From Bert Fireman's "Mostly Sweat" Speech on Arizona History

I must tell you what I believe about Arizona history. I believe a

callus on the palm of an unknown woodcutter was more important in

Arizona's development than a notch on Wyatt Earp's gun. I believe

the shovel was a lot more important than the six-gun. I believe the

church was more important than the gambling hall. I believe that an

immigrant's wagon being ferried across the Colorado River on the

trail from Utah to Arizona was more important than a stagecoach

robbery anywhere. I believe the tiny wisp of smoke from a prospec-

tor's forge on the desert was more important to Arizona's develop-

ment than all the gunsmoke at the O. K. Corral. And I believe that

when Barry Goldwater's grandfather opened a sack of beans because

some miner was hungry, that was more important than when another

"bucket of blood" opened on Whisky Row in Prescott or Brewery

Gulch in Bisbee ....

I wish the movies and TV shows would present this side of west-

ern history.

Bert Fireman

Arizona Pioneers Reunion

Phoenix, Arizona

April 12, 1958