Resize Text: Arizona's history as a territory was considerably longer than most of the western states and, along with that of New Mexico, spanned more than forty years. Marauding Apaches and other lawless individuals roamed the Arizona deserts and mountains until the mid-1870s, when numerous army forts decommissioned during the Civil War were reestablished to subdue such unfriendly elements. Soldiers from these forts became some of the first prospectors in these areas, generally staking claims after leaving the employ of the U.S. Army. Unfortunately, very few of them ever profited from their discoveries; that was left to those who were able to sell out to eastern- and San Francisco–based capitalists. Soldiers were not the only ones interested in undiscovered mineral treasures. The western and central portions of Arizona had started to be populated by ranchers and farmers, another group with time on their hands during certain parts of the year. A number used that time looking for mineral deposits, and some even succeeded.
Les Presmyk, an Arizona native, is a mining engineer and has been a mineral collector for almost fifty years, specializing in Arizona minerals for more than thirty years. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona and a twenty-seven-year veteran of the Tucson Show committee.
John Taylor, an Illinois native, has been a mineral collector for forty years and a postcard collector for more than thirty. He has a bachelor's degree in geology from Illinois State University in Bloomington/Normal.
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