Some phases of the boundary problem of Arizona Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Schiff, Raymond Irving, 1926- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 07/10/2021 06:44:21 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/553810 SOME PHASES OF THE BOUNDARY PROBLEM OF ARIZONA by Raymond I rv in g JSohiff < •. ' *. .it's. A T h esis submitted to the faculty of the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Graduate College, University of Arizona 1950 Approved r - / / ’s ’ & 4> 9 r f / S ? S 6 7 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page INTRODUCTION ............................................. ..... iv I . THE BOUNDARIES OF FORMATION ........ 1 I I . THE ARIZONA CITY CONTROVERSY . *. '. 15 I I I . UTAH V. ARIZONA . ....................... k l IV. THE LOSS OF PAH U T E ...................................... 59 V. ARIZONA SEEKS THE S E A .................................. 75 V I. THE GRANT COUNTY EPISODE.............................. 89 CONCLUSION ........... ........................... 95 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................... 98 214iI-7 LIST OF FIGURES Number Page 1. Arizona and Neighboring Jurisdictions . iz 2. Proposed Boundaries of Formation .................. 8 3* Confluence of Colorado and Gila Rivers, Imagined and Actual . ...... 18 4. Areas in Controversies with U ta h ................. 46 5. Area in Controversy with Nevada .... 61 6. Areas in Controversy with Mexico . 80 7. Area in Controversy with New Mexico . 93 i l l INTRODUCTION Most lexicographers agree that a boundary is a line which limits or divides a territory. This is the history o f some of th e in c id e n ts which have come from th o se lin e s , which lim it Arizona. The reader must realize that each line which lim its Arizona has on its other side another jurisdic- tion which is similarly limited by the boundary. Actually then, this is the history of the Arizona-California boundary, the Arizona-Nevada boundary, the Arizona-Utah boundary, the Arizona-Colorado boundary, the Arizona-New Mexico boundary, and the Arizona-Mexico boundary. Each of these boundaries, with the exception of one, that with Colorado, has had its own history of controversy. This thesis is the history of the main controversies from 1848 to the time of writing, 1950. ...... , Arizona offers a particularly interesting study in the history of her boundary controversies due to the variety of surrounding jurisdictional types. On the south Arizona is bounded by a foreign power, so that her boundary relations in that direction are a matter of national concern. For much of the period dealt with in this thesis, Arizona was a Territory or a proposed Territory. It was in this juris­ dictional state that most of her controversies were decided. On the west the Territory of Arizona was hounded by a state, relatively established and powerful, California. To the northwest the lim iting line was shared with Nevada. Nevada, in her boundary controversies with Arizona, repre­ sented a newly-created state, and in that role it made the only successful attempt at changing Arizona’s boundaries. On the north Arizona was faced with a jurisdictional equal through most of the time of the main controversies, another Territory, Utah. After gaining statehood, Utah sought to take advantage of her advanced status to take from Arizona that territory which she had sought as a Territory and failed to get. On the northeast Arizona was contiguous with the Territory of Colorado^ the only one of her neighbors with which the Territory had no quarrels. The reason for this border peace was perhaps that the contiguity repre­ sented an infinitely small point where the two imaginary lines forming the northern boundary of Arizona arid New Mexico 1 and the western boundary of Colorado and New Mexico crossed. On the east Arizona bordered on the Territory from which it was created, the Territory of New Mexico. V/ithin fifteen years of 1863, Arizona’s year of creation, Arizona was seek­ ing to take a substantial area from the Territory of New Mexico. • - - 1. This spot is also interesting in that it is the only 1 - point in the United States common to four states. This thesis was written topically rather than chrono­ logically so that the reader must remember these controver­ sies did not run their own separate courses. All of the controversies had their beginnings in the fifteen years after the creation of the Territory of Arizona (1863-1878) and most were running concurrently through the early part of that era. Two of the bitterest controversies, those with Cali­ fornia and Nevada, were both,at the height of their impor­ tance during the years 1866-1871. A year, before that era began, Utah tried to get a part of northern Arizona and through all this time Arizona’s desires for a port on the Gulf of California provided another potential boundary con­ troversy. The attempted annexation of Grant County, New Mexico in 1877 was.the only controversy which ran its course while no other boundary problem was pressing. From the 1880’s on, Arizona’s attem pts.at a port on the. Gulf were in­ terspersed with Utah’s attempts at obtaining northern Ari­ zona. The reader would do well to remember that often while Arizona was seeking to extend its boundaries in one direc­ tion, a neighboring jurisdiction was trying to expand at the expense of Arizona. The chapters of this thesis were so placed,in order that a chronological unity be achieved in that each succes­ sive problem started later than that discussed in the pre­ ceding chapter. The first chapter is the story of the boundaries which were created to set aside a portion of the v i United States into a jurisdiction known as the Territory of Arizona. The second chapter is the history of the claim of California to a small strip of land where the present city of Yuma, Arizona stands. Next is traced the story of Utah’s attempts at the land above the Grand Canyon, and the fourth chapter is the history of the only successful attempt to change the boundaries of Arizona, that of Nevada. The fifth chapter is the history of Arizona's attempts to obtain a sea port, and the final chapter deals with the attempt of Arizona to annex part of the Territory of New Mexico. Outline maps have been provided to show the contested areas and suggested boundaries but, since they have little local detail, the reader would do well to have a map of the Southwest before him as he reads this thesis. Even with such a map, it is difficult to realize the size of the areas involved, but the reader should remember that the territory which Nevada took from Arizona, for instance, if made into a separate state, would rank above any of the New England states except Maine in respect to area. The territory in­ volved in each of the other controversies, except that with California, was only slightly smaller or, in the case of some of the demands for Mexican territory, substantially larger. The size of New Jersey on the accompanying map w ill probably aid the reader's perspective as to size, I wish to gratefully acknowledge the help given me by the Library staff at the University of Arizona, and by the v i i members of the Arizona Pioneer H istorical Society who aided me so consistently in my search for the data from which this thesis was written. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my thesis' director, Professor H.A. Hubbard for the assistance and guidance he so willingly gave me; I also gratefully ac­ knowledge the aid given me by Professor Russell C. Ewing; and special recognition must also be given to my foremost ' •; ? proofreader and critic, Corinne P. Schiff, my wife. v i i i AtiEAS in e@NT*»vf*fy t o F A^iZe riA 3 CR5IY T U fCAlf ® ^ xh Vf A6oV€ FIGURE i x CHAPTER I THE BOUNDARIES OF FORMATION Arizona, as organized "by the Congress of the United States, represented an entirely new jurisdictional area. In creating this area the legislators had no guides as to ex­ actly where it began or where it ended. There were some neighboring jurisdictions, but they had had very indefinite boundaries in most cases. As Bancroft put it: In Spanish and Mexlcapt times there was no such province under that [Arizony or any other name, nor was the territory divided by any defi­ nite boundaries between adjoining provinces. That portion south of the Gila was part of Pimeria Alta, the northern province of Sonora. Except for a small district of this Pimeria, the whole terri­ tory was uninhabited, so far as any but aborigines were concerned. A small tract in the northwest was.generally regarded as belonging to New Mexico, , because the Spaniards of that province had some­ times visited, and had once for a brief period been recognized as masters of, the Mogul pueblos. Not only were no boundaries ever formally indicated but I have found nothing to show how far in Spanish and Mexican opinion New Mexico was regarded as ex­ tending west or Sonora north. Each was deemed to stretch indefinitely out into the despoblado fun- known or barreq} . California however, while no boundary was ever fixed officially, was not gener­ ally regarded to extend east of the Rio Colorado.! The area north of the Gila, below the 37th parallel and east of California, after being taken by the United States 1.' H.H.