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Arizona
Arizona
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190Mil BC |
In 2008 scientists discovered numerous dinosaur footprints dating to this time at the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument along the Utah and Arizona state border. Links: Utah, Arizona, Dinosaur, HistoryBC 
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6Mil BC 5Mil BC |
The carving of the Grand Canyon dramatically accelerated during this period. By modern times it stretched 277-miles, 18 miles at its widest point, with depths up to 6,000 feet. In 2008 evidence suggested that the canyon could be 17 million years old. Links: USA, Arizona, HistoryBC
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2.8Mil BC |
Volcanic eruptions in the area of Flagstaff, Arizona, began building a 16,000-foot volcano. It later became known as the San Francisco Mountain and in 2006 stood at 12,643-feet. Links: Arizona, Volcano, HistoryBC
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740000 BC |
The Red Mountain cinder cone at Flagstaff, Arizona, dated to this time. Links: USA, Arizona, HistoryBC
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50000 BC |
Arizona’s Barringer Crater was created about this time by a meteor. Named after mining engineer Daniel Barringer, it measures 3/4 of a mile wide and 640 feet deep and is suspected to have resulted from a meteor of about 100 feet in diameter. An iron meteor 100 feet in diameter and weighing about 60,000 tons crashed into the desert at about 45,000 miles per hour near Winslow, Az. A crater 4,000 feet wide and 570 feet deep was created. 85% of it melted and the rest broke into bits called Canyon Diablo meteorites. Links: Arizona, HistoryBC, Meteor
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11000 BC |
Scientists in 2005 said archeological sites dating to this time in Michigan, Canada, Arizona, New Mexico, and the Carolinas showed evidence, magnetic metal spherules, for a comet impact that may have wiped out North American mammoths and many other animals. Links: Canada, North Carolina, Arizona, South Carolina, Michigan, New Mexico, Extinction, HistoryBC
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8000 BC |
In 2007 workers digging at the future site of a Wal-Mart store in suburban Mesa, Az., unearthed the bones of a prehistoric camel that's estimated to be about 10,000 years old. Links: Arizona, HistoryBC
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1100 |
A volcano erupted about this time in the area of Flagstaff, Arizona. Links: Arizona, Volcano
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1100 1300 |
About this period volcanic ash and molten rock sprayed the area of the Wupatki Basin near Flagstaff, Arizona for as long as 200 years. Links: Arizona, Volcano
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1776 |
Spanish explorers encountered the native Havasupai Indians in Arizona. Links: Spain, USA, Arizona, AmerIndian
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1848 |
Mexico was forced to sell most of the territory that is now Arizona to the United States following its defeat in the Mexican-American war. Links: USA, Mexico, Arizona
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1864 1865 |
Army Col. Kit Carson, directed by Brig. Gen. James Carleton, forced the move of some 9,000 Dineh Navajo from Canyon de Chelly in Arizona to the Bosque Redondo reservation near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. About half the people survived in what came to be known as the Long Walk. In 2006 Hampton sides authored “Blood and Thunder: An epic of the American West,” an account of the Navaho move. Links: USA, Arizona, New Mexico, AmerIndian
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1868 |
Navaho Indians living under confinement near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, were allowed to return to their homelands in Arizona following a visit by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Some 7,100 survivors of the 1864 Long Walk had been released onto a New Mexico reservation of 5,500 acres. The Navajo returned to Hopi land where 3.5 million acres, 1/6th of their former homeland, was returned. Links: USA, Arizona, New Mexico, AmerIndian
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1871 Apr 30 |
Anglo and Mexican vigilantes killed 118 Apaches at Camp Grant, Arizona, and kidnapped 28 children. Links: USA, Arizona, AmerIndian, Atrocities
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1872 Oct 12 |
Chiricahua Apache leader Cochise (d.1874) signed a peace treaty with Special Indian Commissioner, General Oliver Otis Howard (1830-1909), in the Arizona Territory. Links: USA, Arizona, AmerIndian
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1880 |
Daniel Mooney, a prospector, plunged to his death and gave his name to Mooney Falls in Havasu Canyon, Arizona. Links: USA, Arizona
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1880 |
David King Udall (1851-1938), while living in Nephi, Utah, was called to be the Mormon bishop in St. Johns, Arizona, a small and primarily Hispanic Catholic community. Links: USA, Utah, Arizona
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1882 |
The US government confined the Havasupai Indians to a 518-acre reservation in Havasu Canyon, Arizona. Links: USA, Arizona, AmerIndian
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1884 |
David King Udall, the Mormon bishop in St. Johns, Arizona, was indicted on charges of unlawful cohabitation. He was never convicted, because his second wife lived in another town, and prosecutors could not locate her to compel testimony against him. Links: USA, Utah, Arizona
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1886 Apr 11 |
General Nelson A. Miles arrived at Fort Bowie, Ariz., to begin his assignment to subjugate or destroy a band of Apaches led by Geronimo. Links: USA, Arizona, AmerIndian
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1886 Apr 27 |
A band of Apaches led by Geronimo attacked a ranch west of Fort Huachuca and killed 3 American citizens. Links: USA, Arizona, AmerIndian
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1886 Sep 4 |
Elusive Apache leader Geronimo (1829-1909) surrendered to General Nelson A. Miles (1839-1925) at Skeleton Canyon, Ariz. This ended the last major US-Indian war. Links: USA, Arizona, AmerIndian
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1890 Jul 13 |
John C. "Pathfinder" Fremont (76), US explorer, governor (Arizona, California), died. He was buried in obscurity in Sparkill, NY. Fremont (b.1830) was the 1st Republican presidential candidate in 1856. In 1999 David Roberts authored "A Newer World: Kit Carson, John C. Freemont and the Claiming of the American West." In 2002 Tom Chaffin authored “Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire.” In 2007 Sally Denton authored “Passion and Principle: John and Jessie Fremont, the Couple Whose Power, Politics and Love Shaped Nineteenth-Century America.” Links: USA, California, New York, Arizona, Explorer, Biography
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1892 |
The settlement of Goldfield, Arizona, got its start when low grade gold ore was found in the area between the Superstition Mountains and the Goldfield Mounts. Low-grade or not, a town soon sprang up and on October 7, 1893 it received its first official post office. Links: USA, Arizona
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1894 |
Percival Lowell (1855-1916), American astronomer, built a private observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona and commenced a decade long series of observations with emphasis on Mars. He "confirmed" water filled canals and proclaimed Mars the home of an advanced civilization. Links: USA, Arizona, Astronomy
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1912 Feb 14 |
Arizona became the 48th state of the Union, the final area of the continental United States to attain statehood. Links: USA, Arizona
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1912 Nov 4 |
Arizona and Kansas granted women the right to vote. Wisconsin voted against suffrage for women. Links: Kansas, Women, Arizona, Wisconsin
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1927 |
The 4-story Monte Vista Hotel was built in Flagstaff, Arizona. Links: USA, Arizona
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1930 Feb 18 |
Planet X (Pluto), the ninth planet of our solar system, was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh (1907-1997) at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. It is 2.76 billion miles (5,888 million km.) from the sun at the closest point of its orbit. Pluto was later designated a "dwarf planet." Links: USA, Arizona, Pluto
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1930 Mar 13 |
The Lowell Observatory in Arizona announced Clyde Tombaugh’s Feb 18 discovery of a new planet, later named Pluto. Links: USA, Arizona, Pluto
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1934 Jan 22 |
In Tucson, Arizona, a fire broke out at the Hotel Congress, where members of the Dillinger gang were staying. Firefighters salvaged baggage belonging to the gang and the next day one of the firefighters spotted one the gang’s mug shots in an issue of True Detective magazine. Within a few days 5 members of the Dillinger gang were arrested including John Dillinger and girlfriend Evelyn Frechette. In 2009 Elliot Gorn authored “Dillinger’s Wild Ride: The Year That Made America’s Public Enemy Number One.” Links: USA, Arizona, Fire
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1940 |
The population of Mesa, Arizona, was about 7,000. this roughly doubled in each of the next 5 decades and by 2008 Mesa numbered almost half a million residents. Links: USA, Arizona
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1946 Jul 15 |
Linda Ronstadt (singer: group: The Stone Poneys: Different Drum; solo: Blue Bayou, You're No Good, When Will I Be Loved, It's So Easy, Ooh Baby Baby, Hurt So Bad; actress: Pirates of Penzance), was born in Tucson, Arizona. Links: Theater, Arizona, Pop&Rock
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1953 |
In Colorado City, Arizona, a mass police raid against members of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS) led to the arrest of scores of men and the separation of children from their families. FLDS members were avowed polygamists. Links: USA, Utah, Arizona, Sociology, Religion
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1954 Mar |
Dorothy Gay Howard (18) of Phoenix, Arizona, was reported missing. Her nude and battered body was found on April 8 along a creek in Boulder, Colorado. She was buried as Jane Doe until her identity was established by DNA testing in 2009. Links: USA, Colorado, Murder, Arizona
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1954 Jul 17 |
Gen. Joseph Swing, appointed by Pres. Eisenhower to head the INS, began "Operation Wetback." Because political resistance was lower in California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states. Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country. Links: USA, California, Mexico, Arizona, EisenhowerD
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1956 Jun 30 |
A United DC-7 and a TWA Lockheed Constellation collided during a thunderstorm over the Grand Canyon (Arizona) killing all 128 people. Links: USA, Air Crash, Arizona
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1960 2005 |
The population of Phoenix, Az., grew from 664,000 to 3.6 million. Links: USA, Arizona
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1967 Feb 28 |
Henry Luce (68), American publisher, died in Phoenix. He and Briton Hadden (1898-1929) published the first issue of Time magazine on March 3, 1923. In 2010 Alan Brinkley authored “The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century.” Links: USA, Arizona, Magazine
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1968 Apr 18 |
London Bridge was sold to a US oil company. It was later erected in Arizona. Links: Britain, Arizona
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1968 Nov 5 |
Barry Goldwater (1909-1998), former Republican presidential candidate (1964), was re-elected in Arizona to the US Senate. Links: USA, Arizona
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1970 |
Paolo Soleri (b.1919), Italian-American architect, led the ground breaking at Arcosanti, a model ecocity in the high Arizona desert. It was a prototype arcology designed for 5,000 residents, combining compact buildings with huge solar greenhouses on a 4,000 acre preserve about 60 miles north of Phoenix. Soleri projected a people density of 215 per acre vs. 72 in Delhi and 33 per acre in New York City. Since then some 6,000 architectural students have come to help with the building and learning about its design. The site attracted some 50,000 visitors every year. Links: USA, Arizona
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1971 |
Arizona indicted Weather Underground members John Allen Fuerst (25) and Roberta Brent Smith (25). Links: USA, Arizona
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1971 |
An Arizona law under Gov. Jack Williams (1909-1998) outlawed secondary boycotts and harvest-time strikes, tools used by the growing UFW. Links: Labor, Arizona, Agriculture
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1974 |
William K. Hartmann of the Planetary Science Inst. In Tucson, Arizona, presented research that proposed that the moon was formed from the remnants of a giant impact, wherein a planet about the size of Mars struck Earth. Alastair G.W. Cameron (1915-2005) of Harvard worked independently on the same idea. Links: USA, Earth, Arizona, Astronomy, Mars, Moon
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1975 Jan 3 |
President Ford signed Public Law 93-620. This Act, written to enlarge the Grand Canyon National Park, also provided in Section 10 for the enlargement of the adjacent Havasupai Indian Reservation by 185,000 acres and designated a contiguous 95,300 acres of the enlarged National Park as a permanent traditional use area of the Havasupai Indians of Havasu Canyon, Arizona. Links: USA, Arizona, AmerIndian, FordG
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1976 Jan 31 |
Ernesto Miranda, famous from the Supreme Court ruling on "Miranda Rights," was stabbed to death in Arizona. Links: USA, Murder, Arizona
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1976 Mar 2 |
Bob Lurie (b.1929), real estate magnate, led a group to acquire ownership of the San Francisco Giants baseball club. Lurie closed the $8-million transaction with Arizona cattleman Arthur "Bud" Herseth as his 50-50 partner. Links: USA, SF, Baseball, Arizona
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1976 Jun 13 |
Don Bolles, Arizona Republic investigative reporter, died as a result of injuries suffered when a bomb blew up his car 11 days earlier. He had been working on an alleged Mafia story at the time of his death. Links: USA, Arizona, Mafia, Journalism
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1976 Oct 28 |
Former Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman entered a federal prison camp in Safford, Ariz., to begin serving his sentence for Watergate-related convictions. Links: USA, Arizona, NixonR
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1977 Jun 27 |
The US Supreme Court struck, in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, down state laws and bar association rules that had prohibited lawyers from advertising their fees for routine services. Links: USA, Arizona, Supreme Court, Advertising
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1978 Apr 27 |
Convicted Watergate defendant John D. Ehrlichman was released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months. Links: USA, Arizona
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1978 Jun 29 |
Bob Crane (b.1928), the man who played Colonel Robert Hogan in the TV show "Hogan’s Heroes," was found bludgeoned to death in Scottsdale, Az. John Henry Carpenter (d.1998 at 70), a prime suspect, was tried and acquitted in 1990. Links: USA, TV, Murder, Arizona
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1978 Aug 26 |
Charles Boyer (b.1897), French-born film actor (Gaslight, Rogues), committed suicide in Phoenix, Az., 2 days after his wife's death from cancer. Boyer and actress Pat Robertson lost their only child in 1965, when their son shot himself playing Russian roulette. Links: USA, Suicide, Filmstar, Arizona
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1979 |
Mel Zuckerman and his wife Enid opened Canyon Ranch, America’s first total vacation and fitness resort, on an old dude ranch in Tucson, Arizona. By 2007 it was recognized as a premium health-spa of choice for the super rich. Links: USA, Arizona
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1980 Jun 20 |
Lake Powell, straddling the Arizona-Utah border behind the Glen Canyon Dam, completed its fill, which began in 1963 Links: USA, Utah, Arizona
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1980 |
Hispanics in Phoenix Arizona, numbered about 15% of the population. By 2005 the number reached 42%. Links: USA, Arizona
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1981 Apr 22 |
In the largest US bank robbery, more than $3.3 million was stolen in Tucson Ariz. 4 men were later arrested for the robbery. Links: USA, Arizona, Robbery
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1982 |
In Arizona Karl LeGrand, a German citizen, stabbed to death a bank manager during a bungled robbery attempt with his brother Walter LaGrand. Karl was convicted and died by lethal injection Feb 24, 1999. Walter was executed a week later. A UN court in 2001 upheld that the US violated international law in the case. Links: USA, UN, Murder, Arizona, Robbery
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1983 1984 |
Twelve Navajo weavers in Arizona completed the 26x28 foot "Little Sister" rug. It was a smaller version of a larger rug woven in 1976, and recorded as the largest Navajo rug in the world. In 1997 the rug was put up for auction to raise funds for a community health clinic. Links: USA, Arizona, AmerIndian
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