Category talk:Arizona pioneers

Definition

Where do we draw the line for the pioneer era for Arizona?

Here are some possibilities:

1880 - the first Southern Pacific Railroad train reaches Tucson — earliest reasonable cut-off year
1883 - the Southern Pacific Railroad completed
1887 - the arrival of the Phoenix and Maricopa spur line of the Southern Pacific Railroad to the Phoenix Metro Area
1889 - the Territorial capital was moved from Prescott to Phoenix
1895 - the arrival of the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad in Phoenix
1900 - arbitrary calender era divider
1912 - Arizona statehood — latest reasonable cut-off year, as the American frontier is definitely closed at that time; arguably it should have been considered closed earlier, but the perception of an existing frontier remained alive in public perception via the penny dreadful/dime novel/pulp magazine industry.

If we follow the example of what defines a Utah pioneer (arriving in the territory before the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, not statehood in 1896), we have a clear dividing line for Arizona revolving around the Southern Pacific Railroad (aka the Second Transcontinental Railroad) which linked Arizona with the rest of the world. Thoughts? -- 208.81.184.4 (talk) 23:57, 2 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

1880 (first choice) or 1883 are the most appropriate dates. By 1880, Arizona Territory had basic infrastructure such as roads, courthouses, a territorial prison, and schools in place. The Apache Wars had even died down enough that ranching was possible by the late 1870s. In short the wilderness dominated territory of the 1860s was gone by 1880 and Arizona was in the process of building the economic and population bases sufficient to allow for statehood. As for the later dates, there was a serious statehood effort by 1890 as demonstrated by the U.S. House of representatives passing an Arizona statehood bill by a vote of 173 to 13 in 1892. By the time of the 1897 territorial legislature, efforts were under way to preserve the mementos and testimonials from the territory's earliest settlers before they were lost. --Allen3 ^talk 01:36, 3 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

1883 — btphelps ^{(talk to me) (what I've done)} 10:05, 5 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

1883 seems best to me too. -- 208.81.184.4 (talk) 21:09, 11 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

1883?

1883 is a bit ridiculous. There were many pioneer families in Arizona that settled here after 1883. Arizona wasn't even a state until 1912 and there was still homesteading going on throughout the period. 1912 is often cited as the end of the Wild West/pioneer/frontier times in Arizona, although some would say about 1920, when automobile replaced horses and trains as the main mode of transportation. Many of Arizona's ghost towns and early ranches were established in between the late 1880s and the 1920s, after the Apache wars ended.--The Old Pueblo (talk) 07:02, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]