This Land is Our Land: Early Women on the Arizona Frontier

Meet five early Arizona women who endured troubles and hardships during the territory’s early days, all of whom brought a unique perspective to the raw land. Apache warrior Lozen fought to hold onto land once freely roamed by her people. Larcena Pennington crawled down the Santa Rita Mountains after surviving captivity by the Apaches. Mary Aguirre found traveling the 1300-mile Santa Fe Trail an exhilarating adventure. Ada Bass played an integral role in one of the first tourist businesses at the Grand Canyon and Mormon Emma Lee French survived untold hardships raising a family at the site of what is now Lees Ferry.

Historian, author, and lecturer, Jan Cleere writes extensively about early settlers of the desert Southwest. An American studies magna cum laude graduate of Arizona State University West, she is the author of the award-winning books Levi’s & Lace: Arizona Women Who Made History; Amazing Girls of Arizona: True Stories of Young Pioneers; Outlaw Tales of Arizona; and More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Nevada Women. She has presented papers at numerous Arizona history conventions and has received recognition and honors from organizations such as the Arizona Newspapers Association, Arizona Book Publishers Association, and the Nevada Women’s History Project.