in the 1870s and 1880s james reavis popularized the idea of a rich peralta family who had lived and ruled over part of the american southwest. he tried to assert a peralta spanish land grant and barony granted by the king of spain, which included a huge swath of arizona and new mexico, including the superstition mountains. dr. george m. willing, a territorial delegate to congress, claimed to have purchased the land grant from a man named miguel peralta (reavis became willing's partner to defend the claim and initially the us government indicated reavis' documents supported the legitimacy of the land grant). reavis married a woman he claimed was the peralta heiress to the "barony of arizona" and he became known as "the baron of arizona." reavis convinced some in the disputed land grant area to pay him for quitclaims on their existing properties and sold other areas to property investors. reavis' forged peralta genealogy and other documents were later exposed, and he served a prison sentence for fraud. his partner (dr. willing) died earlier in 1874.