The Bylas community was named after Chief Bylas, an Eastern White Mountain Apache, Scout, & spiritual leader. He & his family were killed by Victorio near Eagle Creek.
As a young man, Bylas & others chose to stay in the area after the White Mountain Apache were allowed to return to their original homelands. Many White Mountain Apache were forced earlier to relocate to the San Carlos agency due to the U.S. Government policy of centralizing all Apache in Arizona.
The Apache settling in the San Carlos agency continued to live in peace & were allowed to settle in Dewy Flats, then Calva, & into Bylas. There they raised their families, farmed along the Gila River, hunted in the surrounding mountains, & practiced their traditional & spiritual way of life. Many men enlisted for scout duties for the U.S. Army.
Descendants of Chief Bylas still reside in the community. Many of them are veterans of the U.S. Army Forces while others have held the chairmanship & tribal council positions of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.
ADOT 2018
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Bylas (Western Apache: Hago'teełe is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Graham County, Arizona, United States, located within the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,962. The community has a medical clinic, a police substation, and a market. Bylas is an Apache settlement divided into two communities, one of the White Mountain Apache, the other of San Carlos and Southern Tonto Apache. It is named for Bylas (a.k.a. Bailish) a chief of the Eastern White Mountain Apache band.
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Named for the rebellious medicine man who led the Chiricahua Apache on their last raids, to surrender, and then into exile in Florida and Oklahoma. Their descendants lived in Eastern Arizona again. This was also the site of original Camp Thomas, established in 1876 to keep Geronimo's tribesmen on their farmlands along the Gila River.
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Fort Thomas Frontier Fort
Birthplace of Melvin Jones
Son of Captain Calvin Jones U. S. Cav.
Lions Clubs International
World's Largest Service Club
Founded in Chicago 1917 by the Efforts
of Melvin Jones
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