Rawhide - In History and Legend

History has never recorded a social phenomenon quite like the mass migration that filled the American West with cities, towns and hamlets. And the excitement of that dramatic time in history continues to live on right here in Rawhide. In our town, the west is still wild.

The western frontier town of Rawhide is situated in the Gila River Indian Community. The history of this vast, majestic area of the Sonoran Desert and its people dates back to ancient times when the Huhukam civilization was thriving here along side the Gila River.

Later, descendants of the Huhukam, the Pimas as they were called by the Spanish Explorers, designed an elaborate agricultural system throughout their many villages by diverting the waters of the Gila into canals that extended for miles into fields of crops. In their own language they were the Akimel O'othom, or River People.

Pioneers and settlers soon came west; many of which passed through the Gila River Valley on their way to California, and found the native Pima and Maricopa people to be friendly as well as generous with food, water and traditional medicines. One man in particular, Charles Rawley, a tradesman and merchant from Savannah Georgia, arrived to this area just as his wagon had collapsed into pieces from a long, treacherous journey. He had no family and was traveling alone in hopes of opening his own business once he had found a town to his liking. Unable to repair his battered prairie schooner and out of water, he soon fell victim to the harsh elements of the desert. Rawley was near death when discovered by the River People.

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