Arizona republican., 1921-04-13
HENRY EARLE SMITH RECALLS DAYS AT
 WILCOX IN 8O'S

An interesting resume of the early days in Arizona is furnished in the following letter from Henry Earle Steele of Ajo. who was born in Tue son in 1885.
 was born in Tucson, Ariz.. Decem- Der Is, 1885, but lived at Wilcox the greater part of my life and have lived in different parts of the state con- tinuously since my birth. The Indian outbreaks had almost ceased when was born with the exceptions of a few depredations committed by the Apache Kid, who with a few follow CTS from the San Carlos reservation would harass the cattle ranchers and small settlements.
 1 have vivid recollection of one of these outbreaks. We were living on d cattle ranch nine miles southwest of Wilcox. At this time my father, Tom Steele, was at Fort Huachuca | putting in meat for the government. ! An old gentleman named Mark Allen, | who lived alone on a ranch three miles from ours was our nearest neighbor. One morning, about day light, he heard his dogs barking and l looking out the window he saw sew
 eral Indians drawing water from his
 well about 50 yards away. He grabbed his old trusty with all the |
 for them when they should attack the
 house. But after killing a calf for
 meat and piercin~ one of the dogs
 with an arrow the Indians went their
 way. As soon as Allen could get his horse from the pasture he rode at
 breakneck speed to our ranch and
 found us unmolested.
 l lived in Stafford during the con-
 struction of the railroad from Bowie
 to Globe in 1895. Before this road
 was built everything was hauled by
 team from Wilcox. I have seen as
 many as 22 horses and mules hitched
 to two or three large wagons Or the return trip the wagons would carry copper bullion. l have seer
 millions of pounds of copper pulled alongside the Southern Pacific tracks
 waiting for cars to take it away.
 Those were flourishing days in tn,
 town of Wilcox. With the teamine
 and cattle business it was one of tht
 liveliest towns in the state, more cat
 tie being shipped from that station
 than from any other place in state T My parents and grandparents liveC
 at Wilcox which was built in 1880
 and I am going to add a few remark. with regard to my grandfather, Will liam H. Kirkland, who died at Wink
 elman about 12 years ago and is nov resting in the Double Butte cemeter, at Tempe. He had written histor,
 of his early career. but unfortunatel. this was destroyed when his hom , was burned. In looking over some olt papers and clippings, however, hav' . found the following. which will prob . ably be of interest:
 He came to Tucson on January II 1856, and was the first white man t employ white labor in the state H produced the ,first pine lumber, an' graded the first roads in Arizona. Il l was also the first to start in bushes outside of Tucson, setting up in tn Santa Rita mountains. When peopl were compelled to travel at night [ /. get to Sonora, Mex. unless they wer
 in large force, he bought 200 head c : cows from Don Joaquin Estiesmar :. These cows were the first her , brought out of Mexico for the pur : pose of stocking a cattle ranch i | Arizona by a white man. This wa :, in 1851
 /. I have heard him say he was tn :, first white man married to a whit |. woman in the state, having taken '. wife here in 1859 or 1860. He was cap . tain of the Arizona volunteers an d raised the Stars and Stripes owe
 Arizona when the territory was take S over from Mexico as a part of tn d Gadsden purchase.