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30, 1873, he wrote that arrangements had been made to open a free school in every district in the following October. He urged the necessity of keeping all religious instruction out of the schools and concluded by saying:

After four years’ incessant labor I have succeeded in obtaining means, books, and teachers for excellent schools, so that every child within the Territory may obtain an education. While I remain in office our free schools will be kept open, and I shall endeavor at the next session of the legislature to make education compulsory.

Again he says:

Without books, schoolhouses, or teachers to commence with, in less than two years the free-school system has been fairly and successfully put in operation throughout the Territory.

McCrea has given some additional information on the difficulties encountered which is worthy of quotation here:^[1]

In the various communications made by Gov. Safford to the Commissioner of Education during 1873 we learn something of the difficulties under which he labored, the patience and persistence he displayed, and the wonderful success which began to reward his efforts. The work undertaken was enough to daunt anyone not possessed of a heroic soul. The Territorial census of 1872 showed a population of but 10,743, and these were scattered over a rough and barren country about as large as New York and all New England. Most of the people spoke an alien language to which they were much attached. There were few opportunities for profitable employment. Supplies must be brought a thousand miles from California and were very costly. The effort to subdue a wilderness such as they lived in was enough for any people, without being subjected to the barbarity of the unspeakable Apaches. With so many varied duties pressing upon him, it is remarkable that the governor could find time to devote to educational improvement, and yet he became familiar with all the details of the work.

Fortunately there is a contemporary witness who has given his testimony to the same effect. John Wasson, surveyor general, said in his newspaper, the Arizona Citizen, on May 14, 1874:

Less than two years ago the free-school system was started in Arizona, without schoolhouses, books, or teachers. It seemed a forlorn hope for the poor Apache-ridden people to provide for the education of the children under such adverse conditions, but the same undaunted spirit that had faced death and torture through a long series of years said, “We must either have schools or more jails, and we prefer the former”; and the result shows that people can do if they will, Yuma has a good schoolhouse, neatly furnished, and one will soon be erected at Ehrenberg. We are assured that Mohave County will erect schoolhouses as fast as required. The people of Prescott are now constructing a schoolhouse that will be a credit to the town and Territory. A schoolhouse was built below Phoenix, in Maricopa County, last year, and now the people of Phoenix are making arrangements and already have the necessary subscriptions to build one worthy of that enterprising and growing town. A schoolhouse is in process of construction at Florence in every way suitable

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1. Arizona School Report for 1908, pp. 90–92.