In February 1887, we have the first fatality in the Pleasant Valley War, as a nameless shepherd will fall victim to the larger conflict around him of cattlemen versus sheepherders and Grahams versus Tewksburys.

Before gunplay became involved, the Grahams and the Tewksburys would square off in the court, with each side accusing the other of being lying, stealing, no-good ruffians.

After a violent confrontation in Pleasant Valley over cattle rustling, ranch owner James Stinson tries to be a little sneakier.

In the 1870s, a new spot in one of Arizona's most isolated corners suddenly opened up for American colonization. Among the few daring souls that would try their hand at ranching in this place known as Pleasant Valley were two families - the Tewksburys and the Grahams.

Sorry to say that real life (and a suddenly real first baby) managed to delay our return to podcasting by a week!

As we look at the commercial forces of late 19th-century Arizona, we have to talk about the ecological and economic disaster that was the cattle boom and bust of the 1880s and 1890s. And ostriches. We definitely have to talk about ostriches.

For Halloween, we again take a tour of the mysterious, strange, creepy and spooky to be found in Arizona.

If you got a fancy new railroad, why would you not tell the Pope about it?

All throughout the 1880s, Prescott had one great fear. Then in 1889, because of Phoenix, it came true.

Because any truly epic story needs a correspondingly grand conclusion.