Viola Slaughter - From Arizona and Back

From Arizona and Back

Soon after marrying, the Slaughters arrived at Sulphur Springs, Arizona, where they lived in a two room house. This would mark the beginning of the relationship between her and John's two children, Addie and Willie. John told her that he would send them to Texas to live with his brother, Viola convinced him not to do so, because she was already feeling love for the children.

The Slaughters opened a supermarket near Tombstone in 1880. In order to get supplies, such as meat, the Slaughters had to travel through Apache territory, and Viola was scared of the Apaches. In 1881, the Slaughters returned to New Mexico, by train. John needed more cattle for his ranch. During the return trip, the Slaughters faced a blizzard, and 16 of the seventeen travellers in the Slaughter group suffered from parts of their bodies becoming frozen. Only Addie Slaughter was able to escape unharmed. She was attached to a buffalo robe and this protected her from being harmed.

Starting in the spring of 1883, John took his family on a trip that he thought would land him in Oregon, where he dreamed of having a ranch by Snake river. His plans were ruined, however, when he began hemorrhaging from an old condition of tuberculosis in Idaho, and the Slaughters had to return immediately to Arizona. Soon, they purchased the San Bernardino Mexican land grant. Their new home was large enough to be located in two countries: half of the ranch was in the United States, the other half in Mexico. The San Bernardino Ranch had 65,000 acres (260 km²), which John had bought for one dollar and twenty five cents each.