The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 36, July 1932 - April, 1933 Page: 180
328 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
English. The population of Arizona in 1858 was estimated by
Mowry, doubtless with considerable exaggeration, to number ten
thousand souls, excluding Indians.20 Yet the ardent endeavors
of Mowry were unavailing on account of the sectional feeling in
Congress, and Arizona did not become a territory until 1863.
The turbulent society which developed in Arizona during her
pioneer days has been described with splendid realism by a
hitherto undiscovered diarist, Phocion R. Way. This adventurer
was a native of Ohio who went to Tucson in 1858 as agent of
the Santa Rita Mining Company. Not only did he write a racy
account of his experiences and observations, but he illuminated
his manuscript with pencil sketches of the novel scenes around
him, Mexicans making butter, the old church at Tubac, his
partner learning Spanish from a Sefiorita, etc. However, he did
not remain long in this wild country infested with Apaches, re-
turning to the East before the outbreak of the Civil War. In
later years he told his young nephew that he came back from
Arizona "because he didn't want to go barefooted on the top of
his head so early in life."30 After fighting valiantly in the
Union army, he settled as an engraver in Cincinnati, where he
died in 1898.
The entry in his diary for June 9 describes a characteristic road
scene:
June 9th. Yesterday afternoon stopped in the valley of the
Mimbres to rest our team - rattlesnakes were quite numerous
here. Just before we stopped we saw one coiled up in the road -
we drove around him for fear he would bite some of the mules -
I jumped out of the wagon and shot him through the head with
my revolver. This is the first rattlesnake I ever killed - shortly
after we stopped I shot another, and our men shot two more
which made four that we killed in less than half an hour -
camped last night about 3 miles from Stein's Point. Saw several
Indian fires on the hill in the distance - we side lined or hobbled
all our mules to prevent the Indians stampeding them - ap-
pointed a watch and slept on our arms as usual - started day-
light in the morning and arrived at the springs at Stein's Point
a little after sun up - we found the report that Indians were
camped near here true - as soon as we halted and took our mules
out to water we saw numbers of Indians coming down the moun-
21Mowry, Arizon0 and Sonora, 33.
s"Robert W. Way, of Chicago. Letter to the writer, June 21, 1932.180
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 36, July 1932 - April, 1933, periodical, 1933; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101093/m1/200/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.