Connection
MARCH 2012 Vol. 29 No. 3
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ARIVACA YESTERDAYS by Mary Noon Kasulaitis
A
fter 1912, the village of Arivaca went on being the company town of the Arivaca Land and Cattle Company. The Arivaca Land and Cattle Company (ALCC) owned the Arivaca Ranch, Bear Valley Ranch, and Tres Bellotas Ranch and were partners with the Jarillas Ranch owner, Jack McVey. The principals were Noah C. Bernard (the son of Noah who was the first Postmaster), John Bogan (who also was the Pima County Assessor), George Pusch, John Zellweger (owned ranches near Tucson and Benson), and ranch mayordomo, Ramon Ahumada. By company town, I mean that the store was owned by the ALCC so people were at the mercy of ALCC’s prices and stock in the store and also the storekeeper who ran it for the Company. In
Arivaca after 1912
1912, it was Phil Clarke. Phil’s wife Gipsy had been hired by the ALCC to come to town as the teacher. Finding everything not in good order, she had badgered Phil into fixing up the school building, replacing broken windows, and putting in a floor. Soon they were married. Phil learned the store and ranch business and quickly moved on to his own store at Ruby and his own homestead (and one filed by Gipsy.) The next storekeeper, who presided for most of the teen years, Ned Hogan, was also Justice of the Peace in Arivaca. (Ned’s mother was librarian in Tucson) John Bogan’s brother, A.E.”Beany” Bogan had been the storekeeper and JP before Phil, and some called him the “mayor” of Arivaca, alluding to the power of the position. The townsite became official in 1916. This was similar to a homestead, where the federal government issued land to an applicant (the ALCC) for a town.
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Tucson and Tombstone started out that way too, but quickly sold all the lots and grew out of it. Arivaca did not grow. In fact, it was not until 1968 that the last of the lots were sold, leaving only the School and Cemetery blocks as part of the original federal property. The plat of the townsite was plopped down over what was already Main Street, the School block, the Cemetery block, and the Sacred Heart Chapel, which was next to the cemetery. When the first plat was submitted in 1908, it contained a quarter section of land. By the time everything was finalized, the hotel (big white house across the street from the Mercantile) had been acquired by the ALCC, and so they had that quarter-section excised from the town plat. That’s why it and the houses to the east of it, south of the road, are not part of the original townsite. In 1915, Arivaca had about 200 population. As we saw last month, by 1912 Arivaca was being affected by
CONNECTION P.O. Box 338, Arivaca, AZ 85601 Ph. 520.398.2379 email: SoAZVox@aol.com www.arivaca-newspaper.com
the Mexican Revolution. Various units of U.S. Cavalry were making trips to the area. In 1915, Jack McVey reported that a fence was being built along the line. Perhaps this was a new fence, needed to protect livestock on this side of the line. Possibly it was the FIRST border fence to be constructed. Cattle and horse stealing was frequently a problem. In 1915, one Alejandro Cruz was captured by deputies from the Sheriff’s office at Arivaca (!) “at a lonely house near Arivaca” after a year’s chase. He was alleged to be one of a gang that operated in Pima County and Sonora, running off a bunch of Arizona horses and selling them in Mexico, then chasing some Mexican horses over the line on a return trip to sell here. Cruz pleaded guilty to the charge. In those days hearings would be held in Arivaca, with the County Attorney traveling here to dispense justice. Continued on Page 2 PRE SORT STD US Postage
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Arivaca, AZ 85601 Permit No. 2