[6] Poston traveled to California as part of the Gold Rush and took a clerk position at the San Francisco Customs House in February 1851.

[7] In late 1853, with the bankers' backing, Poston joined with mining engineer Herman Ehrenberg to organize an expedition into the territory Mexico was expected to sell to the United States.

The expedition visited San Xavier del Bac and Ajo, collecting mineral samples along the way, before traveling down the Gila River.

[9] After returning to San Francisco, Poston left for the East Coast in search of capital to fund a mining operation in the newly acquired territory.

Using the authority granted to him by the government of New Mexico Territory, he printed his own money and officiated over marriages, divorces, and the baptisms of children.

With the withdrawal of Union troops due to the American Civil War, Tubac saw an increase in hostilities from local Apaches and the settlement had to be abandoned.

[14] After being forced to leave Tubac due to the Apache siege, Poston went to Washington, D.C., and worked for General Heintzelman as a civilian aide.

[5] Poston in turn used this time to lobby both Lincoln and Congress for creation of an Arizona Territory, advertising the benefits of the area's mineral wealth to the Union cause.

[17] During his term of service, Poston submitted bills aimed at settling private land claims and to establish Indian reservations along the Colorado river.

This was followed by U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward commissioning Poston to deliver the Burlingame Treaty to the Emperor of China and to study irrigation and immigration in Asia.

Poston expected a consul position in London if Tilden had won the election, but instead was made Registrar of the United States land office at Florence, Arizona, from July 1877 till June 1879.

[21] The temple itself was decorated with a blue and white flag depicting a red sun and built upon the ruins of an older Indian structure.

[5] Following his time in Florence he moved to Tucson and supported himself with a variety of positions including lecturer, mining and railroad promoter, and writer.

[23] His remains were removed from Phoenix and moved to Florence, Arizona, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, and buried on Primrose Hill, renamed, Poston Butte where he had never completed his "Temple to the Sun".