ARIZONA CHRONOLOGY

 

The Period Before Written History

 

 

Circa 10,000 B.C.             Prehistoric Paleo inhabitants of Arizona.

 

Circa 2,000 B.C.               Cochise Culture develops in what is now southern Arizona.  The Cochise people grow vegetable crops including corn.

 

Circa 300 B.C.                  Hohokam settle in southern Arizona.

 

1,000 B.C.-1,000 A.D.      Hohokam and Anasazi people build irrigation canals, agricultural villages, roads and complex ceremonial centers.

 

500 A.D.                           Sinagua are farming near San Francisco Peaks.

 

700-1100 A.D.                  Anasazi culture develops into its Pueblo Period in which they use adobe bricks, stone slabs, or mud and sticks in home building.  Kivas (underground ceremonial chambers) and cotton fabrics are also developed.

 

1064 A.D.                         Sunset Crater erupts.

 

1276-1299 A.D.                Great drought in Arizona.

 

Circa 1300 A.D.               Casa Grande is built near the Gila River.

 

Circa 1400 A.D.               Cultural decline of pre-historic groups.

 

Spanish Period, 1528-1821

 

1528-1536         Eight-year odyssey of Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, shipwrecked off the coast of present-day Texas, stirs interest in exploration of the region.

 

1539                  Fray Marcos de Niza searches for the city of Cibola.  His description of the possibility of the greatest Spanish discovery yet, encourages more exploration.

 

1540-1542         Coronado claims for Spain the vast lands that are today the American Southwest.  His party, either together or in small groups, made the first systematic European exploration of the Southwest.  Members of his party were the first Europeans to view the Grand Canyon.

 

1629                  Franciscans, first Europeans to live in Arizona, establish missions in the north around the Hopi.  Ultimately this venture fails.

 

1687-1711         Father Kino establishes missions San Xavier, San Miguel  and Guevavi in Pimeria Alta along the Rio Santa Cruz and Rio San Pedro.

 

 

1736                  Discovery of large chunks and pieces of silver located on the ground near a mining camp called Arizonac.

 

1751                  Pima Indian Revolt against the harsh discipline of Jesuit missionaries.

 

1752                  Tubac Presidio (fort) established by the Spanish became the first European community in Arizona.

 

1767                  The Spanish government expels the Jesuits from its realm, and allows Franciscans to replace them.

 

1774                  Juan de Anza and Franciscan Father Graces explore a route to California and cross present day Arizona.

 

1776                  Tucson established.

 

1781                  Yuma tribes revolt; kill Father Graces.

 

1785-1821         Spanish troops campaign against the Apache and eventually work out a peace.

Mining, ranching and missions prosper in Arizona.

 

1810-1821         Mexican Revolution.

 

Mexican Period, 1821-1848

 

1821                  Mexico gains its independence from Spain and considers most of what is modern-day Arizona as part of its land.

 

1824                  American mountain men enter Arizona to trap beaver.

 

1835-1836         Texas War against Mexico begins the weakening of Mexican power in land close to the United States.

1846                  The Mormon Battalion, part of the U. S. Army, marches over 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California, crossing Arizona on their trek.

 

1846-1848         Mexican War is fought by the U.S. Army of the West which takes control of New Mexico and California.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the war and the U.S. gains confirmation of its title to Texas as well as the annexation of California and New Mexico (which included Arizona to the Gila River).

 

American Period, 1848-

 

1848                  Discovery of gold in California. Arizona’s Gila Trail becomes one of the main routes to the California gold fields.

Members of the Papago tribes help traveling gold seekers survive the harsh desert climate.

 

1850                  Compromise of 1850 allows for the admittance into the Union of territories acquired from Mexico as non-slave states. (This included present day New Mexico or Arizona)

 

1852                  Americans begin navigating the Colorado River by steamer.

Army Corps of Topographical Engineers begins surveying Arizona.

 

1853                  Signing of the Gadsden Purchase, which extends the boundaries of Arizona from the Gila River to the present boundary.

 

1854                  Copper is discovered in Arizona, mined and commercially sold.

 

1856                  Citizens living in the area of western New Mexico petition Congress to create a separate Territory of Arizona.

 

1857                  Major Beale maps a route across northern Arizona, using camels for transportation.

 

1858                  Butterfield Overland Stage Line crosses Arizona.

                         

1861                  Bascom Affair pits Army against Chiricahua Apaches.

Civil War begins and U.S. Military posts are abandoned in the Arizona portion of the New Mexico Territory.

 

1862                  Arizona becomes a Confederate territory but the Battle at Glorieta Pass, New Mexico ends the Confederate westward thrust. Battle at Picacho Pass, near Casa Grande, is considered the westernmost battle of the Civil War, and the California Column of the Union Army occupies Arizona.

Battle of Apache Pass between the California Column and the Apaches is the largest in Arizona history.

U. S. Army establishes Fort Bowie in Apache Pass.

 

1863                  Territory of Arizona is established and President Abraham Lincoln appoints Arizona Territorial officials.

The Oath of Office is taken by the officials at Navajo Springs, Arizona on December 29. John N. Goodwin is the first territorial governor.

Walker Party discovers gold in the Bradshaw Mountains.

Weaver-Peeples party discovers placer gold at Rich Hill. Wickenburg finds rich lode at Vulture Mine.

 

1864                  Territorial capital moves from its provisional site at Camp Whipple to Prescott.

Four counties (Yuma, Yavapai, Pima, and Mohave) are created.

Kit Carson leads a military campaign that defeats the Navajo.  The Navajo people are forced to take the “long walk” to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico

 

1867                  Territorial capitol moves from Prescott to Tucson.

 

1869                  John Wesley Powell explores Grand Canyon.

 

1870                  Territorial population is 9,568.

 

1870’s-1890’s    This is the Age of Silver.  Mining and ranching flourish.

 

1871                  A group of citizens ambushes a band of Apaches under the protection of the U.S. Army who are camped outside Camp Grant. This is known as the Camp Grant Massacre.

 

1872                  General Crook mounts a concentrated effort to defeat the central Arizona Apache and Yavapai tribes.

 

1876                  Territorial prison opens at Yuma.

 

1877                  Territorial capitol moves from Tucson back to Prescott. Silver discovered at Tombstone.

                          Copper deposits found at Bisbee.

 

1881                  City of Phoenix incorporates.

Southern Pacific Railroad crosses southern Arizona.

Gunfight at O.K. Corral.

The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) organizes in Arizona and begins a long campaign against alcohol and saloons.

 

1883                  Atlantic & Pacific (Santa Fe) Railroad crosses northern Arizona.

 

1886                  Geronimo surrenders to General Nelson Miles and the Indian fighting is over.

 

1888                  Copper replaces gold and silver in economic importance in Arizona.

 

1889                  Territorial capitol moves from Prescott to Phoenix where legislators meet temporarily in the chambers of the Phoenix City Hall.

 

1891                  Moses H. Sherman and Marcellus E. Collins of Phoenix donate ten acres of land for a territorial capitol site

 

1892                  The Kibbey Decision states that water belongs to the land and is not a separate commodity.

 

1895                  Phoenix is linked by rail to northern and southern railroad lines, increasing the ability to move goods and people not only east and west, but also north and south.

 

1898                  The Rough Riders, including men from Arizona, fight in Cuba.

 

1899                  Construction begins on a new capitol building in Phoenix.

 

1900                  State population is 122,931.

The state capitol is completed in 1900 at a cost of approximately $136,000.

 

1901                  Capitol building dedicated on February 25.

 

1903                  Salt River Water Users’ Association formed.  It was the nation’s first multi-use reclamation project.

 

1906                  Referendum on joint Arizona-New Mexico statehood is rejected in Arizona by a vote of 16,265 to 3,141.

 

1910                  Arizona Enabling Act passed by Congress. Arizona Constitutional Convention meets.

                          Population of Arizona exceeds 204,000.

 

1911                  Theodore Roosevelt Dam completed.

President Taft vetoes admission of Arizona over recall of judges.  Arizona agrees to make the necessary changes in its constitution.

 

1912                  Arizona officially becomes a state on February 14.

Women gain the right to vote in Arizona.

 

1914                  Arizona institutes statewide prohibition.

 

1916                  Republican Thomas E. Campbell is elected Governor.

 

1917                  World War I brings economic boom to Arizona especially in developing cotton farming.

Former Governor George W. P. Hunt demands a recount of votes from the November 1916 election. The Arizona Supreme Court rules that Hunt won the election and Thomas E. Campbell is forced to turn the governorship back to Hunt.

Labor unrest in Bisbee brings deportation of suspected radical I.W.W. Union members by local residents.

 

1919                  Grand Canyon National Park is founded.

 

1922                  On November 25 the Colorado River Compact is signed by seven states in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The seven state legislatures also have to ratify the compact, and Arizona is very slow to do so.

 

1929                  Great Depression begins and lasts into the late 1930s.

 

1930                  Planet Pluto is discovered at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff.

 

1934                  Congress passes the Taylor Grazing Act that  limits the rancher’s access to Federal lands.  Ultimately, fencing becomes widespread, and the range is divided into smaller areas.

 

1935                  Hoover Dam located on the Colorado River is dedicated on September 30 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

 

1936                  Arizona women are allowed to serve on juries.

 

1940                  Population of Arizona is 499,261.

 

1941-1945         World War II brings economic boom to Arizona.  Cotton, copper, cattle, farming and industry flourish.

 

1942                  Many young Navajo men join the U. S. Marine’s Navajo Code Talkers and develop and use a word code based on the complex Navajo language. The Japanese are unable to break this secret code throughout the duration of WW II.

The federal government authorizes two Japanese relocation centers in Arizona: the Colorado River Relocation Center and the Gila River Relocation center where many American Japanese are sent to live for the duration of WW II.

 

1944                  Arizona Legislature finally ratifies the Colorado River Compact setting the stage for projects like the Central Arizona Project (CAP).

 

1946                  Arizona right-to-work becomes effective.  This means that joining a union is not necessary in order to work.

 

1948                  Arizona Indians gain right to vote.

Motorola builds first plant in Phoenix marking the beginning of high tech industry in Arizona.

 

1950                  Election of Governor Howard Pyle, a Republican, increases the power and influence of the Republican Party.

 

1953                  Governor Howard Pyle authorizes a raid on a polygamous colony in Short Creek.

 

1960                  Arizona population exceeds 1 million.

 

1961                  Stewart Udall becomes first Arizonan to serve on Cabinet.  He is the Secretary of Interior in the J. F. Kennedy administration.

 

1963                  Arizona wins Supreme Court decision in contest with California over share of Colorado River water.  Arizona is awarded rights to 2,800,000 acre feet of water a year from the Colorado River.

 

1964                  Arizona’s U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater is the Republican Party candidate for President.

 

1965                  Lorna Lockwood is elected chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court.  She is the first woman in the United States to head a state supreme court.

 

1966                  Legislative reapportionment.  Legislative districts are reapportioned to represent an equal number of people.  The Republican Party gains control of the legislature for the first time.

 

1968                  Authorization is given for construction of the CAP.

Senator Carl Hayden retires after representing Arizona in Congress since 1912.

 

1972                  Cesar Chavez, founder of the National Farm Workers Association, fasts for 25 days in Phoenix over a new Arizona law that prohibits the right of farm workers to strike or boycott.

 

1975                  Raul Castro becomes Arizona’s first Mexican-American Governor.

 

1980                  Groundwater Management Act is passed.

 

1981                  Sandra Day O’Connor becomes first woman on U.S. Supreme Court.

 

1984                  Population of Arizona exceeds 3 million.

 

1985                  CAP brings water to state’s interior.

 

1988                  Impeachment of Governor Evan Mecham.

Rose Mofford becomes Arizona’s first female governor.

 

1991                  Central Arizona Project (CAP) is completed all the way to Tucson.

 

1992                  Arizona becomes first state to have voter approval of a paid Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Day state holiday.

 

1997                  Governor Fife Symington resigns. Secretary of State Jane Hull becomes Governor.

 

1999                  Arizonan’s elect five women to the state’s top five executive posts: Governor, Jane Hull; Secretary of State, Betsey Bayless; Attorney Gen­eral, Janet Napolitano; Treasurer, Carol Springer; and Superintendent of Public Instruction, Lisa Graham Keegan.

 

2001                  Arizona Diamondbacks win World Series for the first time.