Times Past

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The Arizona Capitol Times published a book about Arizona’s past, filled with stories you’ve probably never heard. Arizona Capitol Times publisher Ginger Lamb gives us a glimpse inside the new book, Times Past: Reflections from Arizona History.

Ted Simons:
Well, "Arizona Capitol Times," has been running a weekly feature called Times Past, with a corresponding photograph. 1500 Times stories have appeared and 120 are featured in a book, called "Times Past: Reflections on Arizona's History." I recently spoke with the publisher Ginger Lamb about the book. Good to have you.

Ginger Lamb:
Thanks.

Ted Simons:
It's a hoot to read.

Ginger Lamb:
Oh, thank you. Well, we're so pleased to have it produced because it was in the making for about 20 years and finally happened.

Ted Simons:
And again, the picture and the story, so it's easily digestible and you can refer to what you're talking about. You're not four pages down the line looking at a picture five pages away.

Ginger Lamb:
I'm sure you know our legislative editor and he took it under his wing and got the staff to work on it and sifted through all of those years of Time's Past features and categorized it the way you see in the book.

Ted Simons:
Let's start with an interesting scenario, the saloon, which was pretty much a townhallin early days.

Ginger Lamb:
Well, it's really interesting. There are a couple of saloons in Bisbee and as you know with Arizona being a mining community, that was where you went to play cards and unwind and that's where the action happened. And at one point in Phoenix, there were on 1,000 people who lived there but there were 15 saloons.

Ted Simons:
And this is a shot of the Brewery Gulch in Bisbee. To see it in the photographs is fantastic stuff. I think we have another photo of a saloon closer to home, in Gila Bend, The Whis… there's a key underneath it.

Ginger Lamb:
It's called the road to Whiskey Ruin.

Ted Simons:
I guess a lot of business got done and socializing. It was the center of town, wasn't it?

Ginger Lamb:
Absolutely.

Ted Simons:
Let's move on, we've got other historic avenues. The town of Sedona. I understand it was named after a woman. Tell us that story.

Ginger Lamb:
It's a fascinating story. The Schneblies TC and Sedona moved to Oak Creek and built a home and they were originally from Missouri and what you're seeing in the picture is the two-story frame house they built and it became the focal point of the community at the time. They were trying to figure out what to name the town and wanted to come up with a post office there because all the mail came through Cornville and they couldn't figure out a name, and decided why not Sedona, so that's how Sedona came to be and the picture on the screen, that's T.C. and Sedona Schnebly.

Ted Simons:
And didn't they leave and did they ever come back?

Ginger Lamb:
They left for 25 years and finally came back to Sedona.

Ted Simons:
Isn't that interesting? We have the first secretary of state which is a fascinating story as well.

Ginger Lamb:
That's appropriate given the inauguration of secretary of state Jan Brewer as our new governor, because this secretary of state, he really wanted to become governor and after serving as secretary of state, he left politics and came back and was victorious as governor.

Ted Simons:
Sydney Osborn.

Ginger Lamb:
I guess so.

Ted Simons:
And we have a familiar name coming through Phoenix. Buffalo Bill.

Ginger Lamb:
Buffalo Bill.

Ted Simons:
Yeah, and that was -- that was a big deal, that wasn't just a show, that was a carnival, a parade. The whole nine yards.

Ginger Lamb:
It was, and he was quite the showman.

Ted Simons:
And back in those days, was he still ride 'em and rope them, or getting a little long in the tooth?

Ginger Lamb:
Probably a little bit of both. [Laughter]

Ted Simons:
There's Buffalo Bill for you. Big stories recently involving Arizona and the border and we think this is a news story. This is not necessarily new, is it? It's been going on since statehood and before.

Ginger Lamb:
That's what amazing about this book. You can look back and a lot is really apropos what's going on today.

Ted Simons:
And there were stories of National Guard troops at the border and they were there to protect against Pancho Villa.

Ginger Lamb:
I know it's amazing and after the work on the border and the wars going on overseas, they ended up becoming known as the 158th infantry division and when you reflect back on Arizona history to know they were protecting the border, we don't think about that.

Ted Simons:
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't there an all Indian -- American Indian military unit stationed at the border?

Ginger Lamb:
Right.

Ted Simons:
Going through this book, all of this stuff, what surprised you the most?

Ginger Lamb:
I think just how rich the history of Arizona is. And all of the fascinating stories. One story you brought up was called his last shot and it was about a gentleman that was at a bar in Winslow and decided to hold up the bar and got shot and killed and dug him out of the grave and because they weren't sure he had his last shot of whiskey.

Ted Simons:
This is a great book. Thank you for joining us and talking about it.

Ginger Lamb:
Thanks Ted.

Ted Simons:
More information on the book can be found on the Arizona "Arizona Capitol Times" website. The website isAzcapitoltimes.com. Coming up on "Horizon," state lawmakers learn about Maricopa County's system of care for people with serious mental illnesses it's a system in need of improvement. More on that Thursday evening at 7:00 on "Horizon." That is it for now. I'm Ted Simons. Thank you so much for joining us. You have a great evening.

Ginger Lamb:Publisher, Arizona Capitol Times

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