A pastor once told our congregation, speaking mostly to those younger people in attendance. “Life isn’t fair, get used to it!” That statement has a lot to do with what I’m about to say.
On occasion, I’ve pondered who was the first white person to live in the Lake Havasu City area. Someone must have been here long before Robert McCulloch Sr. purchased the property. My second question is: Who did McCulloch buy the land from?
Eventually deciding to find out, I discovered that Robert McCulloch Sr. purchased 26 square miles of desert from the State of Arizona. I know that state land came from the federal government who took it from American Indians.
McCulloch bought additional acreage as it became available, including Site 6 from the military, which included an Army Air Corps runway. This land was combined and turned into our city.
Early on, miners worked the surrounding hills, but their presence was seasonal due to the extreme heat, and they only passed through this section of the desert on their way to the Colorado River. Steamboats awaited them.
Of course, we know that the Chemehuevi Indians and other tribes roamed this ground long before European settlers trickled in, although they stayed close to the Colorado River for obvious reasons. Parker Dam and Lake Havasu weren’t here at that point.
My wife’s GGG-Grandfather, George Freeman, is recognized as the first white settler in Dickinson County, Kansas. That has some historical significance, but it doesn’t mean that he owned the whole county.
According to several sources, William B. Maxwell is the first white settler in Mohave County, having a ranch near Short Creek. His arrival dates back to the early or mid-1800s.
Mohave County must’ve encompassed quite a bit of real estate back then, because Short Creek is 350 miles from Lake Havasu City. Colorado City is also located there. It’s highly unlikely Maxwell journeyed that distance for ranching purposes.
Oatman didn’t come along until the 1860s, with Lake Havasu City not even a dream in anyone’s mind at that period. Where the city is now located was a barren desert, complete with mesquite trees, paloverde, sagebrush, and smoketree. Snakes, lizards, and scorpions also call it home.
The reason I write this is that it really doesn’t matter who the first person or people were at a location, other than for historical purposes. It seems to me the point of arguing ownership is moot based solely on time of arrival.
I’ve ruffled the feathers of more than one of these thinkers, on history forums, by saying that I was the first person in McDonald’s the other morning, thus, I should lay claim to the establishment. Stating this is a sure way of starting a literary firestorm of gigantic proportions. It does prime the pump of opinion, which is my intent.
One of the first things I learned in geology class is that all land on planet Earth is connected. Some of it is merely covered by water, ice, and snow. When someone uses the term “this land,” they are in error unless they’re talking about the whole planet.
It’s a different story when the reference is for continents, countries, provinces, states, cities, towns, villages, etc.
“We were the first people on this land!” is often heard in error during conversations. I have a rebuttal to that, and it goes something like this: “Your people might’ve been the first here, but on the other side of the planet, my people were the first ones there. What’s your point?”
Singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie wrote a song titled “This Land Is Your Land.” The beginning lyrics go like this,
“This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters
This land was made for you and me.”
After becoming a hit, Indigenous North American Indians had a problem with the tune because Guthrie didn’t exactly explain who ‘you and me’ were. With land that they lived on for centuries taken away, some of them viewed the lyrics as selective, and rightly so.
I tend to believe Arlo was thinking of them in the song because of his upbringing. He came from a family full of hardship. President Obama allowed it to be played during his inauguration, which makes me think he felt the same.
Unfortunately, where ‘this land’ is concerned, wars and battles have been fought over it, walls and fences erected, and disagreements aplenty. Not just a United States dilemma, land ownership has been a problem throughout the world since the beginning of time.
As my pastor told us some 50 years ago, “Life isn’t fair, get used to it!” Sadly, that statement applies to not only young people, but folks from all walks of life, including our Indigenous Indian and Native groups. I believe that when Jesus Christ returns, equality will finally apply to all of his followers: black, white, yellow, brown, and red. Amen
I like to write junk... 