chester A. Arthur warns Arizona he will place it under marital law unless it shows more respect for law and order. The warning is directed chiefly at Cochise county.

1882 June-First service in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Tombstone is held. This church was the first Episcopal church built in Arizona Territory.

1882 July-John Ringo found sitting in the forks of five oak trees - he had been shot. Grave marker is in Turkey Creek.

1882 Sept-Bisbee miners halt work in order to lynch a drunken killer.

1883 Jan-Governor F. A. Tritle deplores lawlessness, especially in Cochise County.The 12th Territorial Legislature passes laws against vice and gambling.

1883 Dec-Five "cowboys" rob Bisbee store, shoot up the town killing 4 citizens. Leader is taken from Tombstone jail and lynched.

1883 Dec-Sulphur Springs artesian water is found.

1883 Dec-Bisbee Massacre.

1884-Five Bisbee bandits are hanged simultaneously in Tombstone.

1885 Nov-Phelps-Dodge partners launch the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company.

1886-One of the Heliograph Stations placed at Signal Hill. Stations were strung out between Bowie and Fort Huachuca.

1886 Apr-General Nelson Miles arrives at Bowie Station then proceeds to Fort Bowie to replace General Crook.

1886 May-Fire destroys Grand Central pump house at Tombstone; mines are flooded.

1886 Aug-Chief Geronimo surrenders to General Nelson A. Miles in Skeleton Canyon.

1887-Earthquake felt throughout Cochise County and beyond.

1887 May-Tombstone Epitaph reports volcano erupts in the Dragoon Mountains, following a severe earthquake.

1888 Feb-Westbound Southern Pacific train robbed at Stein's Pass. Reward of $2,000 offered. Cochise sheriff goes to Mexico looking for robbers and is jailed for two weeks.

1890 Feb-Tombstone prospector reports no Indian is known to have recovered from an influenza epidemic.

1890 Feb-Five robbers hold up Southern Pacific train at Fairbanks. Three Fingered Jack is mortally wounded.

1890 June-Pearce mine fuel explodes and destroys a 50-stamp mill and starts a section of town on fire.

1890 July-Warren Earp, youngest and last of the Earp brothers in Cochise County, starts a fight in Willcox and is killed.

1892-John Slaughter built his second house at San Bernardino; his first home was destroyed in the 1887 earthquake.

1892 Jan-Tombstone makes another effort to recover silver deposits; installs a diamond drill in Lucky Cuss mine.

1893 Sept-Cattlemen and farmers of Cochise and Graham Counties are warned to go armed at all times because of rumors of the Apache Kid lurking in the mountains.

1894 Mar-Court of private land claims voids Spanish land grants along border. Nogales, Huachuca and Tombstone celebrate with bonfires and salutes.

1896 Jan-Hobo gang resist officers at Benson: two hobos killed and one officer wounded

1896 Oct-Flash flooding in Whetstone Mountains sweep Benson. Two mothers, four children die.

1897 Jan-In midst of mining and building boom, a settlement at Pearce begins. Huge stamp mill ordered and deserted homes brought in from Tombstone.

1897 Feb-Tucson, Benson, Tombstone and Pantano report brilliant meteor passing overhead at low altitude.

1898-Bisbee Daily Review is established.

1899 Sept-Southern Pacific train held up at Cochise and $10,000 taken. Two constables are caught and convicted.

1900-Portal founded by Otto Duffener.

1900-Cochise County had its first telephone - only served local communities until 1910 when a regular system was put in.

1900 Nov-Two Haldeman brothers legally hanged in Tombstone for killing two peace officers.

1901 Jan-Douglas established. Named after Dr. James Douglas. (incorporated in May 1905)

1901 Mar-Governor Nathan Murphy formed Arizona Rangers - 1st Capt. Burton Mossman; 1st Headquarters was at Bisbee as most outlawry was along the Mexican border.

1902-First motor car put into service as a taxi in Douglas.

1902-First organized sport in Douglas was tennis.

1902 Jan-Town of Bisbee incorporated. March 15th the mayor and community council change the official name to City of Bisbee.

1902 Mar-Douglas Dispatch newspaper established.

1902 Mar-Construction of Territorial Reform School begins at Benson.

1902 Mar-Douglas got its first Fire Department - a hose cart and was pulled by several men.

1902 Nov-Consolidated Mines Co. reopens Tombstone silver mines.

1903 June-Pumps are shut down as Tombstone miners strike. Water rises in the mines.

1903 July-Heavy rainstorm between Dragoon Mountains and Tombstone, washes out six El Paso and Southwestern Railroad bridges and floods Fairbank with 6 feet of water.

1903 Oct-Methodist Episcopal Church organized in Douglas.

1903 Dec-Tombstone sets another record when Billy Stiles and Burt Alvord break out of jail for the second time and take 11 other prisoners with them.

1904 Feb-Burt Alvord, notorious Cochise County outlaw, is wounded and captured near Naco.

1904 Dec-Bisbee Miner reports that 500 Bisbee stockholders will share $525,000 as a result of decision against South Bisbee Copper Company.

1906 Jan-Western Union opens first direct wire between Tucson and Bisbee.

1907 Feb-Lt. Harry Wheeler, Arizona Ranger, prevents double murder and although twice wounded, kills assailant on the main street of Benson.

1907 Apr-Western Federation of Miners attempts to organize and strike mines at Bisbee.

1907 June-Fire destroys 80 buildings in Mexican section of Bisbee, 600 made homeless.

1907 Oct-Yuma police stop poker games in saloons. Bisbee, Globe and other towns consider taking same stand.

1907 Dec-Deputy Sheriff White of Cochise County runs wild in a railroad sleeping car between Yuma and Gila Bend, terrifies women, tries to shoot conductor, and is finally manacled with his own handcuffs.

1908 Feb-Alarmed by number of smallpox cases, Bisbee Board of Health orders all school children vaccinated.

1908 Mar-Three carloads of giant Prescott pumps reach Tombstone for installation at the 1,000 foot level.

1908 July-Bisbee High School Alumni launches first scholarship assistance movement in Arizona

1908 Aug-Disastrous rainstorm sends flood roaring down Tombstone Canyon in Bisbee. Library, post office and merchants basements are flooded.

1908 Aug-William Downing completed term of 10 years in penitentiary for his part in the Stiles-Alvord holdup of the Southern Pacific train, later resists arrest in Willcox and is killed by an AZ Ranger.

1908 Oct-Fire which blazes beyond control, rages in Bisbee business and residential section. Los estimated at $500,000.

1908 Nov-Gadsden Hotel had its grand opening.

1909-County clerks began using the typewriter.

1909 May-Two bankers who wrecked 1st National Bank in Bisbee get minimum sentences of 5 years.

1909 Aug-A discharged printer kills two linotype operators at the Bisbee Review over labor troubles.

1909 Dec-Two trainmen killed and 40 passengers injured when Southern Pacific jumps tracks near Benson.

1910 June-President Taft signs Enabling Act for AZ statehood. AZ celebrates wildly.

1911 Jan-Underground water and low price of silver put an end to mining at Tombstone.

1911 Jan-Home Missions of Congregational Church aid in organizing Church of Christ at Pearce

1911 Apr-Mexican rebels and Federals battle in streets of Agua Prieta and bullets cross the border into the City of Douglas where four citizens are wounded.

1911 May-Cochise supervisors, angered because the proposed state highway will by pass Bisbee, and they threaten the campaign to move capitol from Phoenix to Tucson.

1912 Feb 1914-President Taft signs proclamation making Arizona the 48th state of the Union. George Wiley Paul Hunt is the first state Governolr

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