Born on April 1, 1830 on a cotton plantation in South Carolina. When he was fourteen, the Swilling family moved to Georgia. A few years later he enlisted in a mounted battalion to fight in the Mexican American War.
Along the way he took a job as a teamster for Leach Wagon Road Company and helped build the first wagon road across the New Mexico Territory (which included Arizona). Swilling passed through Arizona to California to make his fortune but returned after hearing that gold was discovered at Gila City.
Upon seeing canals created by the Hohokam in the Salt River Valley, his own plans for the valley evolved. In 1867, Swilling and sixteen others organized the Swilling Irrigating and Canal Company. They dug modern irrigation canals in the Salt River Valley and began growing crops of barley, wheat and corn. His success and the construction of additional canals convinced others to move to the region. This settlement eventually became Phoenix. |
