Just a few tidbits of information today as there has not been a great deal about sheep found in the newspapers of the 1866 or 1867. From a journey taken in 1853 that was reported in the 1866 newspaper Arizona was depicted as an ideal sheep raising area. The two-page newspaper story in the Arizona Miner, Fort Whipple, was taken from a San Francisco newspaper of a journey in 1853 by Mr. Aubry who across Arizona from New Mexico to California via the southern route of the Gila River with sheep and wagons. Aubry reported that “a large portion of the trail over which I passed-say some 250 miles west from the Rio Grande-is, for the most part, admirably adapted to farming and stock raising.” He was planning on doing another trip with sheep in 1854. Whether he undertook that trip, no information has been found at this time. While there was other information about Arizona, I only was interested in the sheep crossing our state.
Again in 1867, a journey from San Francisco to Prescott was included in the Arizona Miner, Fort Whipple as it was taken from the Examiner, most likely San Francisco but not given the newspaper’s origin. The paragraph of interest stated, “It is quite out of the question to describe in a single letter, all the advantages that Central Arizona possesses, or to enumerate the inducements it offers to permanent settlers. As a stock-raising district, no part of the Pacific (sic) to the northward can even bear comparison. Numerous grasses, of the most luxuriant growth and nutritious description, cover the country to the very summit of the mountains. For sheep, no place in the world could surpass, if equal it. As to farming, if wild grain is any criterion, this is surely the place to cultivate; for I have seen hundreds of acres of wild rye and oats at a glance, that made me instinctively look for a farmhouse (sic). Better crops I never saw anywhere, and all to be had for the gathering from the bountiful hand of nature …. The last paragraph also states that with all the wild grapes growing here the author predicted that Arizona would become a great vine producer.”
While the last part of the information is not germane, I thought it was interesting especially with Arizona having a wine producing area in the central part of the state as well as the southern.
The last piece of information to report about 1867 was what a person or family were allowed to retain in the case of a bankruptcy. Quoting from the Arizona Miner, Fort Whipple, again, “keep Household furniture, and other necessary articles, in value not exceeding $500; and in addition for those having a wife and children, 1 cow, 10 sheep, 2 hogs, 25 bushels of charcoal, 2 tons stone coal, 200 pounds of fat, 5 bushels of potatoes, 200 pounds of wheat flour, 2 cords of wood, 2 tons of hay, 10 bushels of turnips, 10 bushels of corn, or meal made therefrom, 10 bushels of rye, or the flour made therefrom, 20 pounds of wool, 20 pounds of flax, 1 sewing machine, 1 (a blurred word) in church and the wearing apparel of the whole family.
Lastly, I also stopped by Rovey Dairy today to get lamb burger and sheep cheese. Here is just one of the pictures from my visit:
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