Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-02-05
Its Entry Completes the Nation
of States From Ocean
to Ocean.

4 RIZONA. whose entry as the for
~ ty-eighth member Of the Union
N completes the nation of states
from ocean TO ocean, has had
history probably as turbulent and
trying as any state in the Union. The
struggles of the pilgrims of Massa-
chusetts. the Hollanders who colonizel
New York. the Quakers who settled
Pennsylvania and the English who
brought civilization to the Virginia
shores were no harder than those of
the pioneers of Arizona They were
killed by Indians. robbed by lawess
people of their own nationality. starry
ed upon the deserts. frozen in the
snowcappcd mountains and bitten by
poisonous reptiles.
They had no government for many
years and fought as hard to get terri
torial rights rs they have been fighting
for the past ten years to get statehood
rights. They were on the point of re-
beling at one time. and even went so
far as to establish territorial form
of government of their own despite the
expressed desire of congress- exempt
fed in its refusal to grant a territorial
government, that they should remain
part of New Mexico.
Their nearest peace and judicial Off
Gals were then 400 miles away. at
Mesilla, n. NJ. and their law was the
law of the strongest against the weak
est. At one time all of the present
state of Arizona was the county Of
Arizona, attached to New Mexico for
purposes of administration only.
Whence Came Its Name.
General Nelson A. Miles. General
Lawton. General Crook and many 9th
err noted men Of the United States
army gained their first fame in cam
paigning In Arizona. 1t was from Ari-
iona that the only raid of United
States troops was ever made into a
foreign country not then at war with
us; the soldiers were after Indians
who had been killing and robbing in
Arizona. The history Of Arizona is
ent day.
The origin Of the name Arizona is
not definitely known. Bancroft, the
historian, and some others have insist
ed that the name is from a supposed
Pima Indian word. "Arizonac." al
though Bancroft admits that the "abo-
riginal meaning of the term is not
known" The historian treats as Tex
tremely absurd" the suggestion that
the name Is of Spanish derivation, and
he apparently bases that conclusion
upon the fact that there Is no similar
word in Spanish.
But it is possible that ARIZONA" may
have had its derivation from the Span
ish words arida IONA (arid zone). The
well known tendency Of uneducated
speakers Of Spanish to leave off the
last syllables of words ending in VOW
els and their tendency to run words
together would easily transform arida
iona into "Arizona"
The First True Exploration.
1t was about 1927 that Cabeza de
Vaca turned his wandering footsteps
to the Hopi and Zuni villages in the
northeast, gaining Mexico at last by
way of the friendly Pima settlements
along the ella.
1t was in 1910 that Vasco de Coro-
nado, governor Of Mexico, lured by the
golden tales Of q monkish traveller,
started northward ON the first true ex-
ploration Of that mysterious land. He
sought the tabled Seven Cities of CT
bola. where gold and precious gems
paved the streets. Though he did not
find the object Of his search, his ex-
petition led to Spanish settlements
and agriculture and mining had some
development.
Back again into barbarism was Ari-
IONA plunged by the Mexican war for
independence. and not until the Gads-
den purchase in 1S4S did the firm hand
of governmental authority again take
hold, Even then. however. all that
was known of Arizona was a narrow
strip within which the Southern Pa
citic railroad now runs and along
II