postmaster. At the same time Johnny Carr was appointed postmaster at Arizona City.

"On October 2nd, 1871, Whiting disposed of his interest in the firm and retired, the remaining partners taking over the business and conducting it as formerly, with Major Hooper at San Francisco, Col. Barney at Ehrenberg, and Johnny Carr at Arizona City. On September 13th, 1873, Carr withdrew from the business, which was continued by Major Hooper and Col. Barney, without change.

"On September 1st, 1875, Major Hooper retired from the firm, which he had joined in May, 1866, the business being continued as formerly by the last of the partners, under the firm name of 'James M. Barney.'

"Referring to this last change in the firm, the following item appears in the "Alta" of San Francisco:

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""The business of William H. Hooper & Co. will hereafter be conducted under the name of James M. Barney, the member of the firm who has had, for several years, the sole management of the Arizona end of the business, which has been represented in this city by Major Hooper.

"Colonel Barney is popularly known through the Territory and is a business man of much ability and enterprise, and backed up by ample means to conduct a large business. The withdrawal of Major Hooper does not impair the capital of the business, nor is any curtailment of its enterprise contemplated. The dissolution of copartnership has been the result of an expressed desire on the part of Major Hooper to retire into a less active life than the one in which he has been successfully and honorably engaged for

so many years. The name of Hooper & Co. is taken down, after twenty-four years of most honorable service in the interest of the Territory, without ever having had the slightest blemish. Col. Barney, in continuing the business under his own name, succeeds to its good reputation and prosperity with every prospect of continued good fortune. He has acquired a handsome fortune in the business during the last ten years, which now strengthens his resources.'

"George F. Hooper, the founder of this historic business house, after his retirement from the business became President of the First National Gold Bank of San Francisco, while Major Hooper erected the famous hostelry known as the Occidental Hotel on Montgomery Street, in that same city.

"About the middle sixties a well supplied branch store was started at Maricopa Wells, where Carr, Barney, and Hinton were in charge at different times. Prior to this period the Wells had been in possession of John B. Allen, a well-known pioneer. In 1868, when Barney was in that section, he laid out the first direct road across the desert from Florence to the Salt River, over which the firm's freight from that settlement to Fort McDowell was hauled. The Arizona Eastern railroad now traverses almost the same stretch of country."

It will be remembered that the town of Colorado City, afterwards Arizona City, and finally Yuma, was claimed by California and by Arizona, but it can safely be said that Hooper & Co.'s store was the first American mercantile establishment in what is now the State of Ari

zona.

Edward N. Fish, who is mentioned in this chapter, was a '49er, who subsequently came to Arizona and made the Territory his home. In 1849, with forty Massachusetts men, Mr. Fish sailed from New Bedford on the "Florida," and rounded Cape Horn, finally arriving at San Francisco. After several years of varied occupations in California, Mr. Fish, in 1865, came to Arizona, and became a member of the firm of Garrison & Fish, post traders at Calabasas. After about a year Mr. Fish removed to Tucson, where he established a large general merchandise store. In addition to this business, he engaged in the cattle business and milling, and in order to meet the need of a reliable freighting system, he established a freight line between Yuma and Tucson, and other parts of Arizona. Mr. Fish also maintained a branch store at Florence, where he transacted a very large business. In the early days of California he was a member of the Vigilance Committee there. After coming to Arizona he was, for eight years, a member of the Board of Supervisors of Pima County, for most of which time he was Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Fish was twice married, the first time in 1862 or 1863 to Barbara Jameson, in San Francisco, the result of this union being two children, one of whom is still living. His second marriage was to Maria Wakefield, in 1874, in Tucson, Miss Wakefield having the honor of being the first white woman married in Tucson, being also the first public school teacher in Tucson. From this marriage there were born four children, three of whom are still living. Mr. Fish died in Tucson on the 18th day of December, 1914.