Hoaxes have been a part of our shared heritage for thousands of years. They are ubiquitous -and will continue to be as long as people either love money
A collection of the interesting and sometimes unusual events that happened this week in Arizona history.March 27On this date in 1883, James Addison Reavis filed a claim to the Peralta Grant, which supposedly covered 18,750 square miles of the richest land, towns and mines in Arizona. The tale of the Grant later proved to be fraudulent.On this date in 1906, the Arizona
The Baron, the Cow-boys and the Trail Boss
James Addison Reavis’s life as a charlatan in the Arizona Territory was dramatized in the Vincent Price Western, The Baron of Arizona (1950). Poster courtesy Lippert Pictures
I’ve read more than one article (including items from your books) about James Addison Reavis, the so-called “Baron of Arizona.” Which side did he fight on during the Civil War?
Mark Manning
Mesa, Arizona
Reavis first joined the Confederate Army in Missouri. He was running a small business forging his commanding officer’s signature on passes and selling them to his fellow Rebels. He sensed he was about to get busted so he went “over the hill” and joined the Union Army. He returned to his old ways by forging passes; again, he was about to get caught so he went AWOL. He was an incurable charlatan. He was years ahead of his peers when it came to harnessing the Salt and Gila rivers and might have become rich and famous (instead of infamous), but he turne