The Wild West in the Rim Country

It happened during the second year of what many call The Pleasant Valley War. A young sheepherder in his early twenties, named Al Fulton, was murdered near the place now called Al Fulton Point. It was September 1888. About 10 years earlier Al’s older brother Harry Fulton had come to Arizona to pursue the sheep business, and he ran sheep near the San Francisco Peaks of Flagstaff. In 1886 he helped to found the Arizona Wool Growers Association and was elected its first president. Harry’s brother Al obtained work for a rancher named Woods. This is the gentleman for whom Woods Canyon and Woods Canyon Lake are named. While driving a flock of sheep from Holbrook toward the Rim to take them over and down to winter pastures Al Fulton was murdered. The why and how of his demise is captured in several variant traditions. Even his grave carries a mystery. When the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad reached Flagstaff it produced a huge influx of cattle ranchers and the sheep ranchers soon felt themselves being edged out of grasslands. The railroad sold large tracts of land in Yavapai and Apache counties and wealthy groups snapped them up. Among the cattle giants was the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, which purchased 500,000 acres. It brought with it a rough and tumble group of cowboys, who were soon dubbed The Hashknife Outfit. Not only did they herd the cattle, but they made sure any sheep that encroached on grazing land they wanted were violently driven off...more