History and hiking in the Southwest.

A guide to hiking and history in the Southwest.

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Category: History

History of Arizona and the West.

A digital black hole

Posted on October 24, 2022October 24, 2022 by rondungan

Arizona is losing its history. Rats build nests in historic documents, old buildings sag and buckle, roofs leak and records blacken with mold. Collectors slip a few papers into their homes and looters plunder archeological sites. Historians and archivists say the problem keeps getting worse as budgets are slashed and information is processed digitally, then…

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The Apaches, a history

Posted on September 23, 2022September 25, 2022 by rondungan

Historians will lead you to believe it was all a misunderstanding. How the Americans, in their ignorance, failed to appreciate the differences between Apache bands, between raiding and warfare, how they had a tin ear for language and other cultures. The implication is that if only the Americans were not so stubborn, so unreasonable, so…

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The red ghost

Posted on August 21, 2022August 21, 2022 by rondungan

Word spread through the territory – a beast roamed the Arizona frontier, though each sighting was little more than a glimpse: A flash of red. Hooves and old bones. When the beast trampled a ranch woman to death at Eagle Creek, a witness described the creature: Red, tall, and ridden by a devil. It was…

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Public lands like this are the backbone of the American West.

America’s public lands

Posted on July 17, 2022July 19, 2022 by rondungan

Public lands are the backbone of the American West, and they are under attack. Sagebrush rebels, state governments and political action committees want to do away with federal oversight, while robber barons from back east buy vacation homes, put up gates and seize their own personal forest. When the locals protest, they lawyer up. The…

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Ralph Cameron

Posted on May 12, 2022June 9, 2022 by rondungan

Things never really change, do they? Take the Grand Canyon, for example. A century ago, the canyon looked much the same as it did today, with its red cliffs, its pink sunsets, its gathering storms, its grifters on the Rim, looking for a way to make a fast buck. Ralph Cameron has gone down in…

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The Apaches: A brief history

Posted on February 27, 2022June 9, 2022 by rondungan

Historians will lead you to believe it was all a misunderstanding. How the Americans, in their ignorance, failed to appreciate the differences between Apache bands, between raiding and warfare, how they had a tin ear for language and other cultures. The implication is that if only the Americans were not so stubborn, so unreasonable, so…

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American wilderness

Posted on January 17, 2022January 17, 2022 by rondungan

For four centuries, the continent never seemed to run out of anything. No matter where colonists built, or settlers plowed, or soldiers rode, or trappers roamed, there was something new to discover and exploit. Tribes were slaughtered, then domesticated, money changed hands and maps were redrawn. Mines played out but new ones were found. Timber…

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The border: A history

Posted on November 14, 2021June 9, 2022 by rondungan

Everything was up for grabs. For three centuries, England, Spain and France sent soldiers, trappers and merchants to plant flags, move goods, build forts. They drew maps to mark territory, signed treaties abused the natives, but their hold on North America was weak. All that time, Americans had put down roots along the eastern seaboard,…

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A short history of Jerome

Posted on August 26, 2021January 17, 2022 by rondungan

Arizona’s mining towns frequently went up in flames Jerome burned. And burned and burned. Three years in a row, the town burned, and merchants rebuilt the tents and shacks that sheltered saloons and cathouses. It was a mining town, where men dug furiously by day and drank away the night. Jerome ran on whiskey, dreams…

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Bighorn Fire

Arizona Wildfire

Posted on August 26, 2021July 19, 2022 by rondungan

The Bighorn Fire.

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Stories

The opening piece of our water series, in which we try to look past the bathtub ring of Lake Powell. In this story, I follow a single drop of water on its journey to your tap.

Oak Creek. / Ron Dungan

https://kjzz.org/content/1792236/better-understand-arizonas-water-supply-we-retrace-its-origins

https://kjzz.org/content/1831459/while-covid-19-raged-archival-history-research-was-pushed-back-burner

The next time you're in the Marble Canyon and wonder if you can snag a permit to Coyote Buttes, you might be surprised to find that the answer is yes. No line. No early wake up call. / Ron Dungan

https://kjzz.org/content/1822075/blm-expands-use-reservation-app-coyote-buttes-south-area-permits

Apache trout. / USFWS
https://kjzz.org/content/1813132/us-fish-and-wildlife-service-recommend-delisting-endangered-apache-trout

My story for Here and Now.

A volunteer at the dog races. / Ron Dungan

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/01/17/arizona-dog-sledders-climate

A meadow along Canyon Creek, Tonto National Forest. / Ron Dungan
https://fronterasdesk.org/content/1629386/western-fires-burn-forest-management-easier-said-done
Shop Beer Company / Ron Dungan
https://kjzz.org/content/1631717/arizona-craft-beer-finds-its-way-during-pandemic
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge / Ron Dungan
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/best-reads/2015/04/17/edward-abbey-last-act-defiance/25930091/
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/fashion/weddings/rebecca-mackinnon-bennett-freeman-marriage.html?ref=oembed
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. / Ron Dungan

https://www.usatoday.com/border-wall/story/us-mexico-border-history/510833001/

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