Poston, Charles Debrill

Poston, Charles Debrill (pōs`tən), 1825–1902, American explorer and author, b. Hardin co., Ky. After practicing law in Tennessee, he moved to California in 1850 and from there led a party to explore the east coast of the Gulf of California for harbors and S Arizona for minerals. A subsequent mining enterprise undertaken by Poston in Arizona was abandoned (1861) after five years because of Apache wars. An advocate of territorial organization for Arizona, he was appointed (1863) superintendent of Indian affairs and served (1864–65) as the first delegate to Congress from the new territory. In 1868 he received a commission to study irrigation and immigration in Asia. Later he served in the Southwest in various government posts. In 1925 a monument was erected to his memory on Poston's Butte near Florence, Ariz. Among his writings are Europe in the Summer-Time (1868), The Sun Worshipers of Asia (1877), and Apache Land (1878).