6. Claiming Arizona
The land Reavis claimed was about twelve million acres, stretching from near Sun City, Arizona, to Silver City, New Mexico, and including Phoenix. Throughout the territory, people were bewildered and incredulous at first. Incredulity turned to panic when they read that the wealthy owners of the Silver King Mine, Arizona’s richest and most powerful mining corporation, had paid Reavis $25,000 – serious money back then – to avoid litigation. If such big shots had believed Reavis enough to pay him that much, it stood to reason that his claim really was solid. Suddenly, the threat that their land might get taken from them by this James Reavis seemed quite possible.
