Alpine, in Bush Valley, near the southern edge of Apache County, four
miles from the New Mexican line, has altitude approximating 8000 feet and
has fame as probably being the highest locality in the United States
where farming is successfully prosecuted. Greer is about the same
altitude. The principal crop is oats, produced at the rate of 1000
bushels for every adult male in the community. Crop failures are unknown,
save when the grasshoppers come, as they have come in devouring clouds in
a number of years. The location is a healthful and a beautiful one, in a
valley surrounded by pines. Anderson Bush, not a Mormon, was the first
settler, in 1876. March 27, 1879, came Fred Hamblin and Abraham Winsor,
with their families. For years there were the wildest of frontier
conditions, between outlaws and Indians. the latter stole horses and
cattle, but spared Mormon lives. This was the more notable in that many
villages of Spanish-speaking people were raided by the redskins in New
Mexico. Naturally, the settlers huddled together, for better defense. In
1880 the log homes were moved into a square, forming a very effective
sort of fort, nearly a mile southeast of the present townsite. Until that
time the community had kept the name of Frisco, given because of the
nearby head-waters of the San Francisco River. In 1881 most of the
settlers moved over to Nutrioso for protection, but only for a few weeks.
Alpine is the resting place of the bones of Jacob Hamblin, most noted of
southwestern missionaries of his faith.
In 1920 the County Agricultural Agent reported that only two farmers in
the United States were growing the Moshannock potato, Frederick Hamblin
at Alpine and Wallace H. Larson at Lakeside.