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Dr. George Goodfellow with his horse, a gift from Mexico’s President Porfirio Diaz.

The above quote is from artist Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton in a letter to her mother in Philadelphia. Colton was among the Eastern born and trained artists who relocated to Arizona in the early 20th century to experience for themselves the surreal colors in the ever-changing panorama of Arizona landscapes, the native peoples, and regional uniqueness. Their painting canvases attempted to capture what they saw. Some stayed only briefly while others remained for their lifetimes.

Robert Paul was born in Massachusetts on June 12, 1830. At the age of 12, he boarded a whaling ship and spent the next several years traveling around the world. In 1849, he arrived in San Francisco — just in time to participate in the gold rush. Then from 1859 to 1864, he served as sheriff of California’s Calaveras County. After several financial setbacks, Paul began riding shotgun for Wells Fargo.

El Tour de Tucson, one of the largest road bicycling events in the United States, started in 1983. The ride takes place every November.

However, the seeds for the event were planted as early as the 1890s.

Flagstaff was but 12 years old in 1894 and still struggling to exist, but the rough town became a topic of international attention when an eminent New Englander arrived to scout possible locations to establish an observatory. The opening of Lowell Observatory was the first of several major scientific organizations to locate in the town that was already well-known to scientists and explorers for its unique attributes.

For those born after WWII, it is hard to imagine the widespread unemployment and accompanying anxiety of families who could not find work during the early years of the Great Depression.

The store pictured here was constructed at Morenci in 1901 by the Detroit Copper Company and known as the DC Store. Its rear wall and basement were fashioned from limestone and the balance of the structure was built with red granite quarried from nearby Morenci Canyon.

The July 3, 1908, edition of Flagstaff’s Coconino Sun announced: “The San Francisco Mtns and Grand Canyon(South) National Forests have been consolidated under the name of the Coconino Nation(al) Forest. While this will be confusing for a few years, it will greatly simplify the work of the Supervisor’s office.”

In the mid 1800s, Manuelito led the Navajos in some of the fiercest battles of the Indian wars with the U.S. He was born near Bear’s Ear in Utah and belonged to the Bit’ahni clan.

Little is known of Jackson’s early life. He claimed to have been born in Denver in 1877, but may have been born in San Antonio in 1878. He volunteered for military duty during the Spanish-American War, served in Manila in 1898 and — like many of his contemporaries — returned home with dysentery that would reoccur throughout his life.