Wednesday, March 22

On this day in 1875, the Silver King Mine was discovered in the Pinal Mountains. The first ore taken from the mine was assessed at $4,300 per ton.

In 1906, a meeting of the Board of School Trustees addressed the "unbecoming conduct" of six teachers in the Tucson Public Schools. The teachers had gone on a Sunday picnic to Sabino Canyon at which they "drank beer and wine and smoked cigarettes."

In 1907, the Territorial Legislature moved the Territorial Prison from Yuma to Florence.

Thursday, March 23

On this day in 1876, the first Mormon settlers reached Sunset Crossing on the Little Colorado River, where they would establish four settlements. The four companies, which included 50 men and their families, left Salt Lake City on Feb. 3, 1876.

In 1877, John D. Lee, who in 1872 established and operated Lee's Ferry across the Colorado River, was executed for his participation in the Mountain Meadows massacre. He was seated upon his coffin and shot by a firing squad at the site of the massacre.

In 1904, F.W. Volz loaned 5,000 pounds of the Canyon Diablo meteor to the Arizona Board of Managers of the World's Fair for display at St. Louis.

Friday, March 24

On this day in 1856, Sonora Exploring and Mining Company was organized in Cincinnati to develop silver mines in southern Arizona. The Heintzelman Mine, near Arivaca, was the company's first development.

In 1902, Samuel Friedman, proprietor of the Grand Central Hotel at Benson and of several mining claims in the Dragoon Mountains, died.

Saturday, March 25

On this day in 1901, prospectors discovered gold four miles from Wickenburg, sparking a rush of placer miners to the Hassayampa River.

In 1902, The Arizona Daily Star reported that an oil gusher had been struck near Kelvin in Pinal County on land bonded to the Standard Oil Company.

In 1906, Arizona Governor Joseph Henry Kibbey predicted that within five years, the cattle ranching industry would have given way entirely to ostrich ranching in Arizona.