Allison Orrum was a comely lass when she emigrated from Scotland to America in the 1850s.  She had married to a Mormon named Steve Hunter.  They had both been converted to the church while in Scotland, but both desired to join the saints in American, so they sailed as soon as possible.  Hunter was … Continue reading ALLISON ORRUM: RAGS, RICHES, RAGS AGAIN →

  Descriptions of life in Arizona during the late 1700s and the mid-1850s were all written by white settlers who moved into the territory from the eastern states of America.  It was natural, I suppose, that the new occupants of the western lands feared the Native Americans they encountered.  In Arizona, descriptions of “Indians” almost … Continue reading APACHES: THE PROUDEST AMERICANS →

            Now, some folks may accuse me of telling tales that involve murder and mayhem so often in these pages, that the western territories of the United States were filled with killers and badmen of every stripe.  Weren’t there any peaceful mining towns anywhere?  Well, I had to look hard to find one, and I … Continue reading RUBY AZ – A QUIET BORDER TOWN →

Just outside the town of Tombstone, Arizona are two hills.  In Spanish, they were called Dos Cabezas, or two heads, and became signatures of the land.              When Tombstone began to rise in the desert, as with many mining towns of the west, a village called Dos Cabezas also arose.  It began with a single … Continue reading DOS CABEZAS →

One evening in 1861 a small group of men sat around the iron stove in the cook shack of the Santa Rita mine in southern Arizona.  A man named Grosvenor was chief of operations at the mine, his Superintendent Rumpelly, and others were employees.  This evening the talk concerned the dream world and what dreams … Continue reading Grosvenor’s Dream →

He was a lanky, disheveled prospector when he reached Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona in 1875.  He was born in Pennsylvania in 1847, but by the time he was 29 years old, he had prospected in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and California but had always come out empty.  He was a quiet man, a recluse … Continue reading Tombstone: Ed Schieffelin →

I MUST APOLOGIZE, THE PHOTO I INTENDED TO INCLUDE IN THE PREVIOUS POST, DID NOT APPEAR IN THE DOCUMENT. I HAVE INCLUDED IT HERE, SORRY. DR. H.

Most of us, who grew up in Southern Utah, know something about the “Mountain Meadow Massacre” that took place a few miles north of the village of Veyo back in September, 1857.             Our interest here is not to rehearse that tragedy, but to look at the process used to satisfy justice in the end. … Continue reading THE EXECUTION OF JOHN D. LEE →

The first trial of John D. Lee for his role in the leadership of the Mountain Meadow Massacre of 1857, ended in a hung jury.  After two weeks of testimony in which the United States prosecuting attorneys attempted to tie responsibility for the act back to the leadership of the LDS Church, the jury returned … Continue reading JOHN D. LEE TRIAL #2 →

The tragedy of the Mountain Meadow Massacre of 1857 cannot be understated.  The build-up of animosity between the Mormon settlers of southern Utah and factions of the Fancher wagon train from Arkansas and Missouri had its origins long before the train arrived at the Meadows.  During the summer of 1857 the Mormons, who had been … Continue reading The John D. Lee Trials #1 →