The epic conclusion of the Peralta Grant saga played out in a Santa Fe courtroom. This two-and-a-half week trial featured shocking revelations, verbal barbs, plenty of perjury and - finally - the ruling that Reavis was indeed a fraud.

After suing the U.S. government, Reavis prepared his Peralta Grant story for the scrutiny of a court case. Unfortunately, there was no way his scheme was going to survive that level of scrutiny.

James Addison Reavis returned to the US in 1887 and kicked off Act II of his ambitious land claim scheme. However, soon old enemies returned and began tearing down his carefully constructed house of cards.

Having failed the first time around to prove it was legitimate, James Reavis takes things to the next level, including inventing a flesh-and-blood heir to the Peralta Grant.

James Reavis kicks his Peralta Grant scheme into high gear, sending out an army of thugs and goons to persuade people to pay him for land they already owned. However, just as he was raking in the cash, the whole con would hit a hard wall.

In which James Reavis produces documents showing the land grant bestowed upon Don Miguel Nemecio Silva de Peralta y de la Córdoba … who never existed.

In 1880, a brilliant liar and forger arrived in Arizona to pursue a 13-year old land claim of dubious veracity. Little did anyone suspect the breathtaking scheme he was about to launch.

In the space of four years, Arizona was both shaken to its core and then nearly drowned.

Nineteenth century politics was nothing if not full of ugly fights and very questionable shenanigans - something that was on full display during the short tenures of Arizona territorial governors Hughes and Franklin.

Just as the Gilded Age presidents came and went with frequency, their appointments to the governorship of Arizona would be nothing more than a revolving door of less-than-popular figures.