Don James Addison de Peralta-Beavis
By A. NATHAN FAIRBANKS
(This unusual true story of the nineteenth
century's great land hoax is the first of a
series of true historical articles on "The
Crackpots of the Nation." Truth is stranger
than fiction as this series will prove and we
feel certain you will enjoy these accounts of
unusual individuals who made their presence
felt in equally unusual ways.)
•
The greatest land fraud in the history of
the West was first, only an idle dream in
the mind of a streetcar conductor from St.
Joseph, Missouri.
How this roving soldi er of fortune "stole"
12,000,000 acres of land, extracted thous-
ands of dollars from amazed settlers, mar-
ried a half-breed Indian girl, passed her off
as the descendant of a Spanish don, and in-
veigled government officials and internation-
al statesmen into believing his fantastic tale
still stands as one of the most brazen
schemes ever fostered on the American
public.
As Don James Addison de Peralta-Reavis,
the Baron of Arizona, this mad dreamer
descended on the Southwest and established
his empire. In a coach drawn by six white
horses, and dressed as a Spanish don, he
rode about his Barony demanding "tribute"
from the hardy settlers who had won the
land from the wilderness.
The Southern Pacific Railroad paid
$50,000 for a right of way across his land.
From grizzled miners in Tombstone and
other mining towns, he demanded and col-
lected huge sums for the right to mine on
land that he claimed. His wealth totaled
millions, and his power was felt wherever
he went. How far the Baron might have
gone in his amazing career, had he not
been exposed as an imposter, is hard to
guess. It can only be said that his escapade
still stands as one of the most startling inci-
dents in the history of the Southwest.
Jim Reavis was the Baron's real name
and in the early 1880's he drove a mule car
through the streets of St. Joseph, Missouri.
With plenty of time to think, he must have
imagined himself a grand don in the color-
ful West that intrigued him so. Some time
before 1900 Reavis "went west" taking his
imagination, his few belongings and a
rather obscure land deed which he had ob-
tained from a man named Willing, the
asserted owner of an old land grant in
Arizona.
Fiction becomes fact when the exploits
pf the Baron are related. · On the strength
of the Willing deed, Reavis based his claim
to 12,000,000 acres in the Southwest, in-
cluding most of Arizona and part of New
Mexico. Under the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo in 1848 the United States was
bound to recognize all land grants. It was
such a grant that the Baron claimed and
he demanded that the United States gov-
ernment acknowledge his rightful owner-
ship.
All other grants were insignificant when
compared to the Barony. The tract of land
which Reavis claimed extended from the
junction of the Gila and Salt rivers on the
west to an eastern boundary line beyond Sil-
ver City, New Mexico. It included all the
rich mining regions and fertile valleys of
this area, and all who had settled there were
-according to the Baron-squatters on his
land.
So well did Reavis do his work of "plant-
ing" deeds, documents and papers in build.
ing his ownership claims that it is difficult
today to say how much truth there is behind
the Peralta grant. He produced historical
records to show that King Fernando VI of
Spain conferred upon Don Miguel Peralta
de Cordoba in 1748 the title of Baron de los
Colorados, and ordered the viceroy to grant
him 300 leagues of land in the northern
regions, now Arizona.
Further papers were produced to prove
that the grant had gone to Miguel Peralta,
a son, who obtained from President Santa
Ana of Mexico, a certified title to the grant.
Again, according to documents, the title
passed in 1864 to George M. Willing, J r.
In 1867 James Addison Reavis obtained
the title from Willing.
Of these documents an interesting com-
ment is made by one of the West's greatest
historians, Hubert H. Bancroft, to whom
Reavis showed some of his manuscripts at
the time of his reign in the Southwest.
Writing in his history of Arizona, before the
Baron's claims were exposed, Bancroft says:
"Respecting the validity and depending
on the genuineness of the documents and
on various legal technicalities, I have, of
course, no opinion to express. In a sense
the title is plausible enough on its face; but
it is somewhat remarkable that the annuls
of the province, as recorded, contain no al-
lusion to Peralta, to the caballero de los
Colorados, or to the Caudal of Hidalgo."
From the first the Baron tread on thin
ground. He made his demands in such a
grand manner, threatened all who opposed
his claims, and over-awed officials with his
mass of credentials, that few questioned
his authority.
His claim started a panic in the thickly
settled Gila and Salt River valleys, where
Reavis, in person and by paid agents, spread
the story of his alleged rights to the land,
water and mines. Ranchers, miners and
farmers began to ask each other-what was
meant by the Barony of Arizona? Stories
snowballed, and rumors flew. And so con-
vincing was the Baron with his grand man-
ners and prolific documents that many of
the frightened residents quickly agreed to
his terms.
But the Baron's position was not entirely
secure. There was too much opposition to
his demands. He must once and for all
time establish his rights. In order to do
this he concocted out of his nefarious brain
the most amazing chapter in his impossible
career.
In the still unsettled regions of Northern
California, Reavis found a beautiful half-
breed Indian girl. Young, attractive, hav-
ing the appearance of a Spanish woman
with noble ancestors, this girl was to be-
come the basis for his magnificent fraud.
Taking her to Mexico he tutored her for
months. He told her she was the only liv-
ing descendant of Don Miguel de Peralta
de Cordoba and heir to the great Barony of
Arizona. Here twin sons were born to the
pair, and the stage was set for the final
fiasco.
With his beautiful wife and lovely sons
Don James returned to Arizona. He had
proof now of all his claims, he said. Not
only did he have the existing deed to the
property but he was married to the only
living heir to the grant. In the early part
of 1894, Reavis published the following
statement in the San Francisco Examiner:
"One of the largest and best portions of
the Wes tern territory is the immense tract
known as the Barony of Arizona; the prop-
erty of J. A. Peralta-Reavis, which is now
to be colonized on a large scale. The tract
contains 12,500,000 acres and is known as
the Peralta Grant, and is the old feudal
property dating back to the time of Philip
VI of Spain, who granted it to Don Miguel
Nemicio Silvade Peralta de la Cordoba in
1742. The grantee was a lineal ancestor of
Mrs. Peralta-Reavis, a resident of Califor-
nia, into whose possession it has fallen by
the law of primogeniture.
"The property has been in litigation for
some years, but in November last the United
States Court of Private Land Claims fin-
ally determined th e exact boundaries of the
estate, and thereby practically sealed Mrs.
Peralta-Reavis' claims. A clear title to any
o'r all of the property is thereby assured.
There are few individual properties in New
Mexico and Arizona so vast in extent and
so admirably located for colonization pur-
poses as the Peralta grant.
"It 'is impossible to estimate the value of
this immense property blessed as it is in
mineral and agricultural resources. It con-
tains the most famous mineral belt in Ari-
zona, that of the Pinal Range, with the ad-
jacent mountains in close proximity to these
abundant streams; also the renowned Deer
Creek coal fields, the largest coal measure
COIN
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