[3] After his arrival in California, Safford began working a claim in Placer County that produced from five to twenty dollars per day.

[4] In 1854 he moved to a new claim and in 1855 was a Democratic party nominee for a seat in the California State Assembly, losing his race to a Know Nothing candidate.

The couple quickly became estranged and their dispute escalated to the point where Jenny Safford had notices printed claiming her husband had engaged in infidelity and was suffering from a venereal disease.

[2] On March 13, 1869, the Nevada Congressional delegation of Thomas Fitch, James W. Nye, and William M. Stewart petitioned President Ulysses S. Grant to nominate Safford as Governor of Arizona Territory.

[5] This nomination was supported by Arizona's Coles Bashford, John N. Goodwin, and Richard C. McCormick along with political figures from California.

[11] As a result of these efforts Indian hostilities were largely eliminated, with only occasional outbreaks, and enough order was instilled into the territory to allow for ranching activities to move to Arizona.

This effort was initially opposed by the legislature, but the governor was able to win passage of a new property tax on February 17, 1871, to finance creation and operation of schools.

[13] As ex officio superintendent of public instruction, the governor corresponded with educators across the nation and even used his personal funds to help build schools or bring new teachers to Arizona.

During his address to the territorial legislature in January 1877, Safford was pleased to report that at least 1450 of the 2955 children counted in the May 1876 census could read and write.

When the first claims were filed in Tombstone, the initial settlement of tents and cabins was located at Watervale near the Lucky Cuss mine.

Safford offered financial backing for a cut of the Lucky Cuss mining claim, and Ed Schieffelin, his brother Al, and their partner Richard Gird formed the Tombstone Mining and Milling Company and with Safford's backing built the first stamping mill.

He was a candidate for Arizona Territorial Governor again in 1889, with support coming from Matthew Quay, Leland Stanford, and William M. Stewart, but was not nominated.