The Verde Valley Pioneers Association

150

AZ 979.13 P42 C.2 PIONEER STORIES of Arizona's VERDE VALLEY

Pub!lshed 1954 by The Verde Valley Pioneers Association

Jesse M. Godd~rd, President Sam ISenedid, Vice President P•uline Boyer, Sec:ret•ry

Supervised. by and with Preface and Introduetlon by lonni• and Ed Peplow

Section 1 (pages 1 • 106) originally published 1933 by Verde Valley l)ioneers Association

Section 2 (pages 170- 24t plus JntroductJon and Preface) added in 1954

Dedicated ••• To those oJI] t-imers whO:'$(>- roura~"f~. strength and perseveram•t> t~ed one of A.meMea:'s last <'Ontint>nt.aJ frontiers and mad(> thE' Verde Valley so good a place to Ih;e,

ARIZONA STATE LIBRA,RV · ARCHIVES & PUBLIC RECORDS JUL 2 8 Z014

t':opyr:fght If).)~ h)' \'(>rde \'nlii'"J Pionen;. 44.S!Soci.ndon. Inc, ;\JJ right... l"'~S<'I'1:(•

This fourth printing of "Pioneer Stories of the Verde Valley" is presented by the Camp Verde Historical Society, organized in January 197 2.

The Society is the successor to the F art Verde Museum Association, and is dedicated to preserving the history of Camp Verde and the Verde Valley for future generations.

Corrections: Page 125 Ewan Witt teacher at Middle Verde School in 1877 instead of 1886 Page 153 Wingfield and Rogers killed on July 2, 1899 instead of June 2. Page 171 Picture is of Mrs. Anna Scott, not Ida Zalesky. PIONEER STORIES OF THE VERDE VALLEY OF ARIZONA

AS TOLD BY THEMSELVES AND COMPILED BY THE BOOK COMMITTEE

Published December, 1933

I I THE HISTORY OF CAMP VERDE

By Ruth Wingfield

Geographically, Camp Verde is were guided by an Indian trail situated on the ferti1e banks of to the Verde River. Originally the the Verde 1\iver. The latitude is river was called the San Francisco :14 degrees. ar. d 34 seconds north, River, according to K. S. Woolsey, and longitude is 35 degrees west Lieutenant Colonel of Commanding from Washington. With an alti Volunteers from the Weaver and tude of only three thousand five Wa1ker mines, in his report of hundred feet, consequently, the August 28,1864, but later the name climate is moderate. Higfl sur was changed. At that time the rounding mountains lend protec river was only fifty feet wide tion against extremes of tempera and two feet deep. It was grown tures. Thus a plea;:;ant season may up with moss, while now it has be warranted nearly any time of a wide bed which carries large the year. floods every spring. Historically, Camp Verde is one After a trip of three days, the of Arizona's outst.lnding center::; party reached the river bank, wad of pioneer days. ed across, and camped on the Settlement began suon after the other side. Although it was mid organization of the Territorial winter there were traces of spring Government and the establishment in the valley as contrasted to the of Prescott, Arizona. A 'llong the snow in Prescott. Black grama earliest groups of hardy pioneers grass waved in the breeze. The who attempted to settle th-? banks men were pleased. Early next of the Verde River, there was a morning tQey divided into two party con;:;isting of Dr. J. M. Swet groups to explore the surrounding nam, William L. Osborri, ClAyton country for a site. One took the AI. Ralston, Henry D. Morse, Jake Clear Creek region then called Ramstein, Thomas Ruff, Edward Clear Fork, while the other ex A. Boblett, James Parrish,

Soon the group returned to a man standing on a stool. He Prescott to make preparations for poured the heads slowly on the establishing a settlement. At Fort ground, letting the wind blow the Whipple everyone tried to per~ chaff and straw away. Natural suade them to abandon the ven ly some of the gravel and dirt re ture. But early in February they mained in the grain. At first the set forth with a party of nineteen. quartermaster at Fort Whipple re Supplies and provisions were load fused to take the poor grade of ed in six wagons drawn by oxen. barley. In Sari Francisco a much Four days later they reached the better quality could be pur<;hased. Verde Valley. Dr. Swetnam. told him that the Trouble first came, not from the soldiers were sent to protect the Indians, but from dissension settlers, but they stayed at the fort among themselves over the site. while the settlers went into re Some \vere dissatisfied with the gions surrounded by Apaches and location. The weather wa;; dis did all they could to develop the agreeable and stormy. All were country; then after a11 manner of impatient at the delay, as they hanlships, the quartermaster re wished to get shelters built as fused to buy their product at any soon as possible. Fina11y J. M. price. He believed that it was the Melvin, Thomas Ruff, C. M. Ral duty of the fort to help them by ston, Mac Foster, Ed•vard Boblett, buying the barley. After this con John Lang, and Jake Ramstcin versation, the quartermaster of pitched camp at the place previM f<"!red the regular price and fin ously chosen between the river and ally made arrangements to pur Cl~ar Fork. Work began the next chase all the grain and corn that morning. An old ruin aided in the could be raised. construction of an enclosure sixty Indians disturbed the settlers a feet long and forty feet wide. A great deal. Lots of corn and grain well was dug, and after two sur were stolen. A group of Indians veys-the first was not exact and was caught rlriving away some of a waste of time-a ditch and dam the cattle. As a protection two or were complE.ted. three men were stationed on guard As quickly as possible and with at the fort all the time. On the few implements, the land was night of August 22nd when the cleared. By May lOth over two corn was ripe, the men decided to hundred acres had been plan'!"ed k('ep watch in the corn field. in barley, wheat, corn, potatoes, About two o'clock Dr. Swetnam beans, melons, and garden truck. and Polk James took their turn In August the first load of barley in the field. As they watched, the was taken to Prescott. It was not moon slipped behind a cloud. Swet good grain, but it was the result nam shot at something that mov of hard labor. The stems were so ed in front of him. It fell, and he short that they could not be cut quickly dragged the prostrate well with a scythe and cradle, so body nearer. Instantly arrows the men pulled the barley like flax, flew around them; then all was beat it out with flails, or tramp still. Thf> two men sat silently ed it out with oxen, and the grain listening, fearing every moment was separated from the chaff by that another shower of arrows PIONEER STORIES 7

pioneers! Altho the danger was not so great after the r-.. troops came, they suffered I fearlessly during the days of organization. Profits were small and labor was diffi I cult. Nearly all of the farms I had been built near the fort. Dr. Swetnam settled on what is known as the Shield Ranch. This ranch, situated at the point where the Verde River and Clear Creek come together, became recognized as the first permanent set tlement. As the e;:;tablishment slow ly grew, the. need for a more advantageom; position was realized. Camp Lincoln was established for this purpose in 1864 or 1865, two miles from the present site, on the east bank of the V crde Riv tllo11ume11t to Pioneers er. It was on the old Santa Fe and Apache Trail and would come. Breathlessly with was effective in protecting the gun~ loaded, they waited, trying settlers on the Verde by oper to quiet their excited minds. Soon, ating against the Apaclws east of howev<'r, they realized that the the river. The voluntC('fR who lo ru~t!ing sound was only the wind cated CalYlp Lincoln came across among the corn leaves. Swetnam the Mogollon Mountains, via Cha f'Xamined what he believed to be vez Lal.:e (afterward called Stone the inanimat{' body of an Indian. man Lake by John J. Marion). In stn·prise he dhc;covered it to be They consisted of New Mexico a bag- made of an Indian blanket. volunteers, Colonel Chavez, and fi!!ed with corn. one company under Captain Cer In tesponse to the pressing call vantes. for mo•·e prot<'ction, ti,e command Supplies w€'re s.ecul'ed from er at Fort Whipple detailed Lieu Whipple. The old mail trail from tenant Raty with sixteen men to the army fort east of Camp Lin go into the valley about the mid coln came over Baker's Butte, dle of September. Soon he proved then crossed the Verde ruins, and to be a coward and wa!'> relieved ovf:'r the wf:'st range through Gov by Li<'utenant McNeal who with emment Gap, pa»t the old stone a small reinforcement realiz<:>d the hou:o;e in Agua F'ria Valley, and dang:(•r and b<•carne of notable as over Lynch Creek hill to Fort sistanC'e to the settlers. Whipple. A road it was termed, Row much we owe these ha1·dlr yet it was merely two dim trails. 8 PIONEER STORIES

The settlers and soldiers in Camp story, he said he would have giv Lincoln followed these lines of e.n all of Arizona to have had that travel. \Vales Arnold was post tree six inches larger. trader at the post. He came into Another experience that has Arizona in 1864 or before, enroute been retold many times is of a to Mexico with a command of sol¥ party of fifteen prospectors who diers. At Yuma he was honorably in 1869 outfitted themselves in discharged. From there he came to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and came Fort Lincoln. into the eastern portiOn of Ariw In February 1865 Arizona was zona, looking for placer diggings. transferred from the Department They were successful, but the In of New Mexico to the Department dians attacked them while they of California. January 4th, 1866, were at work, killed four or five of the following year, H. S. Wash the party, and took the provisions burn was ordered to take command and animals. The party came of the fort. The command consist straggling down Clear Creek ed of Company A.: Lieutenant where they met a detachment of Cervantes, thirty-five men; Com soldiers. The soldiers, beli€ving pany E.: eighty-eight men and one them to be Indians, fired more second lieutenant. Captain Wash than fifty shots before the half burn did commendable work, but starved men could convince them the settlers suffered a great deal. of their mistake. On September 12, 1866, in his rew Camp Lincoln was on the wrong port, he said the Indians were harw side of the river, and the small vesting the corn at the rate of mesa was not large enough for the thirty to forty bushels nightly. All amount of buildings required. In of his soldiers were sick, and 1870 General Crook and Colonel t\Velve men had to be kept on the Grover selected the present site Clear Creek settlement. and called it Camp Verde. The The seriOUJO;ness of the situation government sawed the lumber on Cherry Creek and built the Cherry is depicted by many 1 stories that are still told. In 1867 or 1868 Lieu Creek road. Colonel Grover of the tenant Cradlebough was sent from Third Cavalry laid out the post Whipple to the valley with a de and placed the buildings. The tachment of sol"diers. Jackson Mc garrison was built in 1870 and Cracken, the disccverer of the fa 1871. mous mine which bears his name Colyer, in 18?1, estaOlished a was with the party. The first temporary reservation for the In night out after they had picketed dians near Camp Verde as it was their horses and made camp, the the dividing line between the slumbering soldiers were awaken Apaches and Yavapais. The In ed in the night by a shower of bul dians were in a pitiful condition. lets and arrows. Nearly all the Dissention was prevalent. The horses were killed in the attack, white men had taken the farming but only one man was shot down. land in the valley away from McCracken hugged a smaU sapling them. Some were starving. In the tree about six inches in diameter Red Rocks, north of Camp Verde, for protection. He was a stout redskins who had found refuge in man, and years after in telling the the rough precipitious canyons- PIONEER STORIES 9 were routed by the troops in 1872. Ranch was settled by Judge Wells Eventually two thousand Apaches and his father in 1860 or 1864. ~urrendered unconditionally in The old pioneer ranch known as April 187:~. During the ;.:,ame y(•ar the Diamond S Ranch was located at Camp Verde about two hun at nearly the same time. M. K. dred twenty-four Indian:-;, mostly Lerty settled in about 1870 in Apache l\Johave~, were transferred the present Fain place. Among to the Indian reservation. No time those who came in at this time was lost in putting th.em to work W('re John and George Hance. as there was much to be done in They were merely boys when in e:-;tab!ishing the reservation on an December 1868, by way of Grief organi;.:ed basis so that it would be Hill, they entered the valley. Hugh of benefit to the Indians. Colonel Richards was the post trader at Julius W. Mason supervised the Camp Verde from the erecting of <·on:<.trudion of an irriga~ion ditch the buildings until 1872. He then whil{' Walter S. Schuyler had im sold out to Head and Company. mediate charge of the l'C'servation. Later they sold to McRogers and Tools were fc•w. Some were sent \:Vingfield. The settlement of Camp from Fort Whipple, but many of Verde proper began in about 1879 the men had to use sharpened o1· 1B80. Wales Arnold, Joe Bur sticb harderwd in the fire. The roughs, Bob Bell, and Bill Wilson Apaches soon completed the ditch. settled on BeavN Creek. Captain It was five miles long with a J achson settled on Oak Creek in width of four feet ar.d a depth of JR7?L three feet. Forty-sev<•n <".crC's of The camp wa;.; abandoned by the land were cleaJ·ed and planted in ;:;o]cliNs in 1890. melons and othel' gard0n truck. During the year 1875 cattle Preparation:- for planting corn W('re driven in from 1\•xas and and barley on a larg<• :-cale W<>J·e gradually the surrounding hills made. The Indians w0n• happy. we1·e stocked as the country was Prospect:- were bJ·ight, but the wplJ suit<•d to that ocC'upation. The "ring" of Fede>ral offic<•rs Sl?eur<•d ranges came to be l'ccognized as the issue of peremptory orders those of the be:-t in A l'i:wna. Over that the Indians should Jeav~: a~ .o-tocking resulted, but the For<'st once for the mouth of the Ban Service came tO the rescue. Mea Carlos to be henlNl with the othn sures were adopted to protect the tl'ibe>s. This r0moval, made in watC'rsheds. March 1R7!J, was in charge of Farms dotted the river's edge. Spe(·ial C:ommissionH Dudley. On Ganl('ning and fruit growing were the way the Tontos and Yavapais profitable. Irrigation on a very had a fight amon,g- th0ms0lves in larQ;e scale was a proVem. It was which five were kill('(]. Th0y were solved by the construction of the not ln favor of the move; many Wood's ditch. With the growth in ran away. settlement came the need for As the Indians were gradually roads .. Th.-: town, in time, was at subdued, settle-rs established their the junction of two highways; one own ranches. Many today are des from Phoenix via Prescott to Fla.~; ignated by the names given them staff, and the other from Phoenix in these early days. The Verde via Globe. Schools, too, found their 10 PIONEER STORIES

place in the community. In 1916 a ber resembling Yucca fiber, have grammar school was built, and been unearthed. Two Indian bodies later a small high school was con partially preserved by the chemi structed. It burned a few years af cal reaction of the deposit, were ter. However it was replaced in uncovered. One of the Indian 1923. Perhaps the greatest boon squaws living in Camp Verde, has been the location of a sodium claimed the first body to be that sulphate mine by a man named of her father. However after much Baker who came from Los Ange persuasion, some of the old tim~ les, California. The control of the ers who knew where her father mine has changed hands a num was buried, convinced her that ber of times. Operation has never she was mistaken. Captain Smi~ been stable, but some interest has ley, an Indian recognized by the been maintained. After the mining government for his service in cap towns of Jerome and Clarkdale turing Geronimo, lives in the In were established, numbers of min dian village near the town. An ers located claims for copper and other item of interest to the his gold mines in the hills around torian is the "Apache Battle Camp Verde, but a large deposit Ground" which is forty miles east has never been found. of Camp Verde, near Long Valley. The archaeologist and historian There in a rather secluded spot have discovered a very interesting between the hills, Camp Verde field in the vicinity. Montezuma seems to lessen the link between Castle and Wells are only a few the lives of the Indians, the pio miles from Camp Verde. Down neers, and ourselves. Indian dwell the river there are more Indian ings, the soldiers' old adObe build dwellings. One of the strangest ings, their parade ground, and things about the sodium sulphate tales repeated by old timers vivi mine is that stone tools have been fy our relations with those hardy found in the very heart of the de~ men who brav.ely made their way posit. All through, layers of woven before us. Camp Verde kindles our fabric have been discovered. Tor interest in the early days. For ches, Indian sandals made of fi- this reason it will be remembered.

PICTURES ON OPPOSITE PAGE "The DeseTt Shall Blossom. a.s The Rose." Top, the Munds family cTos_s

ing the dese1·t. CenteT, C. C. CaUaway plowing. Bottom, a. typical Ve~·de Valley home.

EARLY HISTORY OF JEROME

EXTRACT FROM JEROME field was organized into a new REPORTER mining district; rules and regula December 28, 1899 tions were formulated that stand The history of the Jerome of to and govern to this day. Captain day known to all boards of trade Boyd was made president. G. V. commences in 1873, with the ad Kell, who had joined them, was vent of a party of prospectors in the first recorder of the district. the Verde Valley. The personnel Professor G. A. Treadwell was of this little band of men was such one of the first friends of the as would lead to expectations of mine, and the promoter who or great things from them. At their ganized a company to work it. In head was Captain John D. Boyd, a the directorate was ex-Governor man of vast experience in mining Tritle and John Thomas. The fin ancial backer was the famous and and with him the O'D~ugherty brothers, John and Ed.; the for oft-times notorious capitalist, J e mer an expert assayer, the latter rome of New York. Mr. Jerome a graduate of a medical college. made it a condition precedent to To these men belongs the honor of his investment that the camp be blazing the way for those who called Jerome. have followed. With an acumen In 1884 the original United that has no parallel they judged Verde Copper Company found it the field correctly on their first self in sore straits. Bad weather, trip. Locations made in a few unruly teamsters, refractory ores short months are worth today hun and an inability to raise money on dreds of millions. copper bullion on the dump made In 1873 they located the North it nece>;sary for the company to and South Chrome, the North and suspend operations. South Azure, the Gift and the W. A. Clark of Montana had North and South Venture- now seen samples of United Verde ore the United Verde mine-and the at the New Orleans Exposition, Cliff; farther south the Oak and and upon learning that the inter adjacent claims- now known as the ests were on the mark~t. visited Copper Chief and the Iron King Jerome, in company with J. L. Gi mines. These properties were so roux, then a mine foreman for Mr. well thought of that millionaires Clark in Montana. Previous to this fought over them in courts for time, no less eminent mining ex years. perts than Prof. Douglass had pas It must not be thonght that this sed adverse sentence upon the band of experienced men did not property. Messrs. Clark and GUroux realize the value of the property made a thorough examination of or that they were deficient as to the mine and proposed to the com the understanding or the legal pany that they operate it under a steps necessary to secure it to lease for three months, with pri them. Their assays showed $35 in vilege of purchasing the property gold and $100 in silver. The new at the expiration of that time. The PIONEER STORIES 13

Clark and has for its Superintend~ ent J. F. Wheaton. Gen. R. H. G. Minty is the Auditor. The traffic taxes the road to the bursting point. As the smelter and mine were extended, the swift camp of Je~ rome kept pace. At first but a small gathering of canvas and pine board shacks, it rapidly be came a city closely built up of pre tentious edifices. Five times the fire fiend has invaded the town, the most disastrous visitation oc curing in September, 1898, wlien the entire business portion, and a large part of the resident district were swept away. The repeated ravages of fire at last awoke the citizens of Jerome to a realization of the necessity of an incorpora G. W. Hull tion, that a united effort might "Daddy of Jerome" be made to prevent the yearly des truction of the town. It was incor porated and a Council appointed by the Board of Supervisors, con original company was capitalized sisting of the well-known citizens at three millions - 300,000 $10 Michael Bradley, Arthur Cordiner, shares-160,000 shares were plac Doane Merrill, W. M. Munds, and ed in escrow to be taken by Mr. R. S. Sturmer. These men named Clark at $1 a share. In four Mr. Munds, Mayor; R. E. McDow~ months' time under the manage ell, Clerk; F H. Perkins, Building 'lllent of Superin~endent Giroux, Inspector; J. C. Duff, Street Com enough bullion had been produced missioner; Frank Ferfuson, Mar~ to take the stock out of escrow, shal, and Thomas Miller, Deputy. and immediately thereafter Mr. These officers faced a most try Clark began buying in all the ing condition. The democratic Stock possible until today it is methods of a mining camp were ·stated that he owns over 92 per yet dear to property owners who cent of all the entire stock. objected strenuously to reasonable The construction of the United ordinances. In spite of ali this, Verde and Pacific railway, 26 stringent fire and building regu miles long, connecting Jerome and lations were drafted and today we Jerome Junction, is one of the have as a monument to their stead greatest achievements in railroad fastness a modern town of brick building. Forty-five degree curves and stone, with cement sidewa1ks, are common, and the grades en graded streets, electric lights and countered are in places 3 percent. telephone system, and a model po This also is the property of Mr. lice surveUiance. 14 PIONEER STORIES

EXTRACTS FROM THE 000 pounds of copper per month MINING CONGRESS with 5 per cent ore. There arc a JOURNAL bout 900 men on the payroll dur ing normal times. There were various plants op The town of Clarkdale was laid erated at Jerome up to 1915. The out in 1914. It is generally spoken demand for increased capacity and of as a model town. The streets facilities for treating lower grade are wide. In the center of the town ores which could not be secured is a large plaza dotted with trees at the Jerome site on account of and shrubs, and covered with topographic limitations and the grass. All the business houses and caving of the ground due to min moBt of the dwellings are made of ing operations immediately below brick. had made imperative the construc The Clarkdale School District tion of a new plant at a more fa has six modern brick buildings in vorable site. cluding domestic science, manual Difficulties of transportation in training, domestic art, and auto to the district via U. V. and Pa mechanics departments. cific Railway, a narrow gauge South of Cla1·kda\e is another road, added to the cost of opera smelter town first called Verde tion. then later named Clemenceau. The Preliminary investigation of town and smelter were built in possible sites for the proposed 1917-18 and operated by the U. V. Clarkdale Sm~dter was undertak X. Company. In normal times en in 1910 and the present loca there are between 400 and 500 tion was fixed as lending itself men on the payroll. most satisfactorily to all aspects Between the two towns, Clark of the problem in hand. Ground dale and Clemenceau, has sprung was broken in 1912, and the firBt the busy little town of Cotton furnace blown in on May 26, 1915. wood. These three towns afford The rated capacity of the plant an excellent market for the pro as designed and built was 4,500,~ duce of the Verde Valley.

PICTURES ON OPPOSITE PAGE Top, 11iew of Jerome, an·i11a 1 of tTain at U. V. & P. depot. Center, stage coach. Bottom, Dr. Hawkins in the first auto in Jerome,

MEMORIES

by Mrs. Mary Boyer

were married and a year later left with ox-:eams for Arizona. In October 1874 we arrived in what was then known as Fort Verde and made camp near what is now known as the Old "Calloway" ranch. My mother, Nan Darling Sessions, was so appalled at the sight of the val!ey that she beg ged to be taken right back to Kan sas out of this "wild country." The Verde River at that time \vas just about the size of the Woods di';ch of today, Wild mus tard and grass grew profusely everywhere and large cottonwood trees could be seen in the dist ance. The Black Hills and Squaw Peak loomed large and forbidding into the sky as if trying to hide M1·. and Mrs. Jas. Boyer and some of the Apache Indians Their First Home Built which roamed the country at that at Tapco. time. My husband and brother-in-law, I was born in Bloomington, Bill Allen, took their ox-teams Illinois, November 15, 1857. The and grubbed wild hay for the Fort greater part of my childhood was and traded for supplies. On one spent at my birthplace but in lat occasion the commissary clerk er years we m:oved to Canola, told them, "A little more hay and Kansas. It was here that I met less dirt would suit them better." James R. Boyer, (later my hus (The wagons and all were weigh band) who was at that time a ed and in getting the hay lots of merchant. On the tenth day of soil would still cling to the roots.) April, when I was sixteen, we Jim (my husband) had his first

PICTURES ON OPPOSITE PAGE Top, il'Jr. and iVb·s. J. W. Ralston, on their Golden Wedding Anniversary, Ap1·il 12, 1925. Second row, left, E. A. Jordan and friends; right, E. W. Monroe, E. J. iVlonroe, Chas. Harbeson and Joe Tompkins. Thi1·d row, right, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Mom·oe. Bottom row, left., Mr. and Mrs. James Page; 1·ight, the old Casner home on Beave1· Creek.

44 PIONEER STORIES

job in Arizona at the Bullwhack but slipping from his exhausted er mine located near Dewey. I horse. He told us of how he had was the only woman at the mine been chased by the Indians for who owned chickens and I sold all mi~es and miles and finally shot of the eggs at two dollars and in the leg. Taking him into the fifty cents a dozen. house we found that he had not been shot, but that in his wild From Bullwhacker we moved to ride a mesquite branch had hit his Cherry Creek, where there was a boot with such force that it re* government saw mill. Here my femb'ed a gun report, and in his husband made as high as twenty fright thought that he had really dollars a day hauling 1ogs to the been wounded. fort (whose name had been chang Some time later we moved to ed to Camp Sandy) and various what is now known as Tapco, places. As I was very fond of (several miles above the present buttermilk, frequently he would site of Clarkdale) and took up a bring me some from the valley. On ranch. While living there we had one of his trips he bought me a several Indian scares but none of five gallon can but on the way them of a serious nature. The Je* back to Cherry, at a place known rome mines could then be bought as Toe-Nail Point, the oxen be for four span of mules. came frightened and turned the From Tapco we moved to what wagon over spilling the can which is now knovm as Bumble Bee and hit first one side of the canyon ran a station for the stage run~ and then the other, making a per ning from Prescott to Phoenix. fect rainbow of buttermilk in the On one occasion the officers sky. (From then on the place be~ caught a desP.erado known by came known as Buttermilk Gulch.) many as old Jack Swelling and At Cherry there was a large on their way to Phoenix with him adobe house that the soldiers had they stopped at our station over used when they were stationed night. He was very dangerous and there and on days when the men had to be kept in chains. I remem were working all the women and ber that I was so frightened that children met there in fear of the I never dosed my eyes that night Indians. Each day runners were for fear of his getting loose. sent out to keep watch. This spe During my life I have traveled cial morning was Johnson's turn considerably but always have re and early in the morning he left turned to Arizona. Mr. Boyer died to make his rounds. Towards dusk in 1930 at the age of 81. I have he came dashing in. His hat had 10 children, 24 grandchildren and been lost and his saddle was all 23 great~erandchildren. LOOKING BACK ACROSS THE YEARS

Since my sister, Mrs. Naomi and corralled it at night. Later Strahan, has already told of the the men built fences of rails and trek our family, the James Oliver the stock could be turned loose. Bristow branch, made from Mis" Then my father built a log souri to Cottonwood, in 1875, and house on level ground above our since I was only two years old at dug-out and across the canyon. the time, I shall skip that, and In those days malaria was com start with my first memory of our mon. Everyone had it in the sum home in Arizona, where the town mer. There were few, if any, of Cottonwood now stands. floods, and the Verde River spread We first lived in a dug-out in out wide, and so shallow you the east bank of the canyon run could cross it on clumps of grass. ning back of the present jail. My Willows and undergrowth were father dug a square, back into the so heavy all over the river bed bank, then built the front of that the water was forced into pickets or poles, and the roof of standing pools which bred mos poles covered with dirt. He du~ quitos. That may have been the another small room in the bank cause of the malaria. S o m e behind the main room where my thought we may have had it when mother kept milk which was a we came, but when the run-off very important part of our food. -got bigger and the river was My father brought several milk cleaned out occasionally with a cows from Missouri. One of these flood, the malaria disappeared. had to work in the harness with MY father used to say we were an ox, when one of the oxen would all sick, but that it never showed get too footsore. We started with at the dinner table. Quinine was two yoke of oxen, but my father the only medicine we ever took sold one yoke in New Mexico. He for it, and it was a terrible job also brought with him a two year to get that down us children! My old filly, too young to work so the .mother tried various devices, one oxen had to do all the plowing, being to wrap the bitter powder and hitched to the wagon, were in the thin skin inside an egg our only means of conveyance shell and get us to swallow it. when we wanted to go somewhere Often she would take a hot iron for some time. About a year later and make a very thin sheet of my father got a small mare that bread dough, then roll the quinine he hitched with the tall filly and in that. She also wrapped it in a funny looking team they made! onion skin successfully. I can still see my father reachin6 After a few years of this my out to urge the short legged mare father decided to sell out in the to keep up with her long legged Valley where the feed was not so team-mate, and hear his "Get up good and move to the r,nountains there, you Doll!" where it was better. First we My father farmed a piece of moved to Oak Creek and then on land in the river bottom above to Beaver Creek where we lived Cottonwood, first taking out a at what is now Soda Springs, and ditch from the Verde for irrigat my father irrigated a -.sarden with ing it. He raised corn and all the the warm soda water. garden stuff he could for food, Once, while there, everyone Was fresh and to store for winter. warned that the Indians were on At first there were no fences, a raid and that we should all gE>t and the younger members of the together for protection. All the family herded livestock day times neighbors, four or five families of . 134- PIONEER STORIES

us, went to the Montezuma Well went to school in Cottonwood, but Ranch, then owned by Bill Wing the first winter on Beaver Creek field and where there was an there was no school. The second adobe house with northoles to winter the parents of children shoot through in case of attack. built a log schoolhouse and I When the Indians broke out from started to school there with Ed the reservations and went on Mulholland fo·r my teacher. We these raids, the soldiers from had only such schoolbooks as the Camp Verde would go out and older children of the families hunt them up and make them go owned, and very few of them. My back where they belonged. We sister and I had on~y spellers, so stayed at the \Veil Ranch several we studied nothing but spelling. days, for safety, campin-g near -our We had two lessons a day and we wagons, and cooking over camp learned so many words, big words, fires, till word that the danger too, that when we got readers, the was over. But we didn't see any next winter, we just sailed Indians. throu·gh them. We finished our Another time we were warned first readers, couldn't get sec~md of "Indian Scare," as we called ones, and jumped to third readers it, when we were on the moun with no trouble. I guess we got tain, the spring after our parents' some arithmetic books, too, that death. The Cliff family, our fam second year, and we also got ily, I think the Isaac Jones fam slates and slate pencils. The chil ily and perhaps the Strahans, all dren sat on long plank· benches; went to the Henry Wingfield there were no' desks. The teacher place, where Bill Wingfield was had a desk and a chair that he building a log house, and we must have furnished himself. camped in the unfinished house. There was no glass for the win We saw no Indians, but we did dows and on cold or stormy days see the soldiers go by, and some the shutters had to be closed, but said they had Indians with them. quite a bit of light came through Once my sisters went to a near the shakes on the roof, and the by Indian camp and asked an old fireplace gave H;;ht, too. woman if she would show them In the spring when the creek some scalps. She ·grinned and was up, my father would take us picked up a sack from the ground, to a narrow place and fell a tree hut a huck standing near shook across the creek for us to cross his head and she put the sack on to go to school. Often the tree down. would be carried a way by t-he high Soon after we went to Beaver water and he would have to fell Creek, we began moving the cat another the next morning, but tle, for which we had traded the there were plenty of trees. One Cottonwood farm, to the moun morning he cut an alder for us, tain for the summer, and we grad and he told me and a neighbor ually lost the malaria. We went child, Julie Jones, to wait while to a place called · Bea1· Springs, he led my sister across. I waited, east of Stoneman's Lake. We used but Julie started across alone. As to get so hungry for fruit and he turned, off she went into the n'_~·etabl('S, and once when my fa flood water! He made a leap and thPr made a ride to the Valley, h8 caught her as she hit the water, hrought back a few tomatoes. We and set her, soaking wet and had a pine-log house with a lJ.Uak bawlinJ:, on the other bank, where in.t;· aspen log kitchen built onto sh.e ran to the Cliff's house for it. dry clothing. "ly older brothers and sisters It was while we were living on PIONEER STORIES - 135-

Beaver Creek that rr.y father and storm, in which my mother con Shelby Hutcheson had to make tracted pneumonia, and in a few a trip to Prescott for supplies, in days was laid beside him. My old January. It was cold and stormy, est brother, Conway, and his wife, and they camped at night on the Mo!Iie, tobk the responsfblity, long, slow journey with wa·.:;ons. then, of carin-g for five orphaned My father caught a severe cold, youngsters, ranging from two to becoming worse as they went on. twelve years of age. When they camped in Prescott, he died. He was buried in the Middle Verde Cemetery

William Dempsey Powell julia Allen Powell

We, the chil-dren of .resterday's, sion Illinois regiment and served agree that we are a part of all with "Union Forces." that we l1ave met. After the war he went to Kan ·william Dempsey Powell's an sas, and located a cattle ranch at cestors came from England, pil Little Caney River. In 1870 he grims of English and Scotch de met and mal'l·ied Miss Julia Allen. scent, who settled in Virginia, and Her ancestors came from Eng migrated West. Also, his fore land, pilgrims of English and fathers fou-ght in the VVar of 1812. Scotch descent, who settled in Vir He was born on New Year's ginia and mi';;rated West, near DaY, 1846, in Carlsvilie, Illinois. Whiteville, Kentucky. She was Childhood memories were of farm born on September 17th, 1846. life, cow pastures, buying, fatten Childhood nlemories were of farm ing and marketing. life, cow pastures, honking geese At the age of sixteen he volun that supplied feathers for feather teered in the 152nd North Divi- beds, pillows and food. They mi- CHARLES DOUGLAS WILLARD

I am a pioneer of the State of raised lots of fruit, wheat, barley, Arizona, having lived in the Ver oats and hay and sold hay in de Valley for the past 75·years. I Franklin for $7.00 a ton and grain am 95% years old and although for about three quarters of a cent I have been handicapped with a pound. Our fences were built blindness since 1945, I am quite of boards and a gang plow pulled active and apparently in good by four horses was used to culti health tor I seldom have an ache vate the ·land. All the children nor a t>ain. I always enjoy visiting went barefooted because there with my many friends and guided were no shoes available and we by a rope I walk two miles a day. walked 3 miles to school in I am very much interested in poli Franklin. My grandfather, who tics and local and world events was named for Alexander Hamil and manage to keep well informed ton, was a member of the Lewis through information gained from and Clark Expedition, which was my radio, relatives, fi'iends and organized in 1804. He was buried readers. I live with my daughter in Franklin and a government and son-in-law, the Ersel Garri headstone still stands at his grav~ sons, in Cottonwood. in the Franklin cemetery. I am the son of Joel and Mary In 1870 we moved to Pine Val Vinyard Willard, who were the ley Nevada, which was 15 miles parents of twelve children. My from Palisade and 90 miles from mother was from Plattsville Wis Eureka. My father bought cattle consin, and my father was' from and horses and we raised oats Gascana-de County, Missouri. They and hay for the stock but were crossed the plains in '49 with a unable to raise many vegetables large caravan. I was born on a because it was so cold. Wild game ranCh September 12, 1858, in such as sage and pine hens, grouse Lake County near Lake Port, Cal and deer were plentiful. ifornia. At the time of my birth In Septerflber 1878 my father the Nation was just 8 2 years ol-d. and five boys started for Arizona, In 1863 my parents moved to driving our cattle and horses Los Angeles, where my mother along with us. My father was an and we children lived fOr about invalid at that time and he had three years while my father pros to ride in a covered wagon. Feed pected in Arizona. Los Angeles was scarce and we lost many cat was then about the size of Cotton tle along the way. We crossed the wood and was infested with crim Colorado River at Stone's Ferry, inals from everywhere and many the wagon was ferried across and of them were hung in the heart we swam our horses and cattle of the city by a Vigilante Commit over. We reached Dolan Springs, lee. On April 14, 1865, President 11ear Chloride and Kingman, Ari Lincoln was assassinated and the zona, in December 1878 where entire city went into mourning my father died of pneumonia. We and hung black crepe on their buried him there and later ( 1915) door knobs. we transferred his remains to the In 1866 we moved to my grand Cottonwood cemetery. From Do father Alexander Hamilton Wil Jan Springs we traveled to the lard's ranch in Sacramento Val Baker ranch, which is now called ley, about 16 miles from Sacra Perkinsville, then .down the Verde mento, California. It was a very River and settled on a ranch in beautiful valley, the soil was rich 1879 across the river from what black loam and the grass was is now the town of Clarkdale. green all through the year. We In 1885 my mother came from - 150- PIONEER STORIES Nevada via Flagstaff and home steaded land in Cottonwood. We planted an orch{trd and raised grain, hay and garden truck and my mother had the large brick house built which still stands. When I first saw the Verde Val ley it was a hunter's and stock man's paradise. Wild game was everywhere and the grass was knee high and plentiful. The land was like a sponge and when it rained the water was absorbed into the ground immediately, so very little ran into the river chan <:.i.G nel and the small amount that ~.,!' did run into the river bed, stood Charles Douglas Willard in pools which became stagnant and everyone picked up their 1Uail and polluted with malaria germs, from there. We bought a few of consequently many people were our sunplies from the Post but stricl~:en with malaria, but they hauled most of them from Pres had to administer their own medi cott via the Cherry Creek road. dne, such as calomel and quinine, Toenail Point on Cherry Creek because there were no doc.tors was so steep on the east s;i-de that availab'le. Most everybody that four horses coUld hardly pull an eame to the Verde Valley brought empty wagon up the grade.' It cattle, horses or sheep with them took us at least four days to make and the stoek soon trampled the the t.rip. We paid $3.00 for a 50 svongy land down to solid ground, pound sack of flour, about $1.00 thus c:Husing. the rain water to run a pound for coffee and 25 cents into the river channel, which was a pound for sugar. We bought th<'n only about 100 feet wide and most of our potatoes from ranches the flood waters often rose to six on the Mogollon Mountains. Cat or seven feet high, causing the tle increased so fast they were river to cut into banks, change only worth $7.00 a head. Once I the course of !he main river chan supl)lied the Gov. Post with 249 nel and the river bed spread to (:ords of wood and hauled it 11 half a mile. wide in places. miles for $7.00 a cord. Between There were very few Indians 1S;\5 and lSHO my brother Mack left in that part of the country, o1·g-anbwd the Cottonwood Post most of them had been trans Orfi<·e and the Strahans built and fPrred to the San Carlos Reserva O!Wrated the first store in Cot tion. 'I'hne were only a few scat- toBwood. tered ranches in Upper Verde Val In l0!JO I owned some land and lev at that time, I recall the Duffs. huilt my own home ar.ross the l•;rl and Frank Jordan, Wingfields, nJad from my mother's place and fltnthans, Hawldns. Carrolls and on June 1 1 of that year I mar Vannerens. The nearest store and J·ied F.:ttie .Jane Scott, who was the po~t office was loeated at the Gov daughter of Mr. and Ml'S. David (>1'1\meut Post in Camp Verde and Scott who had come from Cali whenever any of the Upper Verde fornia «nd settled in the Verde ranehers made a trip to Camp Valky in lSS:.L We had six ehil Vf'rde theY brought back all the dn'n. two hoys and four gil"!s. m

The "grub box," where we always Hark Wagon wheels are coming r find a treat. down ihe hill. My Mother spoke, we children Hark! The wagon wheels we hear Were still. no more. !<"'or hours she'd waited for that We're busy now with grub-box on welcome sound. ldtchen floor, Our Dad was on the road and And Dad is washing at the home homeward bound. made sink, While Mother fixes things for him Hark! \Vagon wheels are in the to eat and drink. rocky lane. And we knew our waiting had not We find bananas soft and brown. been in vain, A can of sweetened milk, a bit of For Dad was coming home from cheese he bought in town. towns afar, A battered can of Quail brand jam, Bringing loads of good things, And perhaps a tiny slice of ham. tucked in can and jar. But at last when Dad is fed, Hark! Wa·gon wheels are turning And Mother says; "Now off to in the gate. bed." 'I'he time has come, we won't have I wonder if 'you know how good to wait, it feels, For we know we'll find it tucked To fall asleep and dream of Sing away beneath the seat. ' in:g Wagon Wheels. - 186 ~ PIONEER STORIES

old Pump House about eight dlework. She was a wonderful ob miles south of Flagstaff. In 1896 sener of nature and enjoyed they moved back to Oak Creek on things that most people would the t·anch that was known for pass by and never see. years as the Old Purtymun place. They moved from Oak Creek to Gold owns it now. Lonesome Valley and finished Steve and Martha had nine raising their families on the place children, six boys and three girls. that is now known as the Hide One of the little girls died when Out. Jim Cook raised horses and she was a baby. In 1901 the only shipped them back east as long as children going to school, district there was a market. After all the number 4 in Oak Creel{, were chil children were grown and left dren of two families, the Purty home, they once more moved back muns and the Thompsons. Latet· to Oak Creek. Grandma Cook as. two of the Purtymun boys mar everyone called her at this time, ried two of the Thompson girls. out-lived both her husbands and When Steve and Martha Purty four of her children. She passed mun's last child was two years away December 1951 and would old they separated and some time have been 94 years old the fol later she married Jim Cook. He lowing March. had five children that she helped raise. Mother Cook was a typical Written by: Mrs. Kenneth pioneer woman. She did anythin-.; ·Greenw-ell, daughter of Al~ from ranching to the finest nee- bert Purtymun. ---·--- JESSIE BELLE SHELLEY, PIONEER

Jessie Belle Shelley was born leading from Oak Creek to J e July 24th, 1873 in Baker City, rome. The Nichols built a rock Oregon. Her father was William house out of soft stone and the Wallace Nichols, who with his flat became known as "Rock wife Lucinda, the former Lucinda House FlaL" That stone house Roach, raised cattle and horses. still stands and the flat was the; In 1877 the Nichols family de scene of a great rehabilitation of cided to go to Nevada and they soil project when owned by a Mr. drove cattle and horses from Balt;,. Robert Hardgraves. er City to Bullionville, Nevada The road mentioned crossed one where they intended to settle; but end of the land and where it ih 1879 they decided to push into erosses the Verde River it is still the virgin Territory of Arizona known as "Scott's Crossing." The and again they d:·ove horses and family held Rock House Flat, oattle into the Territory. They homesteaded it, and lived there s:wam all the livestock except one many years. They took their cat prize stallion across the Coloratio tle and horses into the mountains River. They ferried him across. about Jerome in summer. Had a They landed in the Verde Vat summer cabin in Walnut Creek, rey that year and bought tha ~S~ne in Mescal Gulch, and tent rights of a man named Isaac Jones houses in Deception Gulch an.d who be·.;an homesteading what 0ther place'S. was an unnamed tract of land At that time Jerome was· b'lW.t m traversed by an old wagon road prospect and a man named Giroux PIONEER STORIES - 187-

and the McKinnon brother-s of Garland Prairie southwest of seemed to own what was. th