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Howard Brigham of Mammoth has seven published books. John Hernandez | Miner
San Manuel Miner
Howard Brigham had been thinking about writing a book for more than 30 years.
After retiring from the State Prison in Florence he sat down and wrote his first book. The book is titled Smarter Ways to Camp for Seniors. It is about how Howard and his wife have learned over the years to cope with their aging bodies and still enjoy camping, fishing and hunting. He has now written and published seven books in two years. He is currently writing another book which he will have published soon and is working on creating an audio book version of the first of his Mountain Man series.
Howard was born and raised in Louisiana. He is a Cajun and grew up on a farm with an alligator bayou in the middle of the property. His adventures and friends while growing up influenced two of his books. Tales I Like to Tell Sitting Around the Campfire has funny stories and is dedicated to friends of his that have passed away. Cajun Tales I Like to Tell Sitting Around the Campfire are stories from Louisiana about some of the Cajun people Howard met while growing up.
He has lived in Arizona for 45 years. While working for Magma/BHP, 15 years underground and 14 years open pit as a boilermaker/welder, he lived in San Manuel, Oracle and Mammoth.
Before going to work at the mine, Howard worked at Arizona State Prison for two years, back in the days when it was the only prison in the state. Frank Eyman was the Warden. Eyman was Warden from 1955 to 1972. He was also Pima County Sheriff for a few terms and was one of the deputies that captured John Dillinger back in the 1930s.
Howard had some interesting and funny stories from his days in Florence that we hope he one day decides to put in print. One of his adventures involved him being taken hostage at gun point during a prisoner escape attempt. Howard and four other guards were taken hostage, tied up and stripped of their uniforms. The inmate that held a gun on him was Gary Tison. Tison and the inmates were captured before they could get over the walls.
Gary Tison would later successfully escape in 1978 aided by his three sons and convicted killer Randy Greenawalt. They would go on a rampage killing six innocent civilians including an infant before a shootout with law enforcement on Chuichu Road in Pinal County left one of Tison’s sons dead, the other two captured along with Greenawalt. Gary Tison would die of dehydration and exposure in the desert. Greenawalt would be executed while Tison’s two sons are still in prison serving life sentences.
Howard returned to work at the prison after retiring from BHP. He worked at the Eyman Complex, named after Warden Frank Eyman.
Howard has written a series of western books about the adventures of four brothers that become mountain men. The Jones clan are immigrants from Wales that migrate west. Although the books are fiction Howard mixes in actual Indian history into the stories.
“Read the first one and you will get hooked,” said Howard.
He also said they do not have to be read in order to be enjoyed. The Jones Clan series are #1 – Slim Jim Jones, Mountain Man; #2 – Too Tall Jones, West of the Divide; #3 – Amos Jones, A Timber Covered Mountain, #4 – Big Sam Jones, Man of the High Country. A fifth book, Cheyenne Jones, will be coming out soon.
Howard’s books are all self published. They are available on Amazon.com Bookstore and Kindle E-books. You can purchase some of his books locally. In Mammoth, they are available at Mammoth Lumber. Sue and Jerry’s in Oracle also sell some of the books.
If Howard writes half as good as he tells stories, these should be good reading!
John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.
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