Arizona Centennial

Grand Canyon enthusiasts celebrated Arizona’s centennial recently with a History Symposium at the South Rim.  And some of the most interesting research came from amateur historians in love with the Canyon.

Dennis Foster teaches applied macro-economics at Northern Arizona University.  That’s his day job.  He spends his free time studying Grand Canyon and its history. For the past 15 years Foster has been investigating the 1882 – 83 Charles Walcott expedition.   

If you’re a regular subscriber to Arizona Highways Magazine, you probably noticed something different in the February Issue.

Instead of the colorful photographs of mountains and canyons that have made the magazine famous, it's filled with black and white pictures of cities and cars.

The issue celebrates Arizona's 100 years of statehood.

Robert Stieve, Executive Editor of Arizona Highways, told KNAU's John Stark, the issue was great fun to put together.

Buckey O’Neill got a lot living done in just 38 years.

Nicknamed for “bucking the tiger” in his favorite card game, he came to Arizona territory at the age of 19.  As a newspaper man in Tombstone, he covered the Earp brothers and may have witnessed the OK Corral shootout.

Then he mined copper at the Grand Canyon, where he built a cabin that still stands.

He served as judge, mayor and sheriff in Yavapai County, and led a posse through Canyon Diablo to capture bandits.

Arizona became a state on Valentine’s Day 1912.

That date was chosen because it marked a half-century since we’d become a territory…Arizona was made a Confederate Territory on February 14th in 1862.

You know, on Statehood day, there wasn’t a lot of fanfare …Gov. George

W. P. Hunt walked more than a mile to the State Capitol to sign the papers.

We do know the occasion of Arizona’s statehood got some brand new media attention…President Taft’s signing of the papers was the first time motion pictures were taken inside the White House.