In 1877, 39-year-old James Stinson of Arizona Territory was approached by a faction of

Mormons from Utah.

They were looking for more hospitable lands to colonize.

Stinson's massive ranch along Silver Creek, a tributary of the little Colorado River,

was just what they wanted.

As comfortable as he was, the ranchers' fortunes were tied to the ebb and flow of grain prices.

He offered to sell the Mormons some of his land for the equivalent of about $300,000 in

today's money.

The Mormon elders didn't have that much cash, but they struck a deal with Stinson.

They would pay him partly in cash and partly in a herd of 600 Midwestern cattle that they'd

brought with them from Utah.

The Midwestern cattle were raised as beef cattle.

They grew bigger and fatter than the cattle that populated most of Arizona at the time.

The current stock in Arizona was mostly Mexican range cattle that were tougher and leaner

than the Midwestern breed.

The Midwestern stocks certainly required more work, but they also commanded higher prices,

when America's appetite for beef was only growing.

Jim Stinson made the deal.

He now had a sizeable herd and he headed for Pleasant Valley to build his operation.

And coincidentally, in the same year that Jim Stinson set up a cattle empire in Pleasant

Valley, a down on his luck prospector named Ed Shiplin filed his first claim for a silver

mine.

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