It’s Show Low

History of Show Low and the White Mountains

Show Low takes its name from a card game: in the 1870s, ranch partners Corydon Cooley and Marion Clark settled who would keep their ranch with a hand of cards, and Cooley won with the deuce of clubs. Around it are far older stories: Mogollon pueblos from the 1200s, the White Mountain Apache homeland and Fort Apache (1870), and the Mormon towns of the 1870s and 1880s.

1240Casa Malpais pueblo begins
1870Fort Apache founded
1878Snowflake and Taylor settled
1953Show Low incorporates
Cooley's Ranch in 1873: pines and a ranch house in a mountain meadow
Cooley’s Ranch, 10 miles east of Camp Apache, 1873 (left half of the stereo card). Photo: Timothy H. O’Sullivan, Wheeler Survey; Library of Congress. No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons.

The deuce of clubs

The Arizona Memory Project, drawing on a 1933 Arizona Republic account and Will C. Barnes’s Arizona Place Names, tells it like this: partners Corydon E. Cooley and Marion Clark decided to split up, and settled who would keep the ranch with a game of Seven-Up. Clark said, “Show low and you take the ranch,” and Cooley turned up the deuce. The City of Show Low and a Show Low Historical Society item both name the card as the deuce of clubs, and the city’s main street is named Deuce of Clubs for it. Sources disagree on the year: the Navajo County timeline has the partners arriving in 1872, while the Arizona Memory Project says the game happened sometime between 1875 and 1880. The ranch is described as “a reported” 100,000 acres.

Camp Apache seen across a valley in 1873, with mesas behind
Camp Apache, later Fort Apache, in 1873. Photo: Timothy H. O’Sullivan; Library of Congress. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Timeline

Deep past

  1. About 12,000 years agoThe earliest evidence of people on what are now the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests: Paleo-Indian big-game hunters. Most rock art on the forests is 600 to 900 years old. (USDA Forest Service)
  2. 1240 to 1350Mogollon people build and live in Casa Malpais at Springerville, a pueblo of 50 to 60 rooms with a Great Kiva. (Town of Springerville)
  3. 1964Casa Malpais and Kinishba, near Fort Apache, are named National Historic Landmarks. (National Park Service)

The White Mountain Apache and Fort Apache

  1. From the beginningThe White Mountain Apache Tribe writes that its people were placed in the White Mountains by the Creator. Families farmed along the East and North Forks of the White River, Cedar Creek, Carrizo Creek and Cibecue Creek. (White Mountain Apache Tribe)
  2. 1869Brevet Col. John Green leads troops into the White Mountains; in November, Apache leaders agree to a military post at the forks of the White River. (White Mountain Apache Tribe)
  3. May 16, 1870Work begins on Camp Ord, renamed several times before it becomes Fort Apache in 1879. (White Mountain Apache Tribe; Fort Apache Heritage Foundation; National Register nomination)
  4. 1871Gen. George Crook enlists about 50 men from the bands of Pedro and Miguel as Apache Scouts. (White Mountain Apache Tribe)
  5. 1886The Apache Wars end. The Tribe says the Scouts’ service helped its ancestors keep part of their homeland as the reservation. (White Mountain Apache Tribe)
  6. 1922 to 1923The Army leaves Fort Apache; the post becomes the Theodore Roosevelt Indian Boarding School, still a school today. (The National Register nomination dates the handover to 1924.) (White Mountain Apache Tribe; National Register nomination)
  7. 2012Fort Apache and Theodore Roosevelt School is designated a National Historic Landmark. (National Park Service; U.S. Department of the Interior)

Ranchers, a card game and Mormon towns

  1. 1870sCorydon E. Cooley and Marion Clark ranch the Show Low area. The Navajo County timeline says they arrived in 1872; the Arizona Memory Project says 1875. (Navajo County Library District / Navajo County Historical Society; Arizona Memory Project (Arizona State Library))
  2. Between 1875 and 1880The partners settle the ranch with a game of cards: “Show low and you win.” Cooley turns up the deuce of clubs, which is why Show Low’s main street is the Deuce of Clubs. (Arizona Memory Project (Arizona State Library); Arizona Memory Project; City of Show Low)
  3. 1878James Pearce settles Taylor, named for LDS Church president John Taylor. In July, William J. Flake buys James Stinson’s ranch in the Silver Creek valley: the start of Snowflake. (Town of Taylor; National Register nomination)
  4. Early 1880sMormon pioneers found Pinetop and Lakeside. The Town says Pinetop took its name from the nickname of a saloon keeper who served Fort Apache soldiers. Linden was once called Juniper, and Pinetop was once Penrod. (Town of Pinetop-Lakeside; ASU Geographic Alliance)
  5. 1881 to 1882The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad reaches Holbrook (named Sep 24, 1881, for chief engineer Henry R. Holbrook); the town moves to the permanent station in 1882. (ADOT; Navajo County Library District / Navajo County Historical Society)
  6. 1884The Aztec Land and Cattle Company, the Hashknife Outfit, starts ranching along the railroad. (Navajo County Library District / Navajo County Historical Society)
  7. 1895Navajo County is formed on March 21, with Holbrook as county seat; the courthouse is finished in 1899. (Navajo County Library District / Navajo County Historical Society; Navajo County Historical Society)

Forests, mills and a mountain town

  1. 1898 and 1908The Black Mesa Forest Reserve is proclaimed in 1898; in 1908 its land becomes part of the new Apache and Sitgreaves national forests. (USDA Forest Service)
  2. 1914Butterfly Lodge in Greer, built as a hunting cabin for author James Willard Schultz, is first occupied. (Butterfly Lodge Museum)
  3. 1924The McNary lumber company moves its workers from Louisiana to the mill town of Cooley, renamed McNary. Fire destroys the mill in 1979. (Forest History Society)
  4. 1953Show Low incorporates as a city. (City of Show Low)
  5. 1970 to 1971Sunrise Park Resort, owned and run by the White Mountain Apache Tribe, opens; it marked its 50th season in 2020. (Sunrise Park Resort)
  6. 1984Pinetop and Lakeside incorporate as one town. (Town of Pinetop-Lakeside)

Fire and recovery

  1. June 2002The Rodeo-Chediski fire burns about 462,600 to 467,000 acres (Forest Service publications differ), more than 200,000 of them on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. Around 450 homes north of the reservation are destroyed; the Tribe loses about half its timberland. (USDA Forest Service; USDA Forest Service)

The White Mountain Apache homeland

South and east of Show Low is the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, home of the White Mountain Apache Tribe: about 15,000 members on 1.67 million acres, with tribal government in Whiteriver, according to the Tribe. The Tribe’s Heritage Foundation runs Fort Apache Historic Park and the Nohwike’ Bágowa museum. Mount Baldy is the Tribe’s holy mountain; the Forest Service publishes the Tribe’s request that no one climb to the summit.

Places to visit

Fort Apache Historic Park, the Springerville Heritage Center and its Casa Malpais tours, the Navajo County Historical Society Museum in Holbrook’s old courthouse, Butterfly Lodge in Greer and the Painted Desert Inn all have published hours. See historic sites to visit, with hours and admission.

What we could not verify

Questions people ask

Why is it called Show Low?

From a card game. Ranch partners Corydon Cooley and Marion Clark settled who would keep their ranch with a hand of Seven-Up; Clark said “show low and you take the ranch,” and Cooley turned up the deuce (of clubs, per the City). The main street is named Deuce of Clubs.

When was Show Low founded?

Sources differ: the Navajo County timeline has Cooley and Clark arriving in 1872 and the Arizona Memory Project gives 1875. Show Low incorporated as a city in 1953.

When was Fort Apache built?

Construction began on May 16, 1870, as Camp Ord. It was named Fort Apache in 1879, the Army left in 1922, and it became a National Historic Landmark in 2012.

How big was the Rodeo-Chediski fire?

About 462,600 to 467,000 acres in June 2002; Forest Service publications give both figures. More than 200,000 acres burned on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.

Sources

  1. City of Show Low: History
  2. City of Show Low: City profile
  3. Arizona Memory Project (Arizona State Library): Show Low
  4. Arizona Memory Project: Show Low Historical Society Museum item
  5. Navajo County Library District / Navajo County Historical Society: Timeline and facts of Navajo County history
  6. White Mountain Apache Tribe: History
  7. Fort Apache Heritage Foundation: About and Visit
  8. National Register nomination: Fort Apache Historic District
  9. National Park Service: National Historic Landmarks by state
  10. U.S. Department of the Interior: 13 new National Historic Landmarks (Mar 6, 2012)
  11. USDA Forest Service: Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, About the area
  12. Town of Springerville: Casa Malpais
  13. National Register nomination: James Stinson / W.J. Flake House
  14. Town of Taylor: About Taylor
  15. Town of Pinetop-Lakeside: Community profile
  16. ASU Geographic Alliance: Mormon settlement place names
  17. ADOT: How the town of Holbrook got its name
  18. Navajo County Historical Society: Courthouse history
  19. USDA Forest Service: Establishment of national forest boundaries, 1891-2012
  20. Butterfly Lodge Museum
  21. Forest History Society: McNary, Arizona, a town on the move
  22. Sunrise Park Resort: 50th anniversary season (Dec 12, 2020)
  23. USDA Forest Service: Fire Management Today 65(1), Rodeo-Chediski articles
  24. USDA Forest Service: Rodeo-Chediski wildfire, a summary of impacts (Treesearch)

Checked October 22, 2026 by It’s Show Low. Cite this page: It’s Show Low (itsshowlow.com), checked October 22, 2026. Free to quote with a link; tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.