The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1912-02-20
The Forty-Eighth State

Washington Feb 20--Arizona
whose entry as the forty-eighth mem
Der OF the Union will complete the
nation OF states from ocean to ocean.
/ mas had history probably as turbu-
/ lent and trying as any state in the
! Union. The struggles Of the Pilgrims
were no harder than tnose Of the
pioneers OF Arizona They were
lilled by, Indians robbed by law,ess
people of their own nationality. starry
ed upon the deserts. frozen in the
snC Ncapped mountains and bitten by
poisonous reptiles
Taey had no government for many
years and fought as hard 10 get
territorial rights as they have been
fighting fer the past ten years to get
statehood rights. They We're on the
point OF rebelling at one time ana
went SO far as to establish a terai-
terial form OF government Of their
own despite the expressed desire OF
congress, eXemplified in its refusal to
grant a territorial government, that
lhey should remain a part Of New
MeNica.
Their nearest peace and judicial
officials were then 400 miles away,
at Mesilla. ~ NJ, and heir law was
the law of the strongest against the
weakest Az one time all OF the
present state Of Arizona was The
county OF Arizona attached 10 New
Mexico for purposes OF adminstra
tion only.
General Nelson A. Miles. General /
Lawton. General Cook and many otn-
er noted men OF the United States
army gained their first time in cam
paigning in Arizona. 1t was from /
Arizona thai the only raid of lniteu /
States troops was ever made into a |
foreign country not then at war vita +
MS; the soldiers were after Indians /
who had been killing and robbing in
The origin of the name Arizona is
not definitely known Bancroft and
others have insisted the name is
rom supposed Pima Indian word.
Arizonac." although Bancroft admits
iAat the "abori9ina meaning of the
erm is not known" The historian
reats as extremely absurd" the
suggestion that the name is Of Span
sh derivation. and he pparenly bases
hat conclusion upon the fact that
here is no similar word in Span
sh
But it IS possible that Arizona"
ne have had its derivation from the
spanish words arida zona arid zoneI
The we'll known tendency of nnedu
ated speakers OF Spanish to leave
VI lie last syllables of words ending
n vowels and their tndency to run
'ords together wuold easily trans
orm arida zena into Arizona
1t was about l527 that Cabeza de
'aca tuHned his wandering footsteps
o the Hopi Iuna villages in the
ortheast. gaining Mexico at last by
way OF the friendly Pima settlements
long the ella.
1t VAS in 1910 that Vasco de Coron-
do, governor of Mexico. lnred by the
Olden tales OF Il monkish traveller.
tarted northward on the first true
XplOration OF that mysterious lana.
lie sought the tabled Seven Cities of
'obola, where Pcld and precious gems
ayed the streets. Though ne did
or find the object of his search bis
Xpedtion led TO Spanish settlements
nd agriculture ana mining haG come
eyeiCpment
J acA again into barbarism was Ari-
ona plunged by the Mexican war for
ldependence. and not until the Gads-
ga purchase in 1913 did the firm
aud cf sovernment authority again
axe hold. Even ths 4. however. all
hat was known a. Arizona was
arrow strip within which the Sou h
IN. Pacific railroad now runs and
long which flowed the It'd, OF travel
ON tie eastern states Il he gold
elds OF California.