Arizona republican., 1921-10-17
TALES OF OLD DAYS FEATURE PIONEERS REUNION AT TEMPE

The Tempe Pioneers society held it's annual meeting at the Pine Home. south of Tempe, Saturday. First came the reunion, the meeting of scores of old timers, most of the ac companied by families of generous size. Then was the dinner, one of marvellous sort, with turkey and chicken cooked as only the pioneer woman can cook Afterward came the assembly. with the telling of tales of epic sort, of eXeprience and deeds that had to do with the foun- dation of civilization with central Arizona.
 Senior in time of residence was Neils Peterson, who farmed for a year near Phoenix in 1871 before moving to the Tempe section, where by industry and thrift he has become financial leader. We lived rough in those days" he said. Not that we didn't have enough to eat but our fare was mighty coarse and hadn't much variety. For the first few years we had little sale for the products We had raised with such hard labor and many of the first settlers got discouraged and moved away" There was much of philosophy in the talk of Jerry Cummings, who told how he. with his family and the Gregg and W. T. Cummings families, camped A years ago at the Vail mill couple of miles east of Phoenix, before proceeding on the settlement of the Missouri Flat" section, south west of Tempe. He estimated that that single pioneer group now had | grown to 200 individuals, of whom seven were present at the reunion. l The Gregg family alone had grown to 1 almost 76, most of them residents
 in the Salt River valley.
 J. A. R. Irvine, now city commits sIoner of Phoenix, proved well in- formed along the same line of gen. i eology, for he married a Gregg girl. 1 He came to the valley in 1872 He l and Mir. Cummings together told how l the 'Saber- -slasher' ran amuck down 1 the main street of Phoenix 42 years l ago and of the desperado's killing In
 the old courthouse and of the later | double hanging on the Phoenix plaza. State Historian J. H. McClintock, l who dates his residence in Arizona from 1879, and who farmed south of i Tempesin the 80 brought back mem ories of many of the departed pio-
 neers of the section, including Jack | Halbert, Bill Lewis, Winchester
 Miller and others, gave some detail
 of early day diversions. such as ob- l tained in the Double Butte lyceum
 and referred briefly to the place
 names of the locality and theil
 origin.
 | Rev. and Mrs R. W. Windes told | of their travel by wagon from Chi cago to Arizona and of vicissitudes 1 in the life of a pioneer missionary l and his family. though both were | eloquent in praise of what had beer | done by Arizona in the way of civic l and moral betterment-
 1 Charles Muller. who arrived iT Prescott in 1877. told how the people ] of Tempe and Mesa had led in suci l upward steps as suppression O | gambling and the liquor traffic. Mrs C. c. Powell. a visitor, pleasantly gave details of early life in Florence ! where she was the second American
 child born. J. C. Goodwin. who cam
 to Arizona in 1884. humorously spok,
 of his advent in Tempe and of thu
 manner in which he came, by buck.
 board from Bisbee. this several year.
 before he became a land baron in thu 1 kyrene section
 Charles Austin and Miss Lizzi, l Cosner were reelected president an, secretary. respectfully. Mir. Austil
 made announcement that the society
 founded in 1902, now has 112 mem
 bers