• “That dramatic gun battle in Kielberg Canyon was a story from which myths were woven.”
    Arizona Governor Jack Williams
  • “They come out to murder us all, but they didn't figure on us fighting' back.”
    John Power
  • “We're outa jail now, and we plan on stayin' out. Nobody can pay us for the time we did there, though.”
    Tom Power
  • “It just feels like the Power boys time has come around finally, that they're part of history that is going to get some attention.”
    Thomas Cobb, Author
  • “There were better ways to do it than to go out and try and take those boys by force.”
    Martin Kempton

The Story

The deadliest gunfight in Arizona did not take place on the streets of Tombstone during its wild territorial days, but rather in a remote canyon of the Galiuro Mountains on a snowy Sunday morning in 1918, three decades after the frontier had closed. The numerous books that have been written about the gunfight are filled with unsubstantiated rumors and conspiracy theories, as authors have tried to make sense of it all. Why did eight men fight to the death on a cold winter’s morning in a remote canyon? Were they fighting over the gold mine? Or was the federal government determined to punish draft evaders with deadly force?

POWER’S WAR is a documentary film directed by Cameron Trejo that delves deep into the circumstances leading up to and following the controversial Power Shootout during the First World War. Featured historians include Heidi Osselaer, Eduardo Pagan, Mark Weitz, Paul Hietter, Marshall Trimble, the Arizona Republic’s Don Dedera, author Thomas Cobb (Crazy Heart), and many descendants of the Power Shootout.

Request Press Kit

Graham County Deputy Sheriff
Kane Wootan, and family
1910

Graham County Sheriff
Robert Frank McBride
1916

John Grant Power
Florence Arizona Prison, 1918

Thomas J. Sisson
Klondyke, Arizona, 1910

Thomas J. Power Jr.,
Bert Morgan
1914

Ola Mae Power
Rattlesnake Canyon,
Galiuro Mountains, 1914

Arizona Republican Reports
the Power Shootout
1918

Thomas Jefferson Power, Jr
Florence Arizona Prison, 1918

 

Screenings & Festivals

Host a screening for your organization, community, or town/city, click here.

The Filmmakers

Producer/Director Cameron Trejo has teamed up with lead researcher Heidi Osselaer for his third feature length documentary film, POWER’S WAR. Cameron and Heidi have spent the last three years combing through archives, interviewing family members and historians, and visiting the Power Cabin in the rugged Galiuro Mountains in an effort to shed additional light on a shootout that leaves more questions than answers. A paper on the shootout won the Barry M.Goldwater award for best presentation at the 2014 Arizona HistoryConvention in Prescott, Arizona.

An Arizona native, Cameron Trejo graduated from Arizona State University in 2003 with a degree in Accounting from the W.P. Carey School of Business.  A passionate and talented up and coming name in the filmmaking world, Cameron has spent much of the last 10 years honing his skills as a commercial and documentary producer working on projects all over the world, including Brazil, Italy, Israel, Honduras, and South Korea.  His project Reflections of Christ, distributed by Deseret Publishing, was viewed by over 1 million people worldwide, and was followed up by and international project entitled Another Testament shot in the historic Copan Ruins of northern Honduras. Power's War has taken nearly three years of extensive research and production to compete.  Cameron is currently working on developing a series based around the Power Shootout as well as a follow up western history documentary film.
Heidi J. Osselaer received her undergraduate degree in history at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned both a master’s degree and doctorate in U.S. history at Arizona State University. Heidi has taught at Arizona State University, Tempe, Scottsdale Community College, and Phoenix College and serves on the Scholars’ Committee of the Arizona Women’s Heritage Trail and is a speaker for Arizona Humanities. In April of 2009, the University of Arizona Press published her first book, Winning Their Place: Arizona Women in Politics, 1883-1950, which won two awards from the Arizona Book Publishing Association.. She is a recipient of the Sharlot Hall Award for her “valuable contribution to the state of Arizona and its history.”

Contact