Author Archives: John Larsen Southard

Growing Sugar Cane and Bananas… in Arizona?

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sugar cane and bananas, Arizona agriculture, Arizona history, Arizona historian, AZHistorian, John Larsen Southard, John Southard, Southard, Salt River, Salt River Valley

A ca. 1915 image of men raising an experimental sugar cane crop in the Salt River Valley. This Bureau of Reclamation photo documents the serious efforts once made to bring about large-scale sugar cane cultivation in the Phoenix and Yuma areas.

Who would have guessed that sugar cane and bananas were once promoted as crops that could be profitably grown in the arid Arizona desert?

According to overly-optimistic nineteenth-century Arizona newspapers, successfully cultivating such crops was not only possible, but was extremely likely. As sugar is typically grown in more temperate parts of the globe that receive at least 24 inches of rain per year and bananas require 75 to 100 inches of rain to thrive, the hot and dry Salt River Valley and greater Yuma area seem an ill-fit for sugar and banana farms. Nonetheless, Arizona’s exhibit space at the 1885 New Orleans Exposition featured Arizona-grown sugar cane, among other locally-produced crops. A February 16th, 1889 Arizona Sentinel article proclaimed the “strong and healthy ‘stand’ of… sugar cane” growing in a local farmer’s field to be “a good advertisement for [their] mild winters,” while a different article in that same paper advised readers, “the cultivation of sugar cane in [Yuma County] is simple and cheap, the cane growing luxuriantly and being easily kept clear of weeds.” Nearly two decades later, a 1915 Tombstone Epitaph article mentioned ongoing consideration of “the possibilities of molasses as a by-product from the Salt River Valley sugar cane.”

Bananas, a crop only a handful of sane individuals would propose growing in the deserts of our state, received mention as a possible cash crop for Arizona farmers, with the February 16th, 1889 Arizona Sentinel extolling Yuma County’s Mohawk Valley as being “especially adapted to fruit growing.” In addition to the standard citrus plantings found to be successful in the Phoenix and Yuma areas, the Sentinel promised, “even pineapples and bananas will grow to an advantage” in Mohawk Valley.

Of course, as is now widely known, Arizona’s harsh climate — even with the benefit of irrigation — is not conducive to raising sugar cane, bananas, coffee, or any other tropical crop. Our climate, although extreme at times, merits inclusion within the the grouping of Arizona’s 5 Cs, as does the cotton, cattle, and citrus raised under the Arizona sun. Cane, however, is nowhere to be found — despite the promises of nineteenth-century newspaper men.

Arizona Petrified Wood in the Walls of the Washington Monument

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Petrified wood, Arizona history, Arizona historian, AZHistorian, John Larsen Southard, John Southard, Southard

The assembled crowd of dignitaries and spectators present at the April 15th, 1924 dedication ceremony included President Coolidge, Senators Ralph Cameron and Henry Fountain Ashurst, Congressman Carl Hayden, and former Arizona Governor Thomas Campbell.
Image credit: Library of Congress

Senators Ralph Cameron and Henry Fountain Ashurst, Congressman Carl Hayden, and former Governor Thomas Campbell dedicated the Washington Monument’s Arizona stone ninety years ago this month. President Calvin Coolidge also spoke at the event, as did Nina Smith, the state Daughters of the American Revolution regent attending the ceremony as Governor Hunt’s official representative. Fittingly, our stone differs from those of all other states as it consists not of granite, marble, limestone, sandstone, or gneiss, but three slabs of petrified wood. The specimens displayed in the monument to President Washington were collected from the Chalcedony Forest near Holbrook, not far from the stunning and somewhat otherworldly landscapes of Petrified Forest National Park.

Petrified wood, Arizona history, Arizona historian, AZHistorian, John Larsen Southard, John Southard, Southard

April 15th, 1925 Prescott Evening Courier coverage of the dedication ceremony.

Each state of the Union boasts a stone of its own in the Washington Monument, as do many cities, organizations, companies, individuals, and foreign governments. If the choice to embed three pieces of Arizona petrified wood into the walls of the Washington Monument was made out of a desire to draw attention to Arizona’s uniqueness, those in charge of the selection achieved their purpose. President Calvin Coolidge’s dedicatory remarks included reference to the state’s grand agricultural potential and significant mineral resources. Likely to the great pleasure of farmers throughout the Grand Canyon State, Silent Cal asked the assembled crowd, “Do we fully realize that the Valley of the Nile, producing sustenance for the mother civilizations, and long afterward serving as the granary of Imperial Rome, was not to be compared for area of productive possibilities to the great valleys of semi-tropic Arizona when they shall presently have been watered by the works of engineering, as the Nile was watered by the works of nature?” More closely related to the petrified wood forests from which the newly placed Arizona stone originated, Coolidge praised the state’s overall importance, saying, “its riches in forests, in metals and minerals, in the inviting glories of the world’s most wonderful scenery will make it one of the wealthiest states.”

While still in place, the various commemorative stones are no longer as accessible as they once were. Visitors to the monument were formerly able to choose between riding an elevator or climbing stairs to reach the 500-foot level observation deck. Those who chose the stairs were rewarded with up-close views of the many stones worked into the walls of the monument, none of which could be seen from inside the elevator car. Now, however, visitors must plan ahead if they wish to view the state stones as the obelisk’s elevator is the standard mode of passage to the top. Visitors hoping to take the more scenic — and cardio-friendly — route to the top of what was once the world’s tallest structure must reserve a special tour in advance of their visit (plan ahead – the Washington Monument is slated to reopen on May 12th of this year). Thankfully, those choosing to ascend to the top in a more expeditious manner can now view selected stones through the special gas-filled elevator doors that clear several times over the course of the ride to allow passengers a fleeting glance at the most notable stones.

For more information on the Arizona stone and other stones donated over the years, please visit http://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=1EFD723B-1DD8-B71C-07E7EC2F30C1E167.

Arizona Women of Note

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Arizona women, Arizona females, famous Arizona women, Arizona history, Arizona historian, AZHistorian, John Larsen Southard, John Southard, Martha Summerhayes, Sandra Day O'Connor, Sandra Day OConnor, Nellie T. Bush, Nellie Bush, Polly Rosenbaum, Grace Sparkes, Sharlot Hall, Isabella Greenway, Arizona Navy, Admiral Bush, Admiral Nellie Bush, Admiral Nellie T. Bush

Army wife, author, and territorial era Arizonan Martha Summerhayes detailed the many challenges of nineteenth century military life – particularly the challenges faced by military wives such as herself – in her 1908 autobiography entitled Vanished Arizona.

As March draws to a close, so too does the 27th annual national observation of Women’s History Month. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice to sit on the United States Supreme Court, is frequently mentioned during the month-long celebration of women’s history and is undoubtedly Arizona’s most well-known women’s history figure. However, Arizona history is full of courageous and accomplished females, including the following women:

Martha Summerhayes

A nineteenth century Army wife who accompanied her husband to his assignments at military installations throughout Arizona Territory. Summerhayes documented the many challenges of frontier life in her 1908 autobiography entitled Vanished Arizona. Her book is now a valuable resource for those wishing to learn more about the role and experiences of women in territorial era Arizona military posts.

Sharlot Hall

Hall was a writer, historian, and Arizona booster. It is because of Hall’s efforts and her deep interest in our state’s history that the 1864 Old Governor’s Mansion was preserved and can be viewed at Prescott’s world-renowned Sharlot Hall Museum.

Isabella Greenway

Isabella, the widow of former Rough Rider turned copper mining executive John C. Greenway, was successful and connected in her own right. Over the course of her life, she served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, spoke at the 1932 Democratic National Convention, owned an airline, founded Tucson’s famed Arizona Inn, and maintained a close friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt.

Nellie T. Bush

Bush was a Colorado River ferryboat captain, entrepreneur, state legislator, and, later, Parker city councilwoman who is best known for serving as the ‘Admiral’ of Arizona’s ‘Navy’ during Governor Moeur’s 1934 deployment of National Guard against California’s dam laborers. Bush’s short-lived naval force consisted of two old ferryboats that soon ran into problems and required assistance from the ‘enemy’ forces on the California side of the river, thereby ending our state’s foray into naval warfare.

Polly Rosenbaum

Rosenbaum holds the record for longest service in the Arizona legislature. She succeeded her husband in 1949 following his premature death and remained in office until January of 1995. Though her legislative service ended nearly twenty years ago, Rosenbaum is still remembered for her energy and bipartisan spirit, in addition to her work for often-overlooked rural communities throughout the state.

Additional Arizona-related women’s history facts include our state’s 1912 approval of female suffrage (eight years before women earned the right nationwide), the fact that Arizona elected women to five statewide elected offices in 1998 (Jane Dee Hull, Governor; Betsey Bayless, Secretary of State; Janet Napolitano, Attorney General; Carol Springer, State Treasurer; and Lisa Graham Keegan, Superintendent of Public Instruction), and Arizona’s nearly seventeen year run of female governors (Jane Dee Hull, Janet Napolitano, and Jan Brewer).

 

Phoenix’s Insane Asylum Drove Tucsonans Crazy

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Insane asylum, Thieving Thirteenth, 1885, Phoenix, Tucson, Arizona State Hospital, Arizona history, Arizona historian, AZHistorian, John Larsen Southard, John Southard, Southard

An early-twentieth century hand colored postcard depicting a seemingly idyllic scene on the grounds of the Phoenix asylum.
Image credit: Author’s collection.

Tucsonans Go Crazy Over Phoenix’s Insane Asylum

March of 1885 was a momentous month for Arizona’s Thirteenth Territorial Legislature, a group known to history as the “Thieving Thirteenth.” The legislative body described in a March 28th, 1885 Arizona Weekly Citizen article as “not excelled in its provisions for a first-class steal from the Territory” passed bills authorizing the establishment of a teachers college in the then small town of Tempe and a university in Tucson, the most populous city in Arizona at the time. The teachers college, initially named Tempe Normal School but now known as Arizona State University, received an appropriation of $5,000 while Tucson’s university brought that city $25,000 in funding. Nonetheless, Tucsonans were both disappointed with and outraged by the gift the territory’s solons bestowed upon them. In place of showing gratitude for his town’s new institution of higher education, the editor of a Tucson paper decried the Phoenix area’s capture of “the plum of the legislature pie” with “emoluments [amounting] to almost half a million” and presciently predicted that C. C. Stephens, one of Tucson’s legislators, “will be insulted when he returns.”

Why were Tucsonans so upset with their haul from the Thieving Thirteenth? Because their prize proved to be a university that the city was said to “not care a fig about.” Instead, residents of the Old Pueblo coveted Phoenix’s big score – the territorial insane asylum now known as the Arizona State Hospital and the $100,000 appropriation associated with that facility. Angry about losing this well-funded institution to the relatively new and still rather small city of Phoenix, Tucson newspaper editors wrote scathing pieces belittling the future capital city and cursing its good fortune. Southern Arizona journalists continued to attack Phoenix’s victory for several years after the 1885 legislative session adjourned sine die, as demonstrated by an August 3rd, 1889 Arizona Sentinel article expressing concern that “the Great Salt River [V]alley” was “no place for the insane” due to its stifling heat. While calling attention to “the poor suffering humanity that [sweltered] within” the asylum, the piece altogether disregarded the well-being of sane Phoenicians and conveniently overlooked Tucson’s high summer temperatures.

In the end, however, Tucsonans came to love their university, which now boasts enrollment of more than 40,000 students and an annual budget exceeding $450,000,000. With approximately 60,000 students attending courses in Tempe alone, the once-modest Normal School now lays claim to the title of largest public university campus in the United States. Phoenix’s asylum, the so-called plum of the 1885 legislative session, is now largely unknown to most Arizonans and operates on a budget of just $30,000,000 – far smaller than that of the University of Arizona. So, it seems that the much maligned C. C. Stephens has been vindicated – something likely to be deemed crazy by a Tucsonan of 1885.

 

Five Years Without An Arizona State Flag

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Arizona state flag, state flag, Arizona flag, Arizona history, Arizona historian, AZHistorian, John Larsen Southard, John Southard, Thomas Campbell, 1912, 1917

January 28th, 1917 Tombstone Epitaph headline announcing legislative concern over the proposed state flag design. This design that “looked too much like the Japanese emblem” was adopted as Arizona’s official state flag the following month.

A full five years passed between Arizona’s admission to the Union and its adoption of an official state flag. A variety of factors – legislative bickering among them – led to a half-decade elapsing before the “Baby State” had a standard of its own. While the design approved by state legislators in 1917 is well-regarded today, as evidenced by the North American Vexillological Association honoring it as one of the best flags in North America, it initially faced serious opposition.

A flag very similar to that flown today was first put into service by the Arizona Rifle Team during a 1911 match at Camp Perry, OH. A variation of this same design, although not then the official state flag, was displayed at the 1915 dedication of the U.S.S. Arizona. Despite these and other instances in which the Rifle Team flag or a version thereof served, albeit unofficially, as Arizona’s colors, state legislators remained hesitant to formalize the design. A January 1917 bill proposing adoption of the de facto flag as the state’s official flag met resistance from solons and citizens alike. Los Angeles Times articles documented concern that the rays and copper star featured on the flag under discussion bore a “similitude to the Japanese ensign,” and mentioned talk of including a “Gila monster couchant, within a copper collar” on the flag. A proposal to shift the line dividing the rays from the field of blue below from a horizontal to a diagonal orientation languished due after being unfavorably compared to “an astrological chart.”

In the end, legislators passed a bill adopting a design bearing “the copper star of Arizona rising from a blue field in the face of a setting sun” as the state’s official flag. Though Governor Thomas Campbell declined to sign the bill because, as speculated by the Arizona Republican newspaper, “the flag did not measure up to his ideals of what a state emblem should be,” the bill became law after five days of gubernatorial inaction. Campbell was ousted from office in December of 1917 following a court decision declaring George W.P. Hunt the victor of the contentious 1916 race (Campbell would return to the governorship in 1919). However, the Arizona state flag made official by his inaction flies over the capitol building in which he served to this day.