John Y. T. Smith, a former member of the California Volunteers, arrived at Fort McDowell in the spring of 1866. He was contracted to supply hay for the soldiers' horses and mules. Smith hired Hispanic laborers who had settled near the fort to harvest wild galleta hay on the banks of the Salt River. He also managed the government farm at Fort McDowell and became the post trader. In the following spring, he established a hay camp, the first settlement in the Salt River Valley, near the future site of Phoenix.
In 1867, Jack Swilling, a miner from Wickenburg who had been one of Smith's wagon drivers, led a group of men into the Salt River Valley and began excavating irrigation canals with the idea of selling water to farmers who would settle there. By 1868, there were about 100 people living on the north side of the river -- the beginning of a prosperous farming district. This little town called Pumpkinville burned that first year. As the settlers were rebuilding, one of the local residents suggested the name Phoenix. By 1870, the Salt River Valley had a population of 240, which was about half Mexican and half Anglo. These were mostly farmers raising wheat and barley for sale to the army.
A steady stream of
Hispanic settlers immediately began arriving in the valley. Some were former residents of
Tucson and Tubac. They were joined by Sonoran immigrants from the Altar Valley, weary of the
political skirmishes and Apache raids that plagued northern Sonora. They
comprised more than a third of the population of Phoenix and most of the working class of laborers who
dug the canals and cleared farm land throughout the Salt River Valley.
Many Mexican homesteaders settled on the south side of the Salt River. To irrigate their fields, they built the San Francisco Canal, which ran from the town of Tempe westward to Central Avenue. Michael Wormser, a Prescott merchant, began loaning money to the farmers and financed improvements on their canal, but by 1880, he had acquired most of the land south of the river through foreclosures.
Social and cultural life flourished in Phoenix's Mexican community in the 1880s. La Imaculada Concepción de Santa Maria (St. Mary’s Catholic Church) was established in a small adobe structure on east Monroe Street in 1881. Annual Fiestas Patrias (Cinco de Mayo and Diez y Seis de Septiembre), dances, and other events were sponsored by La Junta Patriotica and the all-Mexican fire brigade, the Yucatec Hose Company No. 2. Leading businessmen included Miguel L. Peralta and Henry Garfias.
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Copyright © Scott Solliday 2002