The Arizona champion., 1885-01-10
A QUARTER OF A CENTURY.
Flagstaff In the Year 10i5-Recollections
 of Que of the Oldest Inhabitants.

'Twould from many blunder free us And-foolish notlon."
 EDITOR DAILY CHAMPloN:
 In his willingness to comply with your kird request to "give the read ere CT the DAILY CHAMPION a remi- niscence of the early days O: Flagstaff the writer has not overlooked the fact that age brings dimness to the eye and buries in oblivion many incidents and happenings of the past so neces- sary to faithful record. In the ab- sence of any written or connected history the writer depends wholly upon the more striking features as inn pressed upon the tablets of bis memory. coming as they did at intervals throughout a quarter of century, tlat marks the era of our progress from small frontier village to pop ulous city.
 The name Flagstaff, 1t is said, orig mated in an incident that occurred durirg the explorations of Freemont in this (then remote) section of the west. While encamped at a spring which came bubbling from a hillside, one of the "Path6nder's" party climb. ed tall and swaying mountain pine, and after removing the branches there from, unfurled the national emblem from its topmost bough. Acting up on the suggestion of the pretty story, a party of civil engineers while en- gagged in surveying the route of the Atlantic X Pacific railway, actually did what was accredited to the Ere, moat party on spot that now marks the centre of our city. The incident Cor narative) made a lasting impress sion on an eccentric and dissipated old frontiersman known as "Califor- nia Bill, who annually visited the village, replaced the old flag with uow and delivered an oration to the inhabitants. Bill disappeared about the year 1885 or 1886; the tree was removed in the const. lc;ion of the -acet railway and the spring destroy ed in the extavqting for the founda- ton of the Commercial Bank.
 As village, Flags,af, Tn common ' lth frontier towns of note, enjoyed the notoriety of being lawless place, ln ISS2-'83 It was as mater of fact the worst town in Arizona" It con ubuted largely to the occupants of Yuma prison (tFe Territorial peni- tcn6ary being situated at that place iu those days) and record d more murders, highway robbe:ies end out Tag7s than can now be enumerated. The term "cow boy" in those days rjgnifed a sort of half civilized be- ing, who, when sober, WIS a kind of 1enturesome thief, and when intoxi. Caied desperado. While in town his ruling passion WIS clrds.}l His reck- less disposition, stimulated by drink, rendered him an ecSy prey to the professional gambler, who managed to fleece him during the early hours ol his debauch after which he (the C. b. was wont to amuse himself by riding his horse through bar-rooms and shooling at tke chandeliers in business houses. The enforcement Of the law prior to I8S4-S5 was prac- tlCally impossible. The organization of Sabbath schools and literary socie- ties, and, above all, the Civilizing in i.ucnce of Christian women, many of whom came about IS85.6 with their families, did more to disperse these dcsperadoeS than did the strong arm Cfthe law. The term "cowboy," how ,yer, was a much abused one, and iightfuliy belonged to the stock grow CTS and their employees, who, as a rule, were law-abiding citizens and enterprising public spirited men.
 The erection of large sawmill ir 1882 by Mir. Aver, an enterprisine capitalist of Chicago, gave the frst great impetus 10 the growth ant progress of the town. Three or foui ears later a railroad and tramway. were constructed from the hill into the adjacent country; the building oI other mills followed, and thus com. menced the destruction of the great pine forest of this section, which ha, since wholly disappeared, The mex
 great stride in the march of progress . began with the construction of tn,
 Britjsb America, United States anC Mexico railroad, This began in tn, j spring of 1885, and SNs known as tn,
 Mineral Belt. Its building created but prtipnYy interest at tie time, ap' even its projectors never dreamed <, that it was to become such an import