Women of Early Arizona
By Nellie von Gerichten Smith
(Composer of “Montezuma”)
When Coyle asked for horned toads to be placed beneath a Seattle cornerstone a few weeks ago, he received a message from Arizona to this effect: “A toad raised in Arizona climate will have enough energy to carry him through a thirty-one year fast and come out frisky.” The Arizona horned toad was chosen in preference to those from other states. “Women of the West”—where were there more energetic women than the women of Arizona?
Coming here when this part of the United States was overrun by Apache Indians, who resented the white man's invasion, these women soon learned to handle a rifle. Sacrifices of all kinds were made; cooking utensils were crude; wood had to be gathered up; water for cooking and washing had to be carried often some distance, with, now and then, a stray shot from an Indian. Strange as it may seem, you talk to any pioneer out here and she will laughingly make light of their days of toil and hardships. The scenery, the air, the bigness and broadness of this wild region gave those pioneer men and women a touch of the same, no inclination for any smallness of spirit. Doctors were miles and miles away; these frontier women would act as nurses with their home remedies, generous and unselfish in every way.
In Prescott now, there are a few log cabins built from the trees which then grew in the present business street. At Miller Valley, a home is still standing where Mr. Miller then thought would be built the City of Prescott. Fort Whipple, now the Government Hospital for our late war veterans, was then the fort holding government soldiers to battle and protect these early settlers in all parts of Arizona. Imagine the vim, courage and energy of these women when their men would form troops for these nearby skirmishes. Left alone, seeing an Apache Indian sneaking up to steal a horse tethered near the house, is it any wonder we praise the bravery of the woman who thinks quickly enough to grab her rifle and either shoots—or scares him away? California has many noble pioneer women, but in Arizona, soil and air dry, climate warmer, water at long distance, the struggle for existence required independence, firmness, courage and energy.
1
