Editing Holbrook, Arizona (section)

==History==
[[File:Arizona - Holbrook - NARA - 23933691.jpg|thumb|right|Downtown Holbrook, 1940s]]
[[File:Arizona - Holbrook - NARA - 23933689.jpg|thumb|right|View of Holbrook, 1940s]]
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The Holbrook area was inhabited first by the [[Anasazi|Ancestral Puebloans]], then [[Puebloans]], then the [[Navajo]] and [[Apache]]. In 1540 [[Francisco Vásquez de Coronado|Coronado]] searched for the [[Seven Cities of Cibola]] and camped some {{convert|60|mi|-1}} east of Holbrook.  Coronado sent an expedition west to find the [[Colorado River]], and they crossed the [[Little Colorado]] some {{convert|25|mi|-1}} east of Holbrook and found a wonderland of colors they named "El Desierto Pintada" – The Painted Desert.  The expedition was then led by the [[Hopi]]s to the [[Grand Canyon]].

=== U.S. settlements ===
After the [[Mexican–American War]] ended in 1848 the area was ceded to the United States. From 1851 to 1857 the U.S. Army sent three expeditions along the 35th parallel, the third led by Lt. Beale who created a {{convert|10|ft|0}} wide wagon road.  The area was known as [[Navajo Springs, Arizona|Navajo Springs]], after a spring a dozen miles northeast of Holbrook. Soon afterwards a store and saloon were established at the confluence of the [[Rio Puerco]] and Little Colorado Rivers two miles east of Holbrook, and the area became known as Horsehead Crossing.

In 1876, [[Mormon]]s emigrated from Utah and began settlements near Horsehead Crossing on both the Little Colorado and Rio Puerco rivers. During 1881 and 1882, railroad tracks were laid down and a railroad station was built to supply wood and water and to freight supplies south to [[Fort Apache, Arizona|Fort Apache]]. The community was then named Holbrook after the first engineer of the [[Atlantic and Pacific Railroad]]. The railroad sold a million acres to a Boston investment group which established the [[Aztec Land & Cattle Company|Aztec Land and Cattle Company]], better known as the [[Hashknife Outfit]]. It leased another million acres of government land and became one of the largest cattle ranches to ever exist. Holbrook became its headquarters and quickly grew into a cow-town.

=== Wild west cow-town ===
The [[Hashknife Outfit]] hired cowboys, many of whom were wanted men hiding from arrest.  Rustling of cattle and horses over two million acres plagued the Hashknife Outfit. With cowmen, sheepmen, farmers, rustlers and outlaws competing for the same land, a range war ensued, called both the [[Pleasant Valley War]] and the Tonto Basin War. It likely killed as many men as any of the western range wars.  Many of the events that played out during the Pleasant Valley War up to 1887 occurred in and around Holbrook, including the famous [[Pleasant Valley War#Owens-Blevins Shootout|Holbrook Shootout]].

=== Holbrook shootout ===
On September 4, 1887, [[Perry Owens|Commodore Perry Owens]], the Apache County Sheriff, came to Holbrook to arrest Andy Blevins, a.k.a. Andy Cooper, for horse theft. Blevins had also recently bragged about killing two men and had killed many more, including two lawmen.

Sheriff Owens insisted on confronting the Blevins brothers alone, knowing there would likely be a shootout. He went to the Blevins' house, which still stands, knocked on the door, and when Blevins asked what he wanted, announced he'd come to arrest him. Blevins resisted arrest and a shootout occurred.  Blevins, two brothers, a friend, and Blevins' horse were shot; all died, except one brother.

Owens emerged unscathed, despite being shot at from a half-dozen feet (2&nbsp;m) away.  Owens single-handedly taking on four men made him a western legend rivaling the Earp Brothers and [[John Horton Slaughter|Texas John Slaughter]] as lawmen of the Old West.

=== Later development ===
Holbrook was known as "the town too tough for women and churches" and in 1914 was said to be the only county seat in the U.S. that didn't have a church (the Mormons had moved 25 miles (40&nbsp;km) south to Snowflake and Taylor).  The original railroad station was replaced by the [[Holbrook, Arizona (Train station)|Santa Fe Depot]] in 1892.

Navajo County was divided off of Apache County in 1895 and Holbrook became the county seat. Many lawmen and cowboys from the area became [[Rough Riders]] with [[Theodore Roosevelt]] in the late 1800s.  But by 1902, The Hashknife Outfit was bankrupt and the land was sold to the Babbitt brothers.

President Roosevelt named the [[Petrified Forest National Park|Petrified Forest]] (including part of the [[Painted Desert (Arizona)|Painted Desert]]) a National Monument in 1906.  Holbrook was incorporated in 1917.  Most of the Beale Wagon Road became [[U.S. Route 66|Route 66]] in 1926 and passed through both the Petrified Forest and Holbrook.  Tourism started taking over the economy.

=== Holbrook meteorite ===
{{See also|Meteorite fall}}
[[File:Holbrook meteorite small.jpg|thumb|Fragment of the "Holbrook Meteorite"]]
Arizona is famous for its huge [[Meteor Crater]], but Holbrook also witnessed its own small meteor event. In the evening of July 19, 1912, a smoke trail appeared in the sky and soon after, at 7:15&nbsp;p.m., a meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kilograms (419 pounds) exploded high in the atmosphere.

An estimated 16,000 or more minor fragments rained down over Navajo County in an area approximately {{convert|6|mi|0}} east of Holbrook. The primary explosion was heard at least {{convert|40|mi|-1}} away, and one of the witnesses in Holbrook, then 17-year-old Pauline McCleve, described the event as the loudest sound she ever heard. The largest piece of the Holbrook Meteorite that has been recovered was found shortly after. It weighs {{convert|14.5|lb}} and resides at [[Arizona State University]] in Tempe.

The Holbrook meteorite was found to be of the [[chondrite]] (stony) type.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Weir|first1=David|title=Holbrook|url=http://www.meteoritestudies.com/protected_HOLBROOK.HTM|website=Meteorite Studies}}</ref>