Editing Southwestern United States (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of New Mexico|History of Arizona|History of Utah|History of Nevada|History of Colorado|History of Texas|Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico|Oasisamerica}}
===Pre-European contact===
{{See also|Indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest}}
[[File:Pueblo Bonito Aerial Chaco Canyon.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ancestral Puebloan]] ruins at [[Chaco Culture National Historical Park|Chaco Canyon]]]]
Human history in the Southwest begins with the arrival of the [[Clovis culture]], a [[Paleo-Indian]] hunter-gatherer culture which arrived sometime around 9000 BC.<ref>{{cite book | last=Sheridan | first=T.E. | title=Arizona: A History, Revised Edition | publisher=University of Arizona Press | series=Southwest Center Series | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-8165-9954-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-8m0NmqUiEC | access-date=2 June 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|pp=11–12}} This culture remained in the area for several millennia. At some point they were replaced by three great [[Pre-Columbian]] Indian cultures: the [[Ancestral Pueblo people]], the [[Hohokam]], and the [[Mogollon culture|Mogollon]], all of which existed among other surrounding cultures including the [[Patayan]].<ref>Archaeology of prehistoric native America: an encyclopedia, By Guy E. Gibbon, Kenneth M. Ames</ref> Maize began to be cultivated in the region sometime during the early first millennium BC, but it took several hundred years for the native cultures to be dependent on it as a food source.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.crowcanyon.org/EducationProducts/peoples_mesa_verde/basketmaker_II_overview.asp | publisher=Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | title=Peoples of the Mesa Verde Region: Overview | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> As their dependence on maize grew, [[Pre-Columbian]] Indians began developing irrigation systems around 600 [[Common Era|CE]].<ref name="Chaco">{{cite web |last1=Miller |first1=Michael |last2=Cincinnati |first2=University of |title=Ancestral people of Chaco Canyon likely grew their own food |url=https://phys.org/news/2018-07-ancestral-people-chaco-canyon-grew.html |website=phys.org |access-date=April 8, 2024 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|p=6}}

[[File:Map Anasazi, Hohokam and Mogollon cultures-en.svg|thumb|Map of Paleo-Indians in the American Southwest and Mexico]]

According to archeological finds, the Ancestral Pueblo people, also known as the "Anasazi" (although that term is viewed by modern [[Pueblo people]] as derogatory and is becoming more and more disused), began settling in the area in approximately 1500 BC.<ref name=BM2>{{cite web | url=http://www2.nau.edu/d-antlab/Soutwestern%20Arch/Anasazi/basketmaker2.htm | publisher=Northern Arizona University | title=Ancestral Pueblo; Basketmaker II | access-date=June 4, 2018 | archive-date=January 2, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102125308/http://www2.nau.edu/d-antlab/Soutwestern%20Arch/Anasazi/basketmaker2.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref> Eventually, they would spread throughout the entire northern section of the Southwest.<ref>Nash, Gary B. ''Red, White and Black: The Peoples of Early North America'' Los Angeles 2015. Chapter 1, p. 4</ref> This culture would go through several different eras lasting from approximately 1500 BC through the middle of the 15th century AD: the [[Early Basketmaker II Era|Basketmaker I]], [[Late Basketmaker II Era|II]], and [[Basketmaker III Era|III]] phases followed by the [[Pueblo I Period|Pueblo I]], [[Pueblo II Period|II]], [[Pueblo III Period|III]], and [[Pueblo IV Period|IV]]. As the Puebloans transitioned from a nomadic lifestyle to one based on both dry land and irrigated agriculture,<ref name="Chaco" /> their first domiciles were pithouses.<ref name=BM2 /> The [[Mogollon culture]] developed later than the Puebloan, arising in the eastern area of the region at around 300 BC.<ref>{{cite book | isbn=0870449729 | publisher=National Geographic Society | title=World of the American Indian | last=Jennings | first=J. D. | year=1993 | page=56 }}</ref> Their range would eventually extend deep into what would become Mexico, and dominate the southeastern portion of the Southwest.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/240039?redirectedFrom=Mogollon#eid | publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica | title=Mogollon | volume=XII | page=204 | date=1957 | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> Their settlements would evolve over time from pit-dwellings through pueblos and finally also incorporating cliff-dwellings. The [[Hohokam]] were the last of these ancestral cultures to develop, somewhere around AD 1, but they would grow to be the most populous of the three by AD 1300, despite being the smallest of the three in terms of area, covering most of the southwest portion.<ref name="AZMNH">{{cite web|title=The Hohokam|url=http://www.azmnh.org/arch/hohokam.aspx|publisher=Arizona Museum of Natural History, City of Mesa|access-date=November 30, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130091322/http://www.azmnh.org/arch/hohokam.aspx|archive-date=November 30, 2012}}</ref> Beginning in approximately AD 600, the Hohokam began to develop an extensive series of irrigation canals;{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|pages=22–24}} of the three major cultures in the Southwest, only the Ancestral Puebloans of the [[Chaco culture]] and the Hohokam developed irrigation as a means of watering their agriculture.<ref name="Chaco"/><ref name="AZMNH"/>

Not long after the Hohokam reached the height of their culture, all three major cultures in the Southwest began to decline for unknown reasons, although severe drought and encroachment from other peoples have been postulated. By the end of the 15th century, all three cultures had disappeared. The [[Puebloan|modern Puebloan]] tribes of the [[Isleta Pueblo|Isleta]], [[Sandia Pueblo|Sandia]], [[Cochiti Pueblo|Cochiti]], [[Kewa Pueblo|Kewa]], [[Santa Ana Pueblo|Santa Ana]], [[Taos Pueblo|Taos]], [[Jemez Pueblo|Jemez]], [[Acoma Pueblo|Acoma]], [[Laguna Pueblo|Laguna]], and [[Zia Pueblo|Zia]], as well as the [[Hopi]] and [[Zuni people|Zuni peoples]], trace their ancestry back to the Ancestral Puebloans,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/Ancestral-Pueblo-culture | publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica | title=Ancestral Pueblo culture | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> while the [[Pima people|Akimel O'odham]] and [[Tohono O'odham people|Tohono O'odham]] claim descent from Hohokam.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://arizonaexperience.org/remember/hohokam-canals-prehistoric-engineering | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120914014516/http://arizonaexperience.org/remember/hohokam-canals-prehistoric-engineering | url-status=usurped | archive-date=September 14, 2012 | publisher=The Arizona Experience | title=Hohokam Canals: Prehistoric Engineering | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> The area previously occupied by the Mogollon was taken over by an unrelated tribe, the [[Apache]].{{sfn|Skibo|Graves|Stark|2007| page=234}} While it is unclear whether any of the modern Indian tribes are descended from the Mogollon, some archeologists and historians believe that they mixed with Ancestral Puebloans and became part of the modern Hopi and Zuni tribes.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Gregory | first1=David A. | last2=Willcox | first2=David A. Willcox | title=Zuni Origins: Toward a New Synthesis of Southwestern Archaeology | publisher=University of Arizona Press | place=Tucson | date=2007 |isbn=978-0816524860}}</ref>

[[File:Oraibi.jpg|thumb|left|Oraibi pueblo]]
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Southwestern United States was inhabited by a very large population of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|American Indian]] tribes. The area once occupied by the ancestral Puebloans became inhabited by several American Indian tribes, the most populous of which were the [[Navajo people|Navajo]], [[Ute people|Ute]], [[Southern Paiute]], and Hopi. The Navajo, along with the Hopi, were the earliest of the modern Indian tribes to develop in the Southwest. Around AD 1100 their culture began to develop in the [[Four Corners]] area of the region.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://navajopeople.org/navajo-history.htm | publisher=Navajo People | title=Navajo History | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> The Navajos [[Pre-modern human migration|migrated]] from northwestern Canada and eastern [[Alaska]], where the majority of [[Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan]] speakers reside.<ref>{{cite web |title=Navajo people |date=July 13, 2023 |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Navajo-people |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> The Ute were found over most of modern-day Utah and Colorado, as well as northern New Mexico and Arizona.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.southernute-nsn.gov/history/ | publisher=Southern Ute Indian Tribe | title=History of the Southern Ute | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> The Paiutes roamed an area which covered over 45,000 square miles of southern Nevada and California, south-central Utah, and northern Arizona.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://utahindians.org/archives/paiutes/history.html | publisher=Utah American Indian Digital Archive | title=History: The Paiutes | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> The Hopi settled the lands of the central and western portions of northern Arizona. Their village of [[Oraibi, Arizona|Oraibi]], settled in approximately AD 1100, is, along with [[Acoma Pueblo|Acoma Sky City]] in New Mexico, one of the oldest continuously occupied settlements in the United States.<ref>{{cite book | last=Casey | first=Robert L. | title='Journey to the High Southwest | place=Guilford, CT | publisher=Globe Pequot Press | date=2007 | page=[https://archive.org/details/journeytohighsou00robe_0/page/382 382] | isbn=978-0762740642 | url=https://archive.org/details/journeytohighsou00robe_0/page/382 }}</ref> The Mogollon area became occupied by the Apaches and the Zuni. The Apache migrated into the American Southwest from the northern areas of North America at some point between 1200 and 1500.<ref name=Roberts48ff>{{Cite book |title=A History of New Mexico |last=Roberts |first=Susan A. |author2=Roberts, Calvin A. |year=1998 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |location=Albuquerque, NM |isbn=0826317928 |pages=48–49 }}</ref> They settled throughout New Mexico, eastern Arizona, northern Mexico, parts of western Texas, and southern Colorado.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.americanindianhistory.net/native-americans-of-the-southwest/ | publisher=American Indian History | title=Native Americans of the Southwest | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> The Zuni count their direct ancestry through the ancestral Puebloans. The modern-day Zuni established a culture along the [[Zuni River]] in far-eastern Arizona and western New Mexico.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.zuniindian.net/zuni-history/ | publisher=Zuni Indians | title=Zuni History | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> Both major tribes of the O'odham tribe settled in the southern and central Arizona, in the lands once controlled by their ancestors, the Hohokam.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tonation-nsn.gov/history_culture.aspx | publisher=Tohono O'odham Nation | title=History & Culture | access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref>

===Arrival of Europeans===
[[File:Expedition Cabeza de Vaca Karte.png|thumb|Narváez expedition (1528–36)]]
The first European intrusion into the region came from the south. In 1539, a Jesuit Franciscan named [[Marcos de Niza]] led an expedition from Mexico City which passed through eastern Arizona.<ref>"The journey of Coronado, 1540–1542: from the city of Mexico to the Grand ..." by Pedro de Castañeda de Nájera, Antonio de Mendoza, Juan Camilo, p. 5 (Google Books {{ISBN|1555910661}})</ref> The following year [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]], based on reports from survivors of the [[Narváez expedition]] (1528–36) who had crossed eastern Texas on their way to Mexico City, led an expedition to discover the Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola.<ref name=NPS1>{{cite web | url=http://www.nps.gov/cagr/learn/historyculture/index.htm | publisher=National Park Service | title=A Brief History of the Casa Grande Ruins | access-date=June 30, 2015}}</ref> The 1582–3 expedition of [[Antonio de Espejo]] explored New Mexico and eastern Arizona;{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|p=38}} and this led to [[Juan de Oñate]]'s establishment of the Spanish province of [[Santa Fe de Nuevo México]] in 1598, with a capital founded near [[Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico|Ohkay Oweenge Pueblo]], which he called San Juan de los Caballeros.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.nmmagazine.com/native_american/san_juan.php | title = San Juan Pueblo | work = [[New Mexico Magazine]] | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090105162531/http://www.nmmagazine.com./native_american/san_juan.php | archive-date = January 5, 2009 | df = mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Simmons |first=Marc |title=The Last Conquistador |location=Norman |publisher=U of OK Press |year=1992 |pages=96, 111 |isbn=0806123389 }}</ref> Oñate's party also attempted to establish a settlement in Arizona in 1599, but were turned back by inclement weather.{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|p=38}} In 1610, [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] was founded, making it the oldest capital in United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=McNitt |first=Frank |title=Navajo Wars: Military Campaigns, Slave Raids, and Reprisals |location=Albuquerque |publisher=U of NM Press |year=1972 |pages=10–11 |isbn=0826302467 }}</ref>

In 1664 Juan Archuleta led an expedition into what is now Colorado, becoming the first European to enter. A second Spanish expedition was led into Colorado by Juan Ulibarrí in 1706,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://thegeozone.com/treasure/colorado/history/index.jsp | title=A General History Of Colorado | publisher=The Geo Zone | access-date=July 9, 2015}}</ref> during which he claimed the Colorado territory for Spain.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.explore-old-west-colorado.com/spanish-explorers.html | publisher=Explore-Old-West-Colorado.com | title=Spanish Explorers: The Quest for Gold | access-date=July 9, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707163103/http://www.explore-old-west-colorado.com/spanish-explorers.html | archive-date=July 7, 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

From 1687 to 1691 the Jesuit priest [[Eusebio Kino]] established several missions in the [[Santa Cruz River (Arizona)|Santa Cruz River]] valley;{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|p=41}}<ref>{{cite book | last=Kessell | first=John L. | date=1970 | title=Mission of Sorrow: Jesuit Guevavi and the Pimas, 1691–1767 | location=Tucson, AZ | publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=0816501920 }}</ref> and Kino further explored southern and central Arizona in 1694, during which he discovered the ruins of Casa Grande.<ref name="NPS1"/> Beginning in 1732, Spanish settlers began to enter the region, and the Spanish started bestowing land grants in Mexico and the Southwest US.{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|p=42}} In 1751, the O'odham rebelled against the Spanish incursions, but the revolt was unsuccessful. In fact, it had the exact opposite effect, for the result of the rebellion was the establishment of the [[Presidio San Ignacio de Tubac|presidio]] at [[Tubac, Arizona|Tubac]], the first permanent European settlement in Arizona.{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|p=43}}

In 1768, the Spanish created the [[Las Californias Province|Provincia de las Californias]], which included California and the Southwest US. Over approximately the next 50 years, the Spanish continued to explore the Southwest, and in 1776 the City of Tucson was founded when the [[Presidio San Augustin del Tucson]] was created, relocating the presidio from Tubac.<ref name=brit1911>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Tucson | volume= 27 | pages = 361&ndash;362 }}</ref>{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|p=46}}

In 1776, two Franciscan priests, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, led an [[Dominguez–Escalante Expedition|expedition]] from Santa Fe heading to California. After passing through Colorado, they became the first Europeans to travel into what is now Utah. Their journey was halted by bad weather in October, and they turned back, heading south into Arizona before turning east back to Santa Fe.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.uintahbasintah.org/journalmain.htm | publisher=Uintah Basin Teaching American History | title=Domínguez and Escalante Expedition Year 1775 | access-date=July 9, 2015}}</ref>

[[File:1846 Mitchell's Map of Texas Oregon and California - Geographicus - TXORCA-mitchell-1846.jpg|thumb|1846 map: Mexican [[Alta California]] (Upper California) in pink.]]
In 1804 Spain divided the Provincia de las Californias, creating the province [[Alta California]], which consisted primarily of what would become California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. In 1821 Mexico achieved its independence from Spain and shortly after, in 1824, developed its [[1824 Constitution of Mexico|constitution]], which established the Alta California territory, which was the same geographic area as the earlier Spanish province.

In 1825, Arizona was visited by its first non-Spanish Europeans, English trappers.{{sfn|Sheridan|2012|p=52}} In 1836, the [[Republic of Texas]], which contained the easternmost of the Southwest United States, won its independence from Mexico. In 1845 the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States and immediately became a state, bypassing the usual territory phase. The new state still contained portions of what would eventually become parts of other states.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mzr02 | publisher=Texas State Historical Association | title=Republic of Texas | access-date=July 9, 2015}}</ref> In 1846, the Southwest became embroiled in the [[Mexican–American War]], partly as a result of the United States' annexation of Texas. On August 18, 1846, an American force captured Santa Fe, New Mexico.<ref>{{cite book |last=Groom |first=Winston |title=Kearny's March |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=2011 |page=89 |isbn=978-0307270962 }}</ref> On December 16 of the same year, American forces captured Tucson, Arizona, marking the end of hostilities in the Southwest United States.<ref name=disturnell-1882>{{Citation |publisher = W.C. Disturnell |location = San Francisco |title = Arizona Business Directory and Gazetteer |date = 1881 |chapter=Tucson P.O. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/arizonabusinessd00districh#page/184/mode/2up}}</ref> When the war ended with the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] on February 2, 1848, the United States gained control of all of present-day California, Nevada and Utah, as well as the majority of Arizona, and parts of New Mexico and Colorado (the rest of present-day Colorado, and most of New Mexico had been gained by the United States in their annexation of the Republic of Texas).<ref>{{cite book|first=Spencer C.|last=Tucker|title=The Encyclopedia of the Mexican-American War: A Political, Social, and Military History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I9ceNvefrToC&pg=PA255|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=255|isbn=978-1851098545}}</ref> The final portion of the Southwestern United States came about through the acquisition of the southernmost parts of Arizona and New Mexico through the [[Gadsden Purchase]] in 1853.<ref name=brit1911 />

In 1851, [[San Luis, Colorado|San Luis]] became the first European settlement in what is now Colorado.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/costillacounty/town-san-luis | publisher=State of Colorado | title=Town of San Luis | access-date=July 9, 2015}}</ref>

===Becoming states===
[[File:United States 1849-1850.png|thumb|left|United States 1849–1850]]
[[File:United States 1850-1853-03.png|thumb|United States 1850–1853]]
Of the states of which at least a portion make up the Southwest, Texas was the first to achieve statehood. On December 29, 1845, the Republic of Texas was annexed, bypassing the status of becoming a territory, and immediately became a state.<ref name="TAnnexation">{{Handbook of Texas|id=mga02|name=Annexation}}</ref> Initially, its borders included parts of what would become several other states: almost half of New Mexico, a third of Colorado, and small portions of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.<ref name="comp1850">{{Handbook of Texas|id=nbc02|name=Compromise of 1850}}</ref> Texas current borders were set in the [[Compromise of 1850]], where Texas ceded land to the federal government in exchange for $10 million, which would go to paying off the debt Texas had accumulated in its war with Mexico.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/nbc02 | publisher=Texas State Historical Association | title=Compromise of 1850 | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref>

Following the Mexican Cession, the lands of what had been the Mexican territory of Alta California were in flux: portions of what is now New Mexico were claimed, but never controlled, by Texas. With the Compromise of 1850, the states of Texas and California were created (Texas as a slave state, and California as a free state), as well as the [[Utah Territory]] and [[New Mexico Territory]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.history.com/topics/compromise-of-1850 | publisher=History.com | title=Compromise of 1850 | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> The New Mexico Territory consisted of most of Arizona and New Mexico (excluding a strip along their southern borders), a small section of southern Colorado, and the very southern tip of Nevada;<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nmgs.org/artcuar6.htm | publisher=New Mexico Genealogical Society | title=A Cuarto Centennial History of New Mexico, Chapter Six: The Territorial Period | last=Torrez | first=Robert J. | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> while the Utah Territory consisted of Utah, most of Nevada, and portions of Wyoming and Colorado.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700063286/Utah-Territorys-creation-in-1850-paved-way-to-statehood.html?pg=all | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713092342/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700063286/Utah-Territorys-creation-in-1850-paved-way-to-statehood.html?pg=all | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 13, 2015 | publisher=Deseret News | title=Utah Territory's creation in 1850 paved way to statehood | last=Arave | first=Lynn | date=September 5, 2010 | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> The New Mexico Territory was expanded along its southern extent, to its current border, with the signing of the Gadsden Purchase Treaty on December 30, 1853,<ref name=brit1911 /><ref>{{cite web | url=http://gadsdenpurchase.com/ | publisher=Official Gadsden Purchase Web Site | title=The Actual Treaty | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> which was ratified by the U.S. Congress, with some slight alterations, in April 1854.<ref>{{cite book | last=Kluger | first=Richard | title=Seizing Destiny: How America Grew From Sea to Shining Sea | date=2007 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/seizingdestinyho00klug/page/502 502–503] | publisher=A.A. Knopf | isbn=978-0375413414 | url=https://archive.org/details/seizingdestinyho00klug/page/502 }}</ref>

[[File:1860 Colorado Territory map.svg|thumb|left|1860 Colorado Territory map]]
[[File:Utah Territory evolution animation - August 2011.gif|thumb|Utah Territory evolution 1850–1868]]
The [[Colorado Territory]] was organized on February 28, 1861, created out of lands then currently in the Utah, Kansas, Nebraska, and New Mexico territories.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/02/28/native-history-colorado-territory-created-amidst-gold-rush-153774 | publisher=Indian Country Today Media Network | title=Native History: Colorado Territory Created Amidst Gold Rush | last=Rose | first=Christina | date=February 28, 2014 | access-date=July 10, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422023314/http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/02/28/native-history-colorado-territory-created-amidst-gold-rush-153774 | archive-date=April 22, 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Nevada Territory]] was also organized in 1861, on March 2, with land taken from the existing Utah Territory. Initially, only the western 2/3 of what is currently the State of Nevada was included in the territory, with its boundary to the east being the [[39th meridian west from Washington]], and to the south the [[37th parallel north|37th parallel]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Division/Research/Library/Documents/HistDocs/1861Act.pdf | publisher=State of Nevada | title=Act of Congress (1861) Organizing the Territory of Nevada | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> In 1862 Nevada's eastern border shifted to the [[38th meridian west from Washington]], and finally to its current position at the [[37th meridian west from Washington]] in 1866. The boundary modification in 1866 also included adding the southern triangular tip of the present-day state, taken from the Arizona Territory.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/row/landsurveys/Study_material/State_Boundaries/ca-nv-border-p1-2.pdf | publisher=Department of Transportation, California | title=The Colorful History of the California/Nevada State Boundary | last=Wilusz | first=John P. | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/stream/boundariesofunit00gann#page/126/mode/2up | publisher=Washington Printing Office | title=Boundaries of the United States | place=Washington, D.C. | last=Gannett | first=Henry | date=1885 | pages=125–126 | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref>

From July 24–27, 1861 a Confederate force under the command of Lt. Colonel John Robert Baylor forced the surrender of the small Union garrison stationed at [[Fort Fillmore]], near [[Mesilla, New Mexico]]. On August 1, 1861, Baylor declared the creation of the [[Confederate Arizona|Arizona Territory]], and claimed it for the Confederacy, with Mesilla as its capital.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mesillanm.gov/mesilla-visiting/2014-10-22-17-21-34/the-civil-war.html | publisher=Town of Mesilla | title=The Civil War | access-date=July 10, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713081049/http://www.mesillanm.gov/mesilla-visiting/2014-10-22-17-21-34/the-civil-war.html | archive-date=July 13, 2015 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> The territory, which had been formed by the portion of the existing New Mexico Territory below the 34th parallel, became official on February 14, 1862.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.csawardept.com/documents/secession/AZ/ | publisher=The Confederate War Department | title=Ordinance of Secession of the Arizona Territory | access-date=July 10, 2015 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622110945/http://www.csawardept.com/documents/secession/AZ/ | archive-date=June 22, 2015 | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://alliance.la.asu.edu/maps/Historical_AZ.pdf | publisher=Arizona State University | title=Historical Development of Arizona and New Mexico Boundaries | access-date=July 10, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322022027/http://alliance.la.asu.edu/maps/Historical_AZ.pdf | archive-date=March 22, 2015 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

[[File:Wpdms Arizona Territory 1860 ZP.svg|thumb|left|Confederate Arizona (outlined in blue)]]
[[File:Wpdms new mexico territory 1866.png|thumb|Split of Arizona and New Mexico territories, in 1866, after small portion ceded to Nevada]]
Nevada was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864, becoming the 36th state.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ahgp.org/inter-mt/mevada-admitted-to-union-1864.html | publisher=The American History and Genealogy Project | title=Nevada Admitted to Union, 1864 | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> This was followed by the admittance to the Union of Colorado, which became the 38th state on August 1, 1876.<ref name=Colorado_Statehood_Proclamation>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=70540|title=Proclamation of the Admission of Colorado to the Union|format=[[php]]|author=President of the United States of America|date=August 1, 1876|publisher=The American Presidency Project|access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> Confederate Arizona was short-lived, however. By May 1862, Confederate forces had been driven out of the region by union troops. That same month a bill was introduced into the U.S. Congress, and on February 24, 1863 [[Abraham Lincoln]] signed the [[Arizona Organic Act]], which officially created the U.S. [[Arizona Territory|Territory of Arizona]], splitting the New Mexico Territory at the 107th meridian.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/local/history/2014/04/15/arizona-explained-statehood-happened/7735503/ | publisher=Arizona Republic | title=Arizona Explained: How statehood happened | last=Stanley | first=John | date=April 15, 2014 | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.sharlot.org/library-archives/tag/arizonas-organic-act/ | publisher=Sharlot Hall Museum | title=Tag Archives: Arizona's Organic Act | access-date=July 10, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924101220/http://www.sharlot.org/library-archives/tag/arizonas-organic-act/ | archive-date=September 24, 2015 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.sharlot.org/library-archives/days-past/history-of-the-arizona-territory/ | publisher=Sharlot Hall Museum | last=Poston | first=Charles Debrille | date=September 17, 2011 | title=History of the Arizona Territory | access-date=July 10, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714183857/http://www.sharlot.org/library-archives/days-past/history-of-the-arizona-territory/ | archive-date=July 14, 2015 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Utah, as shown above, evolved out of the Utah Territory, as pieces of the original territory created in 1850 were carved out: parts were ceded to Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado in 1861; another section to Nevada in 1862; and the final section to Nevada in 1866.{{sfn|Gannett|1885|page=124}} In 1890, the LDS church issued the [[1890 Manifesto]], which officially banned polygamy for members of the church.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/the-manifesto-and-the-end-of-plural-marriage?lang=eng | publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints | title=The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> It was the last roadblock for Utah entering the Union, and on January 4, 1896, Utah was officially granted statehood, becoming the 45th state.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.utah.com/visitor/state_facts/statehood.htm | publisher=State of Utah | title=Utah Statehood | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref>

In 1869, [[John Wesley Powell]] led a 3-month expedition which explored the [[Grand Canyon]] and the Colorado River.<ref name="National Atlas US">{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/government/a_usgs.html |title=The Beginnings of the U.S. Geological Survey |publisher=National Atlas of the United States |year=2010 |access-date=October 9, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001205522/http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/government/a_usgs.html |archive-date=October 1, 2012 }}</ref> In 1875, he would publish a book describing his explorations, ''Report of the Exploration of the Columbia River of the West and Its Tributaries'', which was later republished as ''[[The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons]]''.

In 1877 silver was discovered in southeastern Arizona. The notorious mining town of [[Tombstone, Arizona]] was born to service the miners.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Eric L. |last=Clements |title=Bust and bust in the mining West |journal=[[Journal of the West]] |year=1996 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=40–53 |doi= |issn=0022-5169 }}</ref> The town would become immortalized as the scene of what is considered the greatest gunfight in the history of the Old West, the [[Gunfight at the O.K. Corral]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Hubert I. |last=Cohen |title=Wyatt Earp at the O. K. Corral: Six Versions |journal=Journal of American Culture |year=2003 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=204–223 |doi=10.1111/1542-734X.00087 }}</ref>

Copper was also discovered in 1877, near [[Bisbee, Arizona|Bisbee]] and [[Jerome, Arizona|Jerome]] in Arizona, which became an important component of the economy of the Southwest. Production began in 1880 and was made more profitable by the expansion of the railroad throughout the territory during the 1880s.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.azmining.com/images/HISTORY_FULL.pdf | publisher=Arizona Mining Association | title=A History of Mining in AZ | pages=10–11 | access-date=July 11, 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Santa Fe Route Map 1891.jpg|thumb|The second transcontinental railroad: the "Santa Fe Route" – 1891.]]
The early 1880s also saw the completion of the second transcontinental railroad, which ran through the heart of the Southwest, called the "Santa Fe Route." It ran from Chicago, down through Topeka, then further south to Albuquerque, before heading almost due west through northern Arizona to Los Angeles.<ref name=drury>{{cite book | last = Drury | first = George H. | title = The Train-Watcher's Guide to North American Railroads: A Contemporary Reference to the Major railroads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico | publisher = Kalmbach Publishing | year = 1992 | location = [[Waukesha, Wisconsin]] | pages = 37–42 | isbn = 0890241317}}</ref>

The repeal of the [[Sherman Silver Purchase Act]] in 1893 led to the decline of the silver mining industry in the region.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.azmining.com/images/HISTORY_FULL.pdf | publisher=Arizona Mining Association | title=A History of Mining in AZ | page=11 | access-date=July 11, 2015}}</ref>

In 1901, the [[Santa Fe Railroad]] reached the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, opening the way for a tourism boom,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Atchison, Topeka |author2=Santa Fe Railway Company |name-list-style=amp |title=The Grand Canyon of Arizona: Being a Book of Words from Many Pens, about the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ja5QAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA121|year=1906|publisher=Santa Fe Railroad|page=121}}</ref> a trend led by restaurant and hotel entrepreneur [[Fred Harvey (entrepreneur)|Fred Harvey]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Dimitri|last1=Ioannides|first2=Dallen J.|last2=Timothy|title=Tourism in the USA: A Spatial and Social Synthesis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4tjFW965lPYC&pg=PA21|year=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=21|isbn=978-0415956840}}</ref>

The last two territories within the Southwest to achieve statehood were New Mexico and Arizona. By 1863, with the splitting off of the Arizona Territory, New Mexico reached its modern borders. They became states within forty days of one another. On January 6, 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state in the Union.<ref>{{cite book | last=Simmons | first=Marc | title=New Mexico: An Interpretive History | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | date=1988 | page=[https://archive.org/details/newmexicointerpr00simm/page/166 166] | isbn=0826311105 | place=Albuquerque | url=https://archive.org/details/newmexicointerpr00simm/page/166 }}</ref> Arizona would shortly follow, becoming the last of the 48 contiguous United States on February 14, 1912.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.history.com/topics/us-states/arizona | publisher=History.com | title=Arizona | access-date=July 10, 2015 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055223/http://www.history.com/topics/us-states/arizona | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

===Since statehood===
====Ski industry====
[[File:Sandia Peak Ski Area, Albuquerque AC, crop1.JPG|thumb|right|Sandia Peak Ski Area, New Mexico]] The 1930s saw the beginning of the ski industry in the Southwest. Resorts were established in Colorado in areas such as [[Estes Park]], [[Gunnison, Colorado#Winter|Gunnison]], and on [[Loveland Pass]].<ref>[http://www.coloradoskihistory.com/history/timelines/1930.html Colorado Ski History.com]. 1930–1939. Retrieved November 3, 2011</ref> New Mexico's oldest ski area is [[Sandia Peak Ski Area]] at the eastern edge of [[Albuquerque]], which opened to skiers in 1936.<ref name="SPSP History">{{cite web |title=History of SPSP |url=http://www.sandiapeakskipatrol.org/history/index.php |website=Sandia Peak Ski Patrol |access-date=March 4, 2021}}</ref><ref name="All-Ski">{{cite web |title=Ski Resorts: Years They Were Founded |url=https://www.skiinghistory.org/history/ski-resorts-years-they-were-founded |website=International Skiing History Association |access-date=March 3, 2021}}</ref> At the end of the decade, in 1939, with the establishment of [[Alta Ski Area]], [[Development of Skiing in Utah|Utah's skiing]] began to be developed.<ref name=atasixty>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0h1OAAAAIBAJ&pg=4268%2C4021508 |newspaper=Deseret News |last=Grass |first=Ray |title=Alta at 60 |date=March 9, 1999 |page=D1 | access-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref>

Due to the ski conditions in the state, during WWII, the [[10th Mountain Division]] established [[Camp Hale]] in Colorado to train elite ski troops.<ref>[http://www.mscd.edu/history/camphale/tmd_001.html 10th Mountain Division History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724023359/http://www.mscd.edu/history/camphale/tmd_001.html |date=July 24, 2010 }} Metropolitan State College of Denver, 2004. Retrieved January 30, 2010.</ref>