On September 4, 1887, Commodore Perry Owens, the Apache County Sheriff, came to Holbrook to arrest Andy Blevins, a.k.a. Many of the events that played out during the Pleasant Valley War up to 1887 occurred in and around Holbrook, including the famous Holbrook Shootout. It likely killed as many men as any of the western range wars. With cowmen, sheepmen, farmers, rustlers and outlaws competing for the same land, a range war ensued, called both the Pleasant Valley War and the Tonto Basin War. Rustling of cattle and horses over two million acres plagued the Hashknife Outfit. The Hashknife Outfit hired cowboys, many of whom were wanted men hiding from arrest. Holbrook became its headquarters and quickly grew into a cow-town. It leased another million acres of government land and became one of the largest cattle ranches to ever exist. The railroad sold a million acres to a Boston investment group which established the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, better known as the Hashknife Outfit. The community was then named Holbrook after the first engineer of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. During 18, railroad tracks were laid down and a railroad station was built to supply wood and water and to freight supplies south to Fort Apache. In 1876, Mormon emigrated from Utah and began settlements near Horsehead Crossing on both the Little Colorado and Rio Puerco rivers. Soon afterwards a store and saloon were established at the confluence of the Rio Puerco and Little Colorado Rivers two miles east of Holbrook, and the area became known as Horsehead Crossing. The area was known as Navajo Springs, after a spring a dozen miles northeast of Holbrook. Beale who created a ten foot wide wagon road. Army sent three expeditions along the 35th parallel, the third led by Lt. The expedition was then led by the Hopis to the Grand Canyon.Īfter the Mexican–American War ended in 1848 the area was ceded to the United States. Coronado sent an expedition west to find the Colorado River, and they crossed the Little Colorado some twenty-five miles east of Holbrook and found a wonderland of colors they named 'El Desierto Pintada' – The Painted Desert. In 1540 (some seventy years before Jamestown or the Pilgrims) Coronado searched for the Seven Cities of Cibola and camped some 60 miles east of Holbrook.

The Holbrook area was inhabited first by the Ancestral Puebloans, then Puebloans, then the Navajo and Apache. ( December 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources.

Holbrook and sons forest products