To My Readers:

The Arizona Territorial Rangers were first formed in April of 1860 by the Arizona and the neighboring New Mexico Provisional Territorial Governor, who was at that time, Dr. Lewis S. Owings. The new governor’s first executive decision was to appoint James Henry Tevis as the rangers first Captain. The first headquarters was in Pinos Altos, New Mexico.

Pinos Altos, is located in Grant County, New Mexico, was a mining town, formed in 1860 following the discovery of gold in the nearby Pinos Altos Mountains. Originally named Birchville, after prospector Robert H. Birch, one of three finding the first gold, it later took the Spanish name Pinos Altos, meaning tall pines, because there were tall Ponderosa pine trees growing in the area. The trees eventually disappeared as they were cut down to accommodate the growth of the town that grew to a population of about 9,000 during the 1880s and 1890s before slowly being abandoned during the early 1900s.

In this book I will not only cover the life of Burt Mossman but also the other two Captains that followed his lead before the Rangers were abandoned. I will cover some of the stories and history of the Rangers under each of their Captains, Harry C. Wheeler and Thomas Rynning.

The Arizona Rangers were responsible for covering the whole territory as jurisdictions for county sheriffs meant that a criminal could escape one county and be safe from prosecution in another county. After the Rangers were dismissed the Arizona Department of Public Safety was formed to take their place.

Zeke Crandall Author & Historian

This digital book will be available in the fall of 2013