Arizona Schools 1871--After the Legislature Had Struck out Most of the Revenue Provided

Color , vivid and harmonious color, vibrant with life and action, is first seen by the visitor to the Arizona Department of Library and Archives in the west wing of the State Capitol-one of Arizona's flnest architectural achievements. This color is produced in eight historical murals which decorate the department's foyer and main office. Placed in a setting of high white panelled walls, otherwise unadorned, designed to give them maximum elfect, the fame of these unusual paintings, and that of the" young artist, Jay Datus, whose work they are, has spread across the nation. Four of the murals, following the early-day theme of the Apache Indians, tell the story of Arizona's progress in the smoke signal language of the aborigines without overdoing this realistic phase of history, Working in co"njunction with Mulford _ ·Winsor, Director of the Department , who planned the murals and ~hecked them for accuracy as to period and detail, artist Datus spent many months in research. Perhaps on; of the most interesting phases of this was the interview with· real Apache scouts of Arizona's Indian war days. Mr. Winsor, who was the flrst incumbent of the office of Arizona Historian-in 1909-had collected extensive information on smoke signals. He arranged with the late Dan R. vVilliamson, former U. S. Commis sioner in Globe, Arizona, territorial day Indian agent and long time friend and confldant of the Apaches, to interview, with Datus present, Mike Nelson and Belvado, ex-Apache scouts from the San Carlos agency. near Globe. From these time and weather-wrinkled "old men" of the Apache tribe. the muralist learned that the Apaches used many mountains as '\make signal" mountains. Most used, however, were the Tucson mountains near Tucson; Pinal Peak, 18 miles south of Globe; Mt. Turnbull, near ·Bylas in eastern Arizona; Stein's Peak on the Arizona-New Mexico line; Helen's Dome in Apache Pass near old Fort Bowie; Dos Cabezos in the Chiricahuas, south of Willcox; Cochise Stronghold in the Dra goons north of Douglas, and the Santa Rita mountains east of Tucson . Significantly. at various times, various branches of the Apache tribe lived on or near these mountains . Based on information given in the interview by ex-scouts Nelson and Belvado, and from additional research in reports of the Bureau of Ethnol ogy and other historical records covering the Apache tribe, the muralist formulated and planned the panels, starting with the Apache's flrst contact with the European during ·the missionary ~ra, when the Padres penetrated into the Southwest. In the first panel in the Smoke Signal theme, two Apache braves in the foreground watch two padres as they trek across the foothills. There is no hostility · in the attitude of the natives, only curiosity. From the summit of Mount Turnbull in the distance arises a single graceful column of smoke, signifying no threat or menace but "attention" merely. Safford Primary School, Tucson, Named for Anson Pacely Killen Safford, Early Day ·Governor and . ·,:·• Father of Public School System. / I s Storr by Charles Lambert Mann "We have fought one war with Mexico to acquire as well as several schools, and to be the father of Ari adobe huts. The greater part of Tucson's population . free public schools and argued that children growing up Arizona, and we ought to have another to compel her zona's public school system . This was his greatest o[ was Mexican and the English language was spoken in illiteracy and an atmosphere of lawlessness would to take it back." This was the way General Sherman many contributions to the territory . only when two Americans were together. soon create an adult element worse than th e Apache. felt about Arizona when he visited it. Perhaps if we But he had many other pressing problems before him. John Wasson , who was surveyor general of Arizona He gave credit to S. C. Rogers, "schoolmast er a t could see Arizona as it looked then , we would feel the The federal government, exhausted from its recent Civil at the time, has left this revealing statement r egarding Prescott ," and also to the "Sisters of St. Joseph in their -same way the General did . Wa r struggle, could not , or at least did not, handle the the problems before Governor Safford: "He found the recently founded school at Tucson , already enrolling 130 But there was an oth er man who saw Arizona in <\ military end of the Indian situation, and roving bands territory almost in a state of anarchy; many officers girls." But he made it plain to the legislatur e that it different light. He even ha9- the queer notion that of Apaches raided and murdered here and there over refused to obey the laws; th e payment of tax es was re was the duty of the territory to provid e "fr ee· public schools could be and should be established in -this vast, · the territory. Prescott was a little village about six sisted by some ." schools." sparsely settled land of mining camps, outlaws , settlers, years old and the tiny settlement of Phoenix was started However , in the face of all this the able governor had However , there were few who would list en to the Indians and Mexicans. He was Anson Pacel y Killen only two years before. There were a few Mormon set the courage to start a crusade for schools. When he governor's pleading. Great mines were being opened , Safford who arrived in Tucson on June 30, 1869. He tlem ents in the northern part of the territory and R came to Tucson there was only one public school in fortunes were made, there was the Indian nightm are, was destined to hold office longer than any oth er ter sprinkling of rough, wild and almost lawless mining the territory, at Prescott, which probably was main outlaws-education, indeed , seemed something for an ritorial governor of Arizona and to be one of the best camps over the area. Even Tucson, that had been a tained by a small local tax, for there was no public other world. After a hard fight , and with the aid of a territorial governors that Arizona had . Also he was place of habitation for over three centuries, was mer,aly school system here then . The governor urged upon the prominent Mexican pioneer of th e time, Estevan Ochoa , destined to ha ve a city of Arizona named in his honor, a small Mexican town with crooked, dusty streets and territorial legislature the nec essity of providing good th e governor secured the passing of his school bill in (Continued on Page 14) Two :J.'hree comprises forty buildings on a beautiful campus in the heart of rsit I Tucson is the home of the University of Arizona. A of their apathy. Land was slow in materializing, and city of over 65,000, Tucson lies in a broad valley at an it was not until 1887 that a contract to build University alt itud e of Z,400 feet and is surrounded by rugged Hall , now known as "Old Main ," was awarded. mountains. The University campus, comprising 75 acres , Classes for students , larg ely of the preparatory grade, is laid out in drives, lawns and gardens, with num er were opened in 1891. Meanwhile, the school of mines ous palm, olive, ash, umbrella, pepper , cottonwoo d, cedar, had grown to a uni versity through the addition of a cypress, juniper, eucalyptus and arborvitae trees. college of agriculture under provisions of the federal Out of somewhat distra ·.t and hesitant beg inning s the land grant college act. An amount slightly over $3Z,000 University of Arizona, projected as the west's lead in g had been spent to comp lete the initial building; and the school of mines, has grown to an institution of high er university was on its way to the international reputa lea rni ng whose properties are valued at more th an six tion it now holds. million dollars; its normal ann ual student enro llm en t Growt h of the physical plant and in the student body approaching 3,000. was slow until World War I. Shortly before the war, Arizona's universit y was accepted slow ly by many of new steps were taken in the increas ed extension of the the residents of the community in which it was to grow univ ersity's research and academic offerings, particu and eventually play a major role. The original appro larly in agriculture, to the state. The national educa priation of $Z5,000 by the territorial legislature in 1885 tional impetus following the war reached th e Arizon a for a college of mines bui lding was nearly lost because university. A good many of its principal buildings were (Continued on Page 6) TO ARIZONA HIGHWAYS_PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE AR IZONA HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT IN THE INTEREST OF GOOD ROADS AND DEVOTED THE STORY OF OUR LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH AND TIME ENOUGH . ALL COMMUNICATIONS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO ARIZONA HIGHWAYS CLASS PHOENIX. ARIZONA. SUBSCR I PTION RATE T wo DOLLARS PER YEAR . SINGLE COPY TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. ENTERED AS SECOND . SEPTEMBER, 1g44 , NO . g, BERT CAMPBELL, EDITOR . MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE. PHOENIX. ARIZONA, UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 187g, VOL XX, "Civilization Follows the Improved Highway." Five Th e University of Arizona is a beautiful and modern institution, one of the nation's leading educational facilities . It was founded in 1885. four general departments , seven divisions of research and Administration. War service classes for civilians have extension, an annual summer session; and four federal been running continuously and concurrently since the or state agencies have affiliated departments on the early activities of the nation in the war .

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