Building a State in Apache Land

In a San Francisco boarding house, senators uncork Sazerac and discuss buying Mexican land for a railroad. Charles D. Poston hears the talk—and soon sets off to explore a territory whose very borders are still in dispute.

In 1854, the Gadsden Purchase has added a stretch of the Southwest to the United States, and Poston is charged with locating a vast Mexican land grant there. The prospect glitters with mineral wealth, fertile valleys and the promise of new towns; the reality is a rough journey into a country where even the legitimacy of the purchase is challenged. Poston’s account begins with political scheming and youthful ambition, then follows the uneasy work of turning a paper claim into a foothold on the land. How far can one man’s venture reach—and what might it set in motion?

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