Southern Arizona

We commonly assume that the early history of the Pimeria Alta (now Sonora/Arizona) was greatly determined by the Spanish colonizers. But, in reality, the Jesuit Order can be credited with having had the greatest impact on the region, perhaps best represented by Padre Eusebio Kino.  A surprisingly large number of his successors hailed from German-speaking […]

A killer camel, a tornado-riding con man, a dead dragon, and a naked horse thief are some of the characters in the quirky stories from Southwest history that Peach loves to share in his original cowboy poetry.  Laugh at and learn from these very tall and mostly true tales, like how Arizona forfeited a seaport […]

In the 1870s a refined New England woman traveled with her lieutenant husband to the untamed Arizona Territory. Traveling in terrible conditions and initially horrified by the desert landscape, she eventually gave birth to the first Anglo child born at Fort Apache. Ultimately, Ms. Summerhayes came to love the starry nights, the clear air and […]

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is often described solely in terms of international diplomacy, particularly Western involvement in exacerbating or attempting to resolve instability in the region.  However, more crucial to an understanding of the nature of the conflict are internal issues, namely the differing perspectives that separate Palestinians from Israelis and make their disagreements so intractable. […]

For centuries, Hopi men grew cotton and wove the fibers into blankets and clothing. In the 1880s, with the arrival of Anglo missionaries and government officials, quilting was introduced to the Hopi people and it quickly became integrated into Hopi culture and ceremony with quilts being used in every Hopi household. Hopis today are 4th […]

Hang on to your hats as you ride the trails beside some of Arizona’s most wicked renegades during a time when massacres, mayhem and mischief ran rampant throughout Arizona Territory. Learn the sordid details of desperadoes such as cattle/horse rustler and murderer Augustine Chacon who claimed he killed over fifty men, ladies-man Buckskin Frank Leslie […]