Estevan Ochoa (March 17, 1831 – October 27, 1888) was a Mexican-born American businessman and politician who participated in the creation of the Arizona Territory.
[4] His experiences on the trail taught him the skills of a merchant while time spent in Kansas provided him with fluency in the English language.
[7] The merchant immediately refused, informing the officer that he "owed all he had in the world to the Government of the United States, and it would be impossible for him to take an oath of fidelity to any hostile power or party.
[8] The officer then allowed Ochoa to select a horse and quickly pack a pair of saddlebags before providing him a rifle with 20 rounds of ammunition and having him escorted out of town.
[6] The merchant then surprisingly survived a journey of 250 miles (400 km) through Apache territory to Union forces stationed on the Rio Grande.
In addition to their mercantile operations, Tully & Ochoa landed a number of lucrative government contracts supplying Indian reservations and military outposts.
[10] The freight hauling operations in turn, with their associated system of relay stations, gained widespread recognition as it brought goods to Arizona and New Mexico from as far away as Kansas City, Missouri.
[4] Ochoa had instructed his wagon masters to give limited amounts of supplies to hostile Indians in an effort to placate them.
[10] Ochoa then donated the land for Tucson's first public school building and even paid to complete construction when tax revenues proved insufficient for the task.