Gila County, Arizona: History
The county was formed from parts of Maricopa and Pinal counties on February 8, 1881. The boundary was then extended eastward to the San Carlos River by public petition in 1889. The original county seat was in the mining community of Globe City, now Globe.
Popular theory holds that the word "Gila" was derived from a Spanish contraction of Hah-quah-sa-eel, a Yuma word meaning "running water which is salty".
In the 1880s, a long, range war broke out in Gila County resulting in an almost complete annihilation of the families involved. The Pleasant Valley War (also sometimes called the Tonto Basin Feud or Tonto Basin War) matched the cattle-herding Grahams against the sheep-herding Tewksburys. Once partisan feelings became tense and hostilities began, Frederick Russell Burnham, who later became a celebrated scout and the inspiration for the boy scouts, was drawn into the conflict on the losing side.
Burnham shot many men in the feud, and was himself nearly killed by a bounty hunter. Tom Horn, an infamous assassin, was known to have taken part as a killer for hire, but it is unknown which side employed him. Both sides suffered fatalities. No one was ever charged or prosecuted.
In the 1960s, it was home of Gerald Gault, who was the subject of the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in re Gault, that stated juveniles have the same rights as adults when arrested: to be notified of the charges against them, their rights to attorneys, for family members to be notified of their arrests, to confront their accusers and to not be punished more harshly than adults who are convicted of the same crime, especially if an adult's penalty for the crime would be less than that accorded a juvenile convict.