by Tedd deLong

Marcus Aurelius Smith is a name that’s not on the tip of everybody’s tongue but it should be remembered here in Arizona. Why should his name be familiar to us since he was born and educated in Kentucky and worked as a lawyer in San Francisco?

Marcus was born in January, 1851, near Cynthiana, Kentucky. As a young man he aspired to study the classics in college. While there, he realized a calling in the field of law and switched from Transylvania University to Kentucky University in Lexington where he graduated with a law degree. He went to work briefly as the prosecuting attorney for the city of Lexington. He followed a relative to San Francisco where he practiced law from 1879 to 1881 when he moved to the land of silver and sun – The Arizona Territory. He set up practice in Tombstone which had great need of his particular skills. The general lack of law-abiding by any number of local residents as well as those just passing through gave the town a reputation for lawlessness. In 1882 he became Tombstone’s prosecuting attorney. He also continued his reputation as a card-player, especially of the Faro Bank game which he had learned in San Francisco alongside people like Mark Twain.

The legal skills which Mr. Smith brought to the Tombstone area helped him prosecute some of the more well-known names, including the Earp brothers and "Doc" Holliday. He lost the case but it is still quoted in legal proceedings today. After this, he was elected County Prosecutor for the new Cochise County and, in 1886, was elected as delegate to the House of Representatives from Arizona Territory. During the next 25 years of service to Arizona, he fought for statehood, silver parity, water rights and a number of needs of the Territorial citizens. He continued to practice law during his tenure as a representative. As a Democrat, he was challenged regularly by the Republican power base from the Prescott and Phoenix areas. This didn’t stop him from introducing bills for statehood, beginning in 1890 and continuing until its passage in 1912.

During his terms in Washington, the Republicans tried to send someone else to bend his political direction. One of these was Ralph Cameron, sometimes known as "the man who owned the Grand Canyon." Mr. Cameron defeated Mr. Smith in 1909 and spent a few years in the representative chair, but not with the tenacity of Mr. Smith.

As the Territory reached its goal of statehood in February of 1912, two senators needed to be chosen to represent the new state. Henry F. Ashurst and Marcus Aurelius Smith were elected. Smith drew the short straw and became the 2-year term holder. Two years later, when the election was held for the first 6-year senatorial term, he emerged victorious. He held this office until 1921, after which he continued to live and work in Washington D.C. until his death in 1924.

It was said of Mr. Smith: "Everyone knew him, everyone loved him and everyone called him Mark."

The Sharlot Hall Museum Blue Rose Theater presents "Just call me Mark," a play written and acted by Tedd deLong. His portrayal of Marcus Aurelius Smith will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 16th, Friday and Saturday, 17th and 18th at 7:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday. Come and meet the Honorable Mr. Smith. Call the museum for information and tickets.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po0611p) Reuse only by permission.

An avid fisherman, Arizona Territory Representative Marcus Aurelius Smith fishing in Oak Creek, 1890s. In 1912, at 61 years of age, he was selected as one of two senators sent to Washington to represent the brand new State of Arizona.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Marcus A. Smith, Public Domain, Library of Congress).

Marcus A. Smith, 1908, delegate to the House of Representatives from the Territory of Arizona.

by Ken Edwards

"King of the Cowboys" – not Gene Autry, Roy Rogers or John Wayne, but Tom Mix bore this epithet during his movie career. As cowboy superstar of the silent screen, he was the matinee idol of many cowboy wannabe youngsters in the 1920s. Mix was the clean-cut hero of over 300 short and feature length westerns. But before he became a cowboy star he was a real-life cowboy and a lot of other things besides.

Born in a small Pennsylvania town in 1880, Tom learned to rope, shoot, throw knives train horses and spit before he was 10. An ambitious kid and handsome young chap, he aspired to become a sheriff in the Wild West but, just after he turned 18, the Spanish-American War was imminent and he enlisted in the army. He expected to go to Cuba to fight with the Rough Riders but he never left the U.S. Tales that he had fought in Cuba, the Philippines, in the Boxer Rebellion in China and in the Boer War in South Africa were all legends created by the Fox Movie Company years later. Instead, Tom became a deserter from the army and took off for Oklahoma with his young bride, Grace.

He found little to do when he first arrived in Guthrie, Oklahoma where Grace taught school while Tom worked at various odd jobs like breaking horses, tending bar in a local saloon and running a youth physical fitness program. He coached the high school football team and became drum major for the Oklahoma Cavalry Band.

The band went to the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 and there Tom met Will Rogers, about his own age, who was working in a Wild West show. The two became lifelong friends. Back in Oklahoma tending bar, he finally got into the outdoor work he wanted when he was hired to manage livestock and break horses for the 101 Real Wild West Ranch and Show near Bliss, Oklahoma. Soon afterward, Mix married for a second time (his first marriage was annulled) and he became involved in law enforcement, serving in a quasi-official capacity as sheriff or marshal in new boomtowns in Kansas and Tennessee. During this period he continued to break horses and cultivate his skills as a stunt rider and showman with rope and pistol.

Tom, now 26, returned to the 101 Ranch in 1906 and took up residence in Dewey, Oklahoma. In addition to working with the horses, he served as host for visiting "dudes" from the east. In 1908, he became a deputy sheriff and night marshal in Dewey and learned to deal with the rough crowds in the gambling houses and saloons and fought a loosing battle against bootleggers.

After three years at the 101 Ranch, Tom, now with 3rd wife, Olive, went to Amarillo, Texas and joined up with the Widerman Wild West Show where he became a star roper. This arrangement soon ended over a salary dispute. The Mixes decided to go it alone and headed for Seattle. They recruited many talented cowboys and Indians and put on a Wild West show for the locals. With lots of rain and mud, the show was lucky to break even. But it was a start.

A famous story about the Mixes occurred early in the summer of 1909. Tom decided to participate in the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. The bronco he drew was infamous for throwing its rider in a hurry and the rodeo’s producer didn’t think Tom had a chance of staying on board. Olive, knowing her husband’s toughness and determination, was willing to make a bet. Tom won the event and the $100 purse. Olive made $500 on her bet!

That same summer, Tom is reported to have made his first appearance in Prescott Frontier Days and also had his start as a western movie extra. In 1910, he signed his first contract with the Selig Polyscope Company and remained with them for the next seven years. Even during his rise to motion picture stardom he continued performing in Wild West shows in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The man was an incredible stunt-man on a horse, always performing his own stunts in becoming a silver screen icon.

Many Tom Mix westerns were filmed in and around Prescott. He was a star roper and bulldogger in our 1913 Frontier Days Rodeo and was a special guest rodeo performer here in 1922 while working for the Fox Studio as an established movie star.

For more on Tom Mix and many other cowboy performers see www.b-westerns.com

(Ken Edwards is a volunteer at Sharlot Hall Museum.)

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po1067pa). Reuse only by permission.

Tom Mix with the original wonder horse "Tony" in Prescott, July 4, 1920. Tom died in an automobile accident near Florence, AZ on October 12, 1940 and "Tony" was willed to Tom’s lawyer. Ironically, old and ill, "Tony" was put down two years later…to the day of Tom’s death.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(pb130f13i9). Reuse only by permission.

Tom and "Tony" in Prescott, 1920. The original "Tony" had white socks only on the rear legs and a diamond blaze which ended at the nostrils. A quote from Tom: "I’ve owned ‘Tony’ since he was born, seventeen years ago. He is a good horse and will be for some time yet, as I have never extended him in work. He doesn’t like this tour much though, and has been getting cross about it. Several times he has tried to bite me within the last few days and once he succeeded." The horses that succeeded him in films and stunts (also called "Tony" as Jr. and II) had similar traits but were easily distinguished from the original. Tom was well known for treating horses with respect and love and often defended animals against owners who were seen mistreating them.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(pb126f14i5a). Reuse only by permission.

Movie making at Ft. Whipple with Tom Mix, 1919.

by Judy Stoycheff

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created by an act of Congress in 1933 soon after the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The U.S.Forest Service was one of the first agencies to step forward and request the services of the program enrollees. According to "The New Deal in Arizona," the Forest Service had projects in four interrelated categories: resource protection, resource development, improvement of infrastructure and recreational development. One of several CCC camps in the Prescott area was located at Walnut Creek, about 44 miles out Williamson Valley Road, northwest of Prescott. Correspondence with Ralph Zartman, a 1940 CCC ‘boy’ from Pennsylvania and local Jay Eby, retired forester for the Forest Service, has given much insight into the activities of the local corps.

It was not all work and no play for the "boys" of the "Colossal College of Calluses," another nickname given to them. There were recreational trips to Prescott every Saturday afternoon, movies at the two theaters and visits to the establishments of Whiskey Row, if of age. The F-79 camp at Walnut Creek had a recreation building with a canteen, radio and ping-pong tables. Baseball and boxing were popular in many of the camps, but no evidence that they were engaged in at camp F-79. Classes were offered, though Mr. Zartman wasn’t sure what subjects were offered other than the ones he took in Compass and Map Reading. These classes served him well, he related, during WWII when he served with the Intelligence and Recon section of the 1067th Engineer Construction Group in various theaters in Europe. Many of the former "boys" served in the military during WW II and gave credit to some aspect of their training in the CCC for their ability to assimilate quickly into the service and use their hands-on skills and leadership qualities. Although WW II effectively ended the CCC program in 1942, F-79 was probably closed in November 1941.

There is physical evidence of the camp still at the site in Walnut Creek. There are a few concrete pillars and pads for out buildings and a large one for the bath house, complete with footbath. One can follow some of the ceramic water pipes (shown in the diagrahm below) and walk the path outlined with stones that leads to the officers’ quarters. A tall wooden pole with supporting shorter pole was probably part of the telephone system as there were electrical components with it. Some of the artifacts found on the surface support the dates of the camp: a fragment of a Barq’s soda bottle (1890 to present); a can opened with church-key in common use after 1930 (as in old Spam cans); a specific insulator dating 1921 to 1950; a single-edge razor, GEM, circa 1930′s. Many other artifacts were found in the trash area.

The CCC celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2008. There are probably few structures such as dams, roads, remnants of erosion control efforts, etc., that are the result of work done by the "boys" of F-79 still in evidence today in the Walnut Creek area. However, in the minds of the men and their families who served in the CCC, the farmers and ranchers for whom they toiled and the members of the community who benefited, their efforts and service will long be remembered.

Note: From 1941-1947, some of the former nationwide CCC sites that were in good condition were used as camps where conscientious objectors worked as an alternative to military service. Others were used to hold Japanese internees or German prisoners of war. Later, in the 1970s, the CCC became a model for state agencies which continued the youth program and, as of 2004, there were 113 corps programs operating in 41 states, enrolling over 23,000 young people. Over the past year, the CCC Legacy Foundation has been formed to help secure the heritage and history of the CCC and its great impact on American Culture. For more information, go to ccc@ccclegacy.org. In 1940, a movie, "Pride of the Bowery" with Leo Gorcey and the East Side Kids was filmed at the Thumb Butte and Granite Basin CCC camps. It may be viewed free online at www.archive.org/details/pride_of_the_bowery

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Walnut Creek grid – SHM) Reuse only by permission.

Grid showing layout of buildings and facilities at the Walnut Creek CCC camp (F-79), June 20, 1940.

1 Mess hall, kitchen and bakery

2 Headquarters & supply

3 Infirmary

4 Welfare Bldg

5 Bath house

6 Latrine

7 Generator house

9-11 Techn. quarters

12-16 Officers’ quarters

17-36 and 37-56 Enrollee quarters

57 Headquarters

61-65 Education buildings

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(misc286p). Reuse only by permission.

Thumb Butte CCC camp, June 1934.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(misc159pc). Reuse only by permission.

CCC "boys" building a road on Mingus Mountain c1938.

by Judy Stoycheff

(In response to the depression that hung over the nation in the early 1930s, newly-elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt created many programs designed to put Americans back to work. One of those programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It was designed to bring together the nation’s young men and the land in an effort to save them both. From FDR’s inauguration on March 4, 1933 to the induction of the first CCC enrollee was only 37 days! It was open to men between the ages of 18 and 25 (changed in 1937 to 17-28), unmarried, unemployed and physically sound. Young men flocked to enroll for the six-month stint (which could be renewed 3 times). They were paid $22-45 per month, with a requirement that most be sent back to family. They lived in camps, wore uniforms and lived in a military style discipline. Enrollees included all races with a total of 3

by Randi Wise

As a newcomer to Prescott, I was curious about that big brick building on the top of the hill just a short distance southwest of the plaza. I thought at first it might be a hospital. It wasn’t long before I learned that it was a state run home for the elderly, commissioned by an act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona on March 10, 1909.

The Arizona Pioneers’ Home was ready for occupancy on February 1, 1911. In those first years only miners were admitted, with a capacity for 40 men. It was soon realized that there were many hard working Arizonans who also deserved a soft place to land in their declining years, so a wing was built in 1916 to house 20 women.

Even if you had money enough to live on your own, you could still live at the Pioneer Home. In fact, you received an allowance of $7.50 a week whether you had money of your own or not. "Walking-around-money" my father would have called that.

The Pioneer Home was there for the miners, homesteaders, ranchers, business owners, any citizens that helped build Arizona. With so many aging and independent Arizona citizens looking for such a place, The Pioneer Home had overcrowding problems from the git-go. In fact, even to this day there is a waiting list.

Now don’t get me wrong. Not just anyone calling himself an Arizona citizen may be admitted. There have always been certain criteria to meet: initially, you had to be at least 60 years of age, been active in the development of Arizona, have lived in Arizona at least 25 years (later increased to 35 years and today that has changed to 50 years). You also had to walk through the door on your own power and be able to take care of yourself.

On and off over the years, rumors would surface about the place. One good example is a Life Magazine article in the November 3, 1947 issue, which accused The Pioneer Home of all sorts of misdeeds. The author of the article wrote: "The Arizona Pioneers are a crusty, cantankerous lot whose only common denominator is that they do not like society generally and each other specifically….the home is about as peaceful as an old frontier saloon. Every week there are at least two or three old fashioned brawls, fought sometimes with bare knuckles, but more often with canes….at least a fourth of the guests have served time in jail or in the penitentiary….they spend most of the allowance for whiskey along the row". To read the entire Life Magazine article, go to http://www.azph.gov/PDF/LIFE_Nov_3_1947.pdf

For several years those rumors circulated and caused the Board of Governors much grief. Then, in the winter of 1952, Superintendent James Griswold invited Roscoe G. Willson, a reporter with the Arizona Republic, to come for a visit. Turns out that the reporter knew several of the residents! He had a wonderful visit and refuted everything the Life article reported. He called it sensationalism. He found that "through misfortune or choice, they are passing their declining years in the company of people of their own age. Many of them have been life-long friends. The attitude of many is that they prefer living in the home rather than become a burden on friends or relatives".

As much as things change, they also remain the same. If you were to ask any of the approximate 150 residents why they live there today, the answer would be much the same as it was in 1952.

To see just how things were at The Pioneer Home in 1963, come to the Blue Rose Theater production of "The Ladies of the Garden" at the Sharlot Hall Museum, with. performances June 12 and 19 at 7:30 p.m.; June 13 and 20 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Call the museum at 445-3122 for tickets and information.

(Randi Wise is a descendant of the Spences; she is the great-granddaughter of Belle Spence Crume.)

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(bub8222pd). Reuse only by permission.

The Arizona Pioneer Home circa 1912. First all-male occupants were admitted in February of 1911.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(bub8151pe). Reuse only by permission.

After construction of the resident wings: one on the right for women and left for men. The center was lobby and medical care facility. Photo 1918.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(bure4185pc). Reuse only by permission.

Occasion unknown, circa 1930s.