The Ol’ Pioneer The Magazine of the Historical Society

Volume 21 : Number 3 www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Summer 2010

In This Issue

Lewis Schellbach’s Log Books: Part 2 ...... 3 Tall Cliffs and Tall Tales ...... 5 President’s Letter The Ol’ Pioneer The Magazine of the With temperatures here in Phoenix breaking the 110 degree mark, this is the Grand Canyon Historical Society time of year that I especially miss my hometown of Flagstaff and find myself Volume 21 : Number 3 wanting to escape to the cool rims of the canyon. Hopefully I will see some Summer 2010 of you at our annual GCHS picnic at Shoshone Point where we will enjoy the combination of cool breezes, hot dogs, killer views and the company of fellow u canyon enthusiasts. Although summer is traditionally a time for picnics, vaca- The Historical Society was established tions and just taking it easy, there are also a couple of important GCHS events in July 1984 as a non-profit corporation on the horizon of which members should be aware: nominations for the board to develop and promote appreciation, of directors and preparations for a 2012 history symposium. under-standing and education of the Over the next couple months we will be looking for nominees to the Grand earlier history of the inhabitants and Canyon Historical Society Board of Directors. In the fall, new board members important events of the Grand Canyon. will be elected by members from the slate of nominees. Once elected, board The Ol’ Pioneer is published by the members serve a three-year term. Board member responsibilities include pro- GRAND CANYON HISTORICAL viding input on major GCHS decisions, selecting scholarship and award win- SOCIETY in conjunction with The ners, and assisting with outings, announcements and other GCHS projects and Bulletin, an informational newsletter. events. During the fall board meeting, society officers are elected from the serv- Both publications are a benefit of membership. Membership in the Society ing board members. is open to any person interested in the Being a board member or officer does not require any special skills or back- historical, educational, and charitable ground, nor does it require that you to live near the canyon (many of us do purposes of the Society. Membership is not). Much of the society business is conducted via email and telephone. What on an annual basis using the standard it does require is an interest and love of Grand Canyon history, a willingness calendar; and dues of $20 are payable on the 1st of January each year, and to help out where needed and a desire to see the society remain strong and ac- mailed to the GCHS Treasurer, PO Box tive into the future. The all-volunteer GCHS board and officers are the driving 31405 Flagstaff, AZ 86002. The Ol’ Pioneer engine of the organization – without their support and effort, the society would magazine is copyrighted by the Grand not exist. If you (or somebody you know), would make a good candidate for the Canyon Historical Society, Inc. All rights board, please consider submitting a nomination (and brief biography) to myself reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or GCHS Secretary Amy Horn. without permission of the publisher. Having a strong board will be especially important over the next couple years if we are to be successful with plans for another Grand Canyon History Editor: Mary Williams Symposium in early 2012 (to coincide with the statehood centennial). Submit photos and stories to the The Ol’ Pioneer Planning, coordinating and hosting an event of that size will require significant editor of at: mary@ marywilliamsdesign.com or 4880 N resources and effort on everything from reserving facilities to selecting present- Weatherford Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001. ers and speakers to coordinating registration and communication activities. (928) 779-3377. Please submit written Aside from the board and other symposium partner groups, there will be a big articles and photos electronically on CD need for additional symposium volunteers over the next year and a half. We or via email if possible. You may mail have already received responses and offers to help from a number of members photos or slides for scanning if needed. (Thank you!), but we will likely need some more. If you are interested in par- Submissions to The Bulletin should be ticipating, please contact either myself or Lee Albertson (if you have not done sent to Karen Greig, [email protected] so already). We have several meetings in the near future with key symposium partners. GCHS Officers Erik Berg, President John Azar, Vice President Erik Berg Keith Green, Treasurer GCHS President Amy Horn, Secretary Kirsten Heins, Pioneer Award Al Richmond, Awards Chair Paul Schnur, Membership Committee Cover: , with niece Eva Hance, on South Rim summer 1917, one of John Azar, Outings Coordinator the last known photos of Hance taken befor his death in January 1919. Courtesy of Camp Verde Historical Society Board of Directors Karen Greig Howard Asaki Kristin Heins John Azar Mona McCroskey The Ol’ Pioneer submission deadlines are going to be roughly January, April, Erik Berg Carol Naille July and October and we will publish either three or four issues a year, de- Jackie Brown Adair Peterson Keith Green Paul Schnur pending on content volume.

2 : Grand Canyon Historical Society www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Lewis Schellbach’s Log Books: Part 2 by Traci Wyrick

he following are the last diary entries I’ve selected from 1943. I’ve also listed several more namesT my Grandfather referenced from that year, and added corrections and/or new information from the Winter 2010 issue of The Ol’ Pioneer.

v

Thursday Oct. 7, 1943 On duty at Yavapai. Signed monthly report and letter to McDou- gall, given to typist to write on Tues- day. At Yavapai cleaned and washed all the big windows. Only 12 persons visited the station in a.m. Some 700 troops due in late this afternoon to stay until Saturday or Sunday. Four to five special lectures are arranged for them tomorrow. Sky full of thunderheads and a light sprinkle of rain about 1:30 p.m. (war time). Grand Canyon National Park Naturalist, Lewis Shcellebach, at work.

v side, too cool on the parapet. Supt. at Yavapai with their retinue, Supt. Friday Oct. 8, 1943 Bryant returned. To movies in the Bryant, Asst. Supt. Davis and Chief A.M. duty at Yavapai, arranging evening. Ranger Bill. They were Saudi Arabia’s seating in preparation for 9:00 a.m. Foreign Minister, Prince Feisal and lecture to members of the armed forc- v his brother, Prince Khalid, several at- es. 700 arrived last night, with their tendants, they were being escorted by trucks, jeeps and guns. It is an artil- Sunday Oct. 10, 1943 a member of the State Dept. lery outfit. Presented four lectures Rain during night. (11:00 p.m. In the p.m. a tea was given them this day 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 MST) On duty at Yavapai. No day by Mrs. Bryant and Ethyl (Mrs. S.) p.m., 3:30 p.m.. Total attendance 770. off this week just past. Special lecture helped and poured tea and coffee. Sold 55 landscapes to troops and 2:45 p.m. to State Teachers College, Numbers of troops visited Yavapai one box of rocks. This was to be my Flag. Group of naval cadets public throughout the day. day off, but because of the troops, speaking class, Dr. Allen. the absence of Supt. H.C.B., had to Reg. talk 3:30 p.m. to visitors. Din- v carry on. Sunday is to be my day off ner with family at El Tovar. at Yavapai. Wednesday Oct. 27, 1943 v Opened Yavapai, gave general v clean up and then to Hdq. for staff Thursday Oct. 14 , 1943 meeting until 12:05 p.m. Saturday Oct. 9, 1943 Many of the troops hiked down P.M. stocked Yavapai with paper On duty early at Yavapai for gen- into the Canyon this day. Presented towel and History Bulletins. eral clean up, because of the debris a lecture to a group of troops at 9:30 At 3:30 p.m. lecture, there was left by troops in the form of cigarette a.m. On duty at Yavapai. a fundamentalist in the audience. butts, candy wrappers, etc. Talk in- At noon the two princes’ arrived When questions were asked for, he www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Grand Canyon Historical Society : 3 Yavapai, lived close to Schellbach, possibly a ranger ? Dr. Paul Lotz ? John Cooke Worked at the disposal plant ? Ed Laws Ranger Porquett person associated with Jonnie Steno Les Kennedy Ranger Carl P. Russell Chief Naturalist at Chicago head- quarters Roy Fancher mechanic Carrells, Clark engineer Mrs. Spencer possibly associated with a man named Spencer at the Hopi House. Burns Museum Chief Sam King Ranger Barbara Eppler Steno at headquarters Inez Haring biologist, specializing in mosses and lichens took the floor and tried to preach to Ed Cummings Bert Lauzon the group—much to their annoyance Head Mule Skinner for Fred Har- Ranger and son-in-law of William and disgust. I did not argue, telling vey company. His wife, Ida, ran the Wallace Bass. Bert was the father of he was at liberty to believe anything soda fountain at Babbitt’s. Ed was an Hubert Lauzon and grandfather of he desired and that I was presenting amateur naturalist, and kept an eye Robert and Patrick Lauzon geology and not religion. The group out for finding new things he figured shut him up. Most annoying— Schellbach would like to know about. Corrections and/or additions: M.R. Tillotson Hugh Waesche: a geologist and v Regional Director. He and Schell- professor at VA Ploytechnic Inst. In bach were good friends, even though Balcksburg, VA. People mentioned in last half of 1943: they didn’t always agree on things. Frank Kitteridge: Acting superin- H.C. Bryant Ethyl tendant of GCNP from Jan 24, 1940 to Grand Canyon’s Park Superinten- Schellbach’s wife. June 30, 1941 dent. Among his more important du- Mrs. Cotter Judd: a common Mormon name, ties, he enjoyed capturing insects for Wife of Post Office clerk ? likely from a family out of Kanab. the Naturalist’s department. Miss Gene Cummings Spelling corrections: Ernie Ensor hired through the GCNHA to help Rose Collum is Collom. A jack-of-all-trades who was liked with the library. Mrs. Frank Ostler is Osler. by all. He helped Schellbach in wash- Miss Helen Lawton Ranger Harthon Bill is Harlin. ing windows and waxing floors at Workshop visitor Yavapai Observation Station and im- Col. White a superintendant ? Look for the beginning of 1944’s di- proved the smooth operation of the Payne a carpenter ? ary selections in a future issue of The Interpretive Division from the nuts Dean Daisy Ol’ Pioneer. and bolts standpoint. Helped clean exhibit cases at

4 : Grand Canyon Historical Society www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Tall Cliffs and Tall Tales: The Origins of John Hance by Don Lago most dramatic and picturesque natu- himself. When we see where John ral raconteurs I have ever met.”1 Hance came from, not just geographi- here are a lot of things about John Hance’s tall tales included cally but culturally, then his life as a John Hance that are foggy. some tales about his own life, which Grand Canyon prospector and teller For starters, there was his has left some of the basic facts about of tall tales seems more likely as an taleT about snowshoeing across the his life obscure or distorted. In the outcome. canyon, on top of the fog. This story case of his Civil War record, he had At least we can take a good aim at worked best when there was mist a good motive for lying. But Hance where John Hance was born. Hance shrouding the canyon. John Hance played games even with his date of told someone that he was born at walked up to guests sitting on the El birth. Cowan’s Ferry, Tennessee. There Tovar Hotel porch, snowshoes slung John Hance apparently told one never was a town named Cowan’s over his shoulder, and announced guest at his cabin that he was born in Ferry, but there was indeed a ferry by that the fog was looking thick enough 1850, for on Sept. 7, 1898, this guest that name, crossing the French Broad for him to walk on it across the can- recorded in John Hance’s guest book River a few miles east of Dandridge yon. He walked up to the rim, stuck that today was Hance’s 48th birthday. in Jefferson County. This was Appa- a foot out to test the fog, and said On a voting record in 1906, Hance lachian Mountain country: Cowan’s he’d go up to Yaki Point to make the claimed he was 64 years old, meaning Ferry was about 25 miles north of crossing. He told guests to watch for he was born in 1842. But two years today’s Great Smoky Mountain Na- his campfire on the North Rim that later on another voting record Hance tional Park. The French Broad River is night. When Hance saw those guests said he was 60 years old, meaning a one of the major tributaries of the Ten- the next day he announced that he’d birthdate of 1848. In a legal affidavit nessee River. Cowan’s Ferry was es- returned, and if they said they hadn’t in 1902, testifying about the work tablished by a prominent local Cowan seen his campfire, he answered that Ralph Cameron had done on the family that had pioneered Jefferson of course the fog was too thick to see , Hance stated he County in the 1700s and that farmed through it. Hance told of how one was 51, meaning a birthdate of 1851. 700 acres along the French Broad. The time the fog thinned out before he’d In the 1870 U.S. census Hance listed ferry was located at the junction of the made it across, and he was lucky to himself as 29 years old, implying a French Broad River and Indian Creek, reach , atop which birthdate of 1841. In the 1880 census and was approached from the east by he was stranded for days without a Hance was 37 years old, meaning a a road called Cowan’s Ferry Road. In thing to eat. The fog refused to thick- birthdate of 1843. In the 1900 census 1837, according to the Jefferson Coun- en, but after days of losing weight, Hance said he was 49, and he claimed ty deed book, 50 acres at the junction Hance was thin enough to walk atop a birthdate of 1850. In the 1910 cen- of Indian Creek and the French Broad the thinner fog. sus Hance was 64 years old, meaning River was sold by Martin Bunch to For over thirty years John Hance a birthdate of 1846. John Hance told Green Hance, short for Greenberry, told tall tales to Grand Canyon visi- his brother George that he was born the father of John Hance. Martin tors, and they made Hance himself in 1838, and George repeated this for Bunch was Greenberry’s brother-in- into a tourist attraction. John Hance John’s obituary in the Coconino Sun law, having married Greenberry’s was the first white settler at the can- on January 17, 1919, but George, who sister Elizabeth. John Hance was yon, and the first prospector to build a was many years younger than John, probably named for his grandfather trail to the canyon bottom. When tour- seemed cautious about this, saying “I John, who had moved his family from ists began showing up at Hance’s cab- have only his statement as to his age.” South Carolina in 1811, judging from in on the rim, Hance became the first George also said that the day of birth the census fact that his first seven tourist host and guide. John Hance was September 11. A week previously, children were born in South Carolina, became such a legend that when the the newspaper had listed Hance as and the next six, born after 1812, were Santa Fe Railway arrived, it hired him “about 88 years old,” for a birthdate born in Tennessee. It appears that in just to guide and entertain tourists. of 1831. But Hance’s obituary in the the 1830s grandfather John Hance Visitors who wrote about their can- Arizona Republic listed him as 84 years moved from elsewhere in Tennessee yon experiences often included their old, for a birthdate of 1835. Historian to Jefferson County and settled in the encounter with John Hance. Novelist J. Donald Hughes said 1838, and W. Muddy Creek area a few miles west of Hamlin Garland called him “a pow- C. Barnes in Arizona Place Names said Indian Creek. The French Broad River erful and astonishing fictionist. Con- 1839. was such a defining obstacle that this sciously he is a teller of whopping The truth about John Hance is area was called “South of the River,” lies. Unconsciously he is one of the more interesting than his tales about and its residents “South Americans.” www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Grand Canyon Historical Society : 5 The 1840 census found grandfa- survival might depend on hunt- yon, but they were moving in a big circle, ther John Hance and four of his sons, ing and fishing. Men knew how to one snake eating another, until finally including Greenberry, living in Jef- tough it out, to shoot a rifle, to fight there was only one snake left, and then ferson County, and Greenberry now and drink and cuss, and to tell tall it grabbed its own tail and ate itself, and had two sons. Unfortunately the 1840 tales. Storytelling was a long Celtic ever since, there have been no snakes in census did not list the names or ages tradition, but the American frontier the canyon. of children, merely their gender and exaggerated it further, spawning Yet even the best stories couldn’t age range. Greenberry’s two male tales of heroic but stoic frontiersmen substitute for poor lands. In the 1850s children were listed as only “Under taking on the land, the elements, the Tennessee led the nation in the per- Five.” One of these sons should be beasts, and the Indians. Tall tales fit cent of a state’s population that was our John Hance, who was Greenber- the American mission of heroic con- leaving the state. By far the largest ry’s second son. The 1850 census said quest of the wilderness (though they destination for Tennesseans was Mis- that John Hance was then ten years also contained cautionary lessons) souri. In the 1840s most of the Hances old, implying a birthdate of 1840. It’s and they offered entertainment for left for Pulaski County, Missouri, the possible that the 1870 census was cor- people in remote hollows who had to portion of it that in 1857 would be rect in listing John Hance as 29 years entertain themselves with fiddles and split off to create Phelps County, its old; if John Hance’s birthday was in moonshine and stories. county seat the town of Rolla. Pulas- September and the census was taken As John Hance was growing up in ki/Phelps County was on the north- slightly after his birthday, the 1870 Jefferson County, he would have been ern edge of the Ozark Mountains. census would have recorded him as hearing tall tales about a man who The 1850 census found Green- being 29. had grown up there forty years pre- berry and at least six of his siblings Why was John Hance later so viously and who was now America’s living in Pulaski County. Greenberry mischievous about his age? Hance Superman of tall tales: Davy Crockett. now had a second wife, Rebecca, and remained a bachelor, so perhaps a The Crockett family moved to Jeffer- five children, the youngest of whom, lingering hope of romance prompt- son County around 1795, then to the George Washington Hance, had been ed him to consistently understate next-door county, where Davy’s fa- born in Tennessee in 1848, indicating his age. Then again, Hance’s public ther ran a tavern. Davy Crockett was that Greenberry had arrived in Mis- persona as a wise old frontiersman good at telling his own tall tales, and souri after then. Greenberry’s broth- would seem to call for him to exag- his real frontier exploits soon made ers were having children at a steady gerate his age. All we can say for sure him a magnet for anyone else who pace, and the dividing line between is that John Hance grew up in a place needed to attach a tall tale to someone births in Tennessee and births in Mis- where telling mischievous tales was a over-sized. Crockett’s Alamo death in souri allows us to plot the dates at way of life. 1836 only further inflated the stories which the Hance brothers were fol- John Hance was the child of a about him. lowing one another to Missouri. The strong river and the strong mountains The Appalachian talent for tall children of Andrew Jackson Hance around it, a child of forests still full tales is still alive today. America’s and Samuel Hance were being born in of bears. He was the child of a land World Series of storytelling events, Missouri in 1844; Jonathan’s Hance’s that was not wanted by most people. the National Storytelling Festival, daughter was born in Missouri in The first English settlers of America is held in Jonesborough, Tennessee, 1845; and Croseph (or Crow) Hance’s had settled the rich farmlands along about 50 miles north of where John first Missouri-born child came in the east coast, and by the time of Hance was born. Longtime Grand 1850. The Hance brothers had moved John Hance’s birth, their grandchil- Canyon interpretative ranger Stew their parents to Missouri, and their dren were bypassing the Appalachian Fritts, who has been known to tell a father John died there in 1846. The Mountains to settle in the Ohio River tale or two in his evening programs, 1850 census shows their mother, Ra- Valley. The mountains meant dense is a devotee of the Jonesborough fes- chel Hance, living with the family of forests, steep slopes, rocky soil, poor tival, which includes many days and Jesse Rhea, the next-door neighbor farming, no room for plantations, and many large tents full of stories. Fritts of Greenberry Hance. Only one of bears in the backyard. The mountains agrees that John Hance’s brand of tall Greenberry’s brothers, John Jr., re- were left for Scotsmen, who were ac- tales has an Appalachian accent; even mained in Tennessee, and perhaps it customed to poor, rocky lands; and in the 1940s radio stations didn’t pen- was he who planted the thirteen Jef- Irishmen, who were accustomed to etrate the mountains, and people had ferson County Hance graves that the poverty and who would be satisfied to do their own storytelling. Tennessee Valley Authority moved to to own any land of their own. As the When John Hance was ready to take higher ground when it was building American frontier moved steadily tourists down his trail and someone asked dams and lakes in the 1930s. westward, the Appalachians were nervously if there were any snakes in the John Hance apparently told some- left as an enclave of frontier culture, canyon, Hance told them of how one time one that his parents had moved to where log cabins were the norm and he’d seen 400 snakes at once in the can- Missouri in 1852, but this was prob-

6 : Grand Canyon Historical Society www.GrandCanyonHistory.org ably the honest mistake of a boy who Hance was growing up. echoes inside a cave and went to try was less than ten years old when they The Ozarks also offered a good it out. A few friends went with him, moved. geological preparation for John but remained outside the cave to lis- Several Hance brothers settled Hance’s Grand Canyon career. The ten to the echoes coming out. Then in a valley called Kaintuck Hollow Hances settled in an area of tall lime- the fiddling stopped. When the fid- (translation: Kentucky), a dozen stone cliffs, with lots of mining. In dler didn’t emerge from the cave, his miles southwest of Rolla. Greenberry Phelps County the Ozarks Plateau is friends feared he had taken a wrong Hance settled halfway between his dropping off toward the drainage of turn and they went searching for him. brothers and Rolla, in township 37N, the Missouri River to the north. The The fiddler tried using his fiddle to Range 8W, Section 19. I once sought Gasconade River, one of the largest summon help, but with all the cham- out this location and found a hollow rivers flowing from the Ozarks to the bers and passageways and echoes in between ridges about 100 feet high, Missouri River, cuts through Phelps the cave, his friends got confused and with a creek flowing through it, with County and creates a further com- never found him. The fiddler was lost a flat bottom full of lush green grass plexity of topography, of cliffs and forever. and happy cows. Since the road end- ridges, valleys and hollows. The Rolla John Hance told the story of how he ed at a private gate, I was unable to Quadrangle, the home of the Hances, tried to jump across the Grand Canyon investigate if there was any trace of contains a total elevation difference on his horse Old Darby. But Darby didn’t the 1850s Hance homestead. of 596 feet, which is about two-thirds get enough of a running leap and started The Hances’ migration to the of the elevation difference found in to fall into the canyon. Fortunately John Ozarks was part of a much larger mi- the entire state of Illinois or Indiana. Hance had trained Darby well, so a few gration of Appalachian people to the These 596 feet include limestone cliffs feet before Darby and Hance hit bottom, Ozarks. This migration partook of along the Gasconade River and its Hance yelled out “Whoa!” and Darby Manifest Destiny, of the dream of a bet- main tributaries, the Big Piney River stopped, and Hance stepped off Darby ter life in the West, but it was also a fa- and Little Piney Creek. These cliffs, onto solid ground. In another version, talistic migration, for the Ozarks held 200 to 300 feet tall, are impressive by Darby didn’t quite make it across the can- many of the disadvantages of the Ap- Midwestern standards, and have en- yon and Hance landed in a cave below the palachians: steep, rocky hills covered trenched the Gasconade River in the rim, impossible to climb out of, with noth- with forests, demanding hard labor way that Southwestern rivers become ing to eat. When tourists asked Hance for poor farmland. At least the Ozarks entrenched in canyons. The Gascon- what happened next, he replied that he offered hunting and fishing far better ade River takes 300 miles to complete had starved to death. than on the plains. Once again, Appa- 120 crow-flight miles, and in one sec- The many caves in the Hances’ lachian people took a land no one else tion near Phelps County, a boat has to backyard was also due to the type wanted. In the Ozarks, Appalachian travel fifteen miles to complete two of rock there, dolomite limestone people continued their culture of log crow miles. But such a trip wouldn’t that erodes into a topography called cabins and hunting and storytelling have taken long in the flood of 1879, karst, a Swiss cheese of underground and home remedies and moonshine when the Gasconade River reached streams, sinkholes, and caves. In and old-timey music. It would be this 120,000 cfs. John Hance’s father Phelps County two layers of dolomite Ozarks culture that gave American Greenberry drowned in a river flood sit atop one another, and the lower culture its main images of hillbilly in 1888 (there are no details about this layer eroded faster than the layer life, partly just because of the 1960s accident), and his body was never re- above, so the boundary between them TV show The Beverly Hillbillies, which covered. was left with steep slopes, ledges, and featured Ozarks hillbillies. This was The drop of the Ozarks Plateau cliffs. These dolomites were depos- also because of Branson, which by the toward the Missouri River brings lots ited in the Cambrian Period, at the 1990s had become America’s #1 musi- of underground water to the surface, same time the was cal destination, drawing more tourists creating lots of springs and sinkholes being deposited in the future Grand than the shows of Broadway, Nash- and caves. Missouri has more caves Canyon region. Just as with the Grand ville, or Las Vegas. Branson started than any other state, and of Missouri Canyon, the eras after the Cambri- out as a few hillbilly music shows in counties, Phelps County has the sec- an—the Ordovician, Silurian, and a small fishing vacation town, and ond highest number of caves. The Devonian—were removed by ero- it still revels in its hillbilly identity. long string of caves along the north- sion, but the rock layers resume with The fishing and hunting lifestyle of ern flank of the Ozarks includes some the Mississippian Period, the era of the Ozarks gave birth to the massive famous tourist caves, including the the . But in Phelps Bass Pro Shop, now a national chain. Rt. 66 landmark Meramec Caverns. County, much of the Mississippian And it’s possible there was a touch of These caves have inspired some limestone has disappeared. Ozarks storytelling style in the voice Ozarks-style tall tales, such as the In the 1820s a group of Indians of Mark Twain, who was growing up Lost Fiddler. A fiddler had heard from Missouri was traveling to Wash- about 120 miles north of where John about the wonderful acoustics and ington D. C. to meet the Great White www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Grand Canyon Historical Society : 7 Father when they stopped for the who had followed a hunch into a wil- army, and about 400 to the Confeder- night at an Ohio farm. The farmer, derness and who ended up living in a ate army. Phelps County held more Thomas James, noticed the hematite mansion there. Few prospectors were Union supporters, partly because of of their face paint and asked where it willing to take on a landscape like the the influx of Irish workers to build the had come from, and the Indians de- Grand Canyon, but John Hance’s boy- railroad and work the mines. When scribed a vast deposit of hematite— hood in a land of big cliffs, big rivers, the war broke out, Rolla’s southern- iron—at a vast spring. Intrigued, big mines, and big dares was a better ers forced the local, pro-Union news- James traveled to Missouri and found preparation for the canyon than most paper to close, raised a Confederate this iron deposit, a mother lode, in prospectors ever got. flag, and formed a militia to patrol the future Phelps County. In 1826 When the Hances moved to Mis- town. When a Union army arrived he opened the Meramec Iron Works, souri they joined an equation of from St. Louis to secure the railhead, which over the next fifty years pro- conflict that would soon lead to the Confederates scattered into the coun- duced 300,000 tons of iron. Phelps Civil War. More than most places, in tryside and formed guerilla groups County iron became the cutting edge Missouri the Civil War really did pit to bushwhack Union sympathizers of Manifest Destiny, used as plows, brother against brother, and it would and supply wagons. Since Rolla held guns, kettles, rails, steamboat shafts, divide the Hance family. the closest railhead to the Ozarks, and wheels for covered wagons. The Missouri was originally settled by Rolla became a major staging area for only drawback was the mine’s loca- southerners, who filled up the rich Union operations in southern Mis- tion, which required hauling the iron farmlands along the Mississippi and souri and northern Arkansas. Huge by wagon to the Gasconade River. Missouri rivers, bringing slaves and amounts of supplies moved through The solution was a railroad, which setting up plantations. They were Rolla, and in the winter of 1861-62, arrived in Phelps County in 1860. followed by German and Irish immi- about 12,000 Union soldiers camped Given the centrality of mining to the grants, who had fled European feudal- there. They made life very uncomfort- county economy, locals organized the ism only to find that feudalism, with able for local Confederates. Missouri School of Mines and Metal- lords and manor houses and cruelty, The most common story about lurgy in Rolla in 1870, one of very few still reigned in Missouri. Missouri’s John Hance’s role in the Civil War is American colleges devoted primarily southerners did their best to take Mis- that he first joined the Confederate to geology and mining. This college souri into the Confederacy, and the army, was taken prisoner, and then still exists, as the engineering branch Germans and Irish resisted, with the joined the Union army. However, John of the University of Missouri, and it result that neighbors were ambush- Hance’s niece Francis Hance Rose still has a strong emphasis on geology ing one another and burning one (George’s daughter), in a 1948 letter to and mining. The campus symbol is a another’s barns. For Appalachian mi- Lon Garrison, Assistant Superinten- 1/2-scale replica of Stonehenge, made grants to Missouri, the equation was dent of Grand Canyon National Park, of granite that was cut by students in even more complicated. Appalachia who was writing an Arizona Highways their high-tech mining lab. was the one part of the South that was article about Hance, insisted that John The Hance “brothers were unsympathetic to slavery. This wasn’t Hance couldn’t have been in the Con- quite interested in mining,” accord- out of much regard for the slaves, but federate army. Frances Hance Rose ing to Ruth Hance Thayer, the grand- mainly out of resentment of planta- said that her father George was an ar- daughter of George Hance—John’s tion society. Appalachian farmers, dent abolitionist, and she would have brother and a longtime judge in who did their own work, were at a heard if there had been any Confeder- Camp Verde, Arizona. “The story is big disadvantage in markets domi- ates in the family. told that George…had an old black nated by slave labor, and they felt It seems that George Hance too copy of Dana’s Mineralogy on which politically powerless in states domi- was good at keeping secrets. he swore all of his witnesses instead nated by a few dozen wealthy plan- John Hance’s military record of the Bible—holding the two books tation families. These resentments led shows that he enlisted in the Confed- of equal importance. John’s early trips West Virginia to secede from Virginia erate army on August 1, 1862, in Or- into and around the Grand Canyon and remain in the Union, and they left egon County, Missouri, which was on were on mine hunts.”2 John Hance mountain Tennessee alienated from the Arkansas border, a safer location had caught mining fever early on; ac- the Confederacy. than Rolla at which to organize Con- cording to George’s obituary of him, Missouri’s Pulaski and Phelps federate troops. John Hance joined John Hance had joined the Pike’s counties were dominated by south- Company D of the 10th Regiment of Peak gold rush in 1859. In Arizona erners, and only some of them were Missouri Infantry, which was a reor- John would try many other pursuits, Appalachians. The name “Rolla” was ganization of several other regiments. but the Arizona mining boom of the a southern-accented phonetic spelling A few days after John Hance en- 1870s and 80s probably rekindled his of “Raleigh,” the capital of North Car- listed, his 17-year-old brother Andrew interest. The Hances probably never olina. In the Civil War Pulaski County Jackson Hance enlisted in the Con- forgot the model of Thomas James, provided 59 soldiers to the Union federate 8th Infantry, also mustering

8 : Grand Canyon Historical Society www.GrandCanyonHistory.org in Oregon County. Andrew Jackson by George Hance, but there is no in- souri Infantry, presumably including Hance’s military activities were men- dication that this happened. There is John Hance. tioned several times in the diary of nothing to support the suggestion of John Hance spent the rest of the his commanding officer, Eathan Allen Lon Garrison in his June, 1949, Arizo- war in prison. He was sent up the Pinnell.3 Andrew campaigned in Ar- na Highways article about John Hance Mississippi River to Alton, Illinois, kansas, got sick a couple of times, was that Hance was associated with Wil- where an abandoned Illinois state assigned to a pontoon bridge crew in liam Quantrill, the bloodiest of Mis- prison had been reopened as an army Little Rock, then to a steamboat on the souri Confederate guerillas. prison. This prison, built in 1833, Red River in Louisiana, where he sur- We do know that John Hance had been abandoned because it was rendered in May of 1865. fought in the battle of Helena, Arkan- deemed unfit for human habitation. Two of John Hance’s uncles, Jona- sas, a disaster for the Confederates In 1846 prison reformer Dorothea Dix than and Johnson, who were twins and especially for the 10th Regiment, had visited the Alton prison and de- and who seemed to think alike too, which entered the battle with 525 men nounced it as filthy, with its mere five also joined the Confederate army. and emerged with 236 men. Most of hospital beds located in a basement Johnson Hance was a Kaintuck Hol- those losses were men who were cap- that flooded during rains. The pris- low neighbor of his brothers Samuel tured, and this included John Hance. on had only 236 cells, but the Union and Crow Hance, but both of them Helena was an important Missis- army now stuffed them with up to sent sons into the Union army: Sam- sippi River port town, and an impor- 5,000 prisoners. Sanitation and ven- uel’s son Joseph and Crow’s son Har- tant link in the Union army’s plan to tilation were terrible; there were no rison. Also joining the Union army take control of the Mississippi and bathing facilities; and smallpox swept was a Green Hance, who presumably split the Confederacy. In February of through the prison and killed over a was another of Samuel Hance’s sons, 1863 Union General Benjamin Pren- thousand prisoners. For two weeks not John Hance’s father Greenberry. tiss took command of Helena and be- in December, 1863, and for a week in (Because the Hance brothers began gan fortifying it with heavy artillery. January, 1864, John Hance was listed naming their sons for one another, Prentiss was the hero of the battle of as being in the prison hospital, with the same names proliferated, leaving Shiloh, where in the Hornet’s Nest, no reason given. things confusing even for Hance fam- with the help of an artillery com- On February 29, 1864, John Hance ily genealogists. Even today there’s a mander named , was transferred to Fort Delaware, an Greenberry Hance in the Rolla area). he had held off the Confederate attack old, moated, stone fortress on a 75- George Hance (John’s brother) long enough to bring a Union victory. acre island in the Delaware River, joined the Union army and served Now Prentiss had 4,129 soldiers to now a prison. Ft. Delaware prison be- in the Quartermaster Corps, hauling hold off a July 4 attack by 7,645 Con- gan as a temporary holding station for supplies by wagon. This was a logical federates, who sought to retake Hel- prisoners who were soon exchanged career for someone from Rolla, with ena and break the Union pressure on for Union prisoners, but this changed its huge amounts of supplies going Vicksburg to the south. But the Con- with the battle of Gettysburg, when from the railroad onto wagons and federate attack was poorly planned about 10,000 prisoners from it arrived then hundreds of miles to the front. It and poorly coordinated. John Hance’s at Ft. Delaware. For the next two was this job that, after the war, would regiment, along with seven other regi- years Ft. Delaware’s prisoner popu- take George and John Hance to Arizo- ments, was under the command of lation would range between 5,000 na. This job was also the beginning of General Sterling Price, who failed to and 10,000, and it peaked at 16,000, George Hance’s long friendship with start his attack from the planned loca- making Ft. Delaware the largest city Lorenzo Hickok (brother of Wild Bill tion or time. Nevertheless, Price’s men in Delaware. Severe overcrowding, Hickok), who served as a Union wag- managed to seize their target, Union collapsing barracks, poor sanitation, on master based out of Rolla. When Battery C on Graveyard Hill, through foul air, insufficient food, disease, the war ended and shipping dried a brave charge against heavy artillery and a harried guard force of only 300 up, Lorenzo tried to open a saloon in and rifle fire. Even the Union officers men, made Ft. Delaware a notorious Rolla, but this didn’t last long, and were impressed, one of them calling hellhole, dreaded by Confederate sol- soon Lorenzo was commanding army the charge “a splendid spectacle,” and diers, branded by some historians as wagons in Kansas, alongside George General Prentiss credited “a courage “the Andersonville of the North.” An and John Hance. and desperation rarely equaled.” Yet average of three prisoners died there John Hance’s 10th Regiment Price’s thinned ranks then foolishly every day, for a total of 2,460 deaths. was organized by W. O. Coleman, a tried to charge the neighboring Union By the time John Hance arrived at Rolla merchant who earlier that year battery, and they were quickly beaten Ft. Delaware, the prisoner exchange was leading guerilla attacks against back. A Union counterattack soon system had broken down, so Hance Union wagon trains. This raises the recaptured Graveyard Hill, and cap- was there for the rest of the war, over possibility that John Hance might tured about 350 Confederates there, a a year. We catch a glimpse of Hance’s have attacked wagon trains driven majority of them from the 10th Mis- arrival in the diary of a Yankee guard, www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Grand Canyon Historical Society : 9 A. J. Hamilton, who noted for March record ends. Hance Rose said that George and 4, 1864: “We have been receiving a John Hance ended the war as he Hance started working for Lorenzo new installment of Rebels and today began it: as a private. His later use of Hickok out of Fort Leavenworth. Cer- receive the last of 1,700.”4 For No- the name “Captain” was apparently tainly George and Lorenzo had be- vember 22, Hamilton reported: “The just a nickname. The honorary term come good friends. By one account, weather is very cold, everything fro- “Captain” was often used by moun- it was George Hance who connected zen up tight as a brick, we nearly tain men, especially ones who had the name “Wild Bill” to Lorenzo’s freeze when in quarters.”5 November served as guides for the U. S. army or brother. In Wild Bill Hickok: The Man 22 was also the day that John Hance exploratory expeditions. and His Myth, Joseph G. Rosa wrote: was admitted to the prison hospital, And what of the claim of John “According to legend, James Butler and he was not discharged until Feb- Hance’s niece, Frances Hance Rose, Hickok won the name Wild Bill in ruary 23, three months later. There is that John couldn’t possibly have 1862, when he stopped the lynch- no record of Hance’s illness. Waves of been a Confederate? In research- ing of a bartender at Independence, smallpox, malaria, scurvy, intestinal ing this article I communicated with Missouri. The source of this story is disorders, and other illnesses meant Rose’s grandson, Mike Mauer, and George W. Hance, a fellow wagon that most prisoners who entered that he assumes that Rose, along with master and family friend. He served hospital never emerged alive. other Hances, was merely engag- during the Civil War in this capacity, A. J. Hamilton’s diary reveals his ing in wishful thinking: they simply sometimes with Lorenzo Hickok, and impatience with the Confederates. didn’t want the most famous Hance first met both brothers at Rolla, Mis- On July 10, 1863, looking at newly ar- to be a Johnny Reb. But John’s brother souri. Tradition asserts that a woman rived Gettysburg prisoners, he wrote George Hance had plainly spelled in the crowd yelled ‘My God, ain’t of them: “Many of them admit they out John’s true military record in his he wild!’ and Wild Bill was born.”7 are sick of war and wish peace was 1919 obituary in the Coconino Sun. However, in an article George Hance restored on any terms. Others are de- John Hance’s reticence about his re- wrote about Wild Bill Hickok for the termined to fight it out to the bitter cord is understandable. For starters, Topeka Mail and Breeze on December end and apparently have no doubt of he was probably ready to bury his 20, 1901, he made no mention of any their success. Poor, deluded wretches. horrible memories. In a family whose role in the naming of Wild Bill, and Lousy, filthy, exhausted and almost youngsters, like Frances, were eager George Hance’s great-grandson Mike naked. What can you gain?”6 Con- to admire their Hance war heroes, Mauer had never heard this story. federates could gain their freedom by there would be little welcome for a In September of 1865 George taking a loyalty oath to the Union, but traitor who had fought against Fran- Hance, and probably John, joined an few did. John Hance didn’t. The high ces’s father. When John Hance went expedition of 186 mule teams head- frustration level inside Ft. Delaware to work driving wagons for the army ing from Ft. Leavenworth to establish led to fights, escape attempts, and after the war, he was surrounded by and provision army forts across Kan- guard cruelty. Union veterans. In the early years of sas, as far as Hays. After this, George In spite of the harsh conditions in Grand Canyon tourism, most tourists Hance became a dispatch rider based prison, it appears that John Hance’s came from northern states, and some at Camp Riley, carrying messages mischievous sense of humor was were Union army veterans, and John to General George A. Custer, who alive and well. The only glimpse we Hance’s popularity depended on his was in charge of suppressing Indian get of Hance in prison is the periodic carefully cultivated persona as an troubles in western Kansas. In 1867 Roll of Prisoners, which is normally American frontier hero. George Hance was appointed assis- impersonal, but with his roll calls, It was nearly twenty years be- tant wagon master on an expedition Hance continued varying his name. tween the end of the Civil War and to Ft. Union in New Mexico. By June He is John Hantz, or John Hans, or John Hance’s arrival at the Grand of 1868 George and John were at Ft. John Hands, or John Hants, or John Canyon, which is usually dated at Sumner, New Mexico, where they Hance. While these could have been 1883, although there is some uncer- helped transport the Navajos back clerical errors, these variations sound tainty about this too. John Hance’s home after their disastrous Long so much like Hance’s later games life in those years is sketchy. But the Walk exile. Most of the Navajos had with his birthdate that it’s plausible key to it was George Hance’s job as to walk home, in a line that stretched Hance was having some fun with his an army wagon master. At the end ten miles, but the army provided 56 captors. of the war George Hance was trans- wagons to carry the aged and infirm, On April 22, 1865, with the war es- ferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. as well as supplies. As soon as he was sentially over, John Hance was part of George Hance doesn’t mention it in done with this job and had returned a prisoner exchange. He was shipped his autobiographical notes, but this to Ft. Union, George resigned from to New Orleans, and then, on May 2, transfer may have been owed to his the army and headed back to Ari- sent up the Mississippi to the mouth friendship with Lorenzo Hickok. In zona, along with John, their younger of the Red River, where his military her letter to Lon Garrison, Frances brother Jim, and over a dozen oth-

10 : Grand Canyon Historical Society www.GrandCanyonHistory.org ers. They arrived in Prescott in at the aware of how popular it was, and it ed it, guns drawn, not wearing masks. start of December, 1868. But George probably prepared him to set up a The robbers didn’t bother to rob the soon reconnected with the army. He similar operation on the south rim of passengers but went straight for the and John and Jim moved to Camp the Grand Canyon. mail sacks. Only when Hance reached Verde, where George went to work Little is known about Jim Hance, Flagstaff did he discover that Wells at the army sutler’s store, and with except that he settled in Flagstaff for Fargo had been trying to fool outlaws their bull team they began taking con- many years, then moved back to Mis- by hiding $125,000 in gold and silver tracts to haul wood and hay to the souri. Hance family members said in those mail sacks. A posse failed to fort. John Hance supervised Mexican that both George and Jim possessed a find the robbers. Wells Fargo enlisted workers at cutting hay. The Hances sense of humor similar to John’s. One the help of the army, whose Indian also helped build roads and ditches. story about Jim has survived, and it scouts picked up the robber’s trail and When the army decided to remove seems pure Hance. While living in followed them to Veit Spring, near to- the Apaches from the Verde Valley Flagstaff, Jim bought a cow, only to day’s Snowbowl Road. The soldiers to the San Carlos Reservation, the discover that the cow refused to be caught the robbers there, shot it out, Hances were hired to help transport milked by a man, only by a woman. and killed all five. The next day John the aged and infirm. In John’s obitu- But Jim found he could fool the cow Hance was brought there to identify ary, George Hance said: “He was here by dressing in women’s clothing. One them as the robbers. Their loot wasn’t in early Indian times and was slightly time for a Flagstaff parade, Jim parad- found. Flagstaff residents searched wounded skin deep on one side in the ed in a dress, and he won the award for it for decades, with dowsing sticks center of ribs under one arm, on the for best costume. and army surplus mine detectors, but other about same depth of wound on John Hance pursued various ac- never found it. The lost treasure gave opposite arm and may have been in tivities. In the 1870s he was running rise to its share of legends of treasure other fights in other parts of Arizona his own bull team. George’s grand- maps, mysterious strangers, and se- or New Mexico, as he was on the go daughter Ruth Hance Thayer said cret markings on trees and boulders. or run-about in early days.”8 John that John also tried mining. Ruth also Then there’s the story of “Short Jim- Hance would add “Apache fighter” reported: “In the sutler’s Ledger Book my” McGuire, who was usually broke to his public persona, but this could at Fort Verde on November 10, 1876, but who one day in 1913 walked into have been simply a brawl during the John Hance derived the handsome a Flagstaff bar, plunked down a $50 Apache’s eviction. sum of two hundred thirty dollars gold piece to buy drinks for everyone, John Hance seems to have caught ($230.00) for two mares and a colt. No announced he’d found the treasure— the bug for Wild West adventure, but doubt this entire sum was applied to he wasn’t saying where—and then he George Hance settled down and be- his account, for at that time he and promptly had a heart attack and died, came a leading citizen of the Camp John Ricketts were in some sort of his pockets full of gold coins. Verde area. In 1877 George went into venture together and had purchased It was buried treasure of a differ- the tourist business. He had bought a many supplies.”10 In 1877 the Yavapai ent sort that lured John Hance to the ranch on the south rim of the Verde County deed book shows John Hance Grand Canyon to go prospecting. Valley, and since it was on the busy buying 160 acres, but borrowing a He did find a rich asbestos lode, but road between Camp Verde and thousand dollars from George to do clearly John Hance also fell under the Prescott, he began offering lodging so. In 1881 John Hance was driving a canyon’s romantic spell. and meals. Arizona state historian stagecoach, and on May 10 he was in- Considering that John Hance is Sharlot Hall paid tribute to George’s volved in a dramatic robbery. This ac- still a Grand Canyon legend a century hospitality in her obituary of George count comes from a January 1967 ar- after his death, it’s surprising that the in 1932: “For many years he owned ticle in True West magazine, although Hances back in Missouri have com- the beautiful Cienega Ranch between the detailed dialogue between Hance pletely forgotten him. In researching Camp Verde and Prescott and not and the robbers should leave readers this article I contacted the 30 Hance only farmed and ran cattle but oper- wondering how many other liberties families in the Rolla-area phone ated a road station popular with all its author took with the story. book, and they placed me in touch travelers on that route. It was not an John Hance was driving the stage- with more far-flung Hances, some of unusual sight to see half a dozen old coach between Canyon Diablo, where whom had done family genealogy re- time freight outfits, Army ambulanc- railroad construction had stopped search, but none of them had heard of es, and the mail and passenger buck- while a bridge was being built, and John Hance. I found a Hance to act as board all camped under the trees of Flagstaff. This day his freight in- my scout as the annual Hance family the Cienega Ranch waiting for one of cluded only mail sacks, not the usual reunion in the area, but she could find the fine dinners served by Mrs. Hance strong boxes for valuables. As the no trace of John Hance. It seems that and her helpers.”9 We don’t know if stagecoach was climbing the slopes the Arizona Hances simply lost touch John Hance ever worked in George’s near Flagstaff, its horses winded and with the Missouri Hances. On Janu- tourist operation, but he surely was moving slowly, five riders surround- ary 19, 1906, the St. James (Missouri) www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Grand Canyon Historical Society : 11 Grand Canyon Historical Society PRSRT STD PO Box 31405 U.S. POSTAGE Flagstaff, AZ 86003 PAID FLAGSTAFF, AZ PERMIT 333

Journal mentioned: “James Hance, oin the Grand Canyon Historical Society! formerly a resident of this locality, re- Spread the Word — J turned to his home in Arizona Tues- Membership in the Grand Canyon Historical Society has its benefits: day. This is Mr. Hance’s first visit here • Annual subscription to the tri-annual magazine The Ol’ Pioneer. in twenty-five years.” Though James • Annual subscription to the quarterly newsletter The Bulletin. (Jim) Hance later moved back to Mis- • Discount on all GCHS publications. souri, he seems to have settled near • Free admission to all GCHS programs and outings, including an annual St. Louis, not among the old Hance picnic on the edge of the Canyon. families, and he never had any chil- • Participation in the annual GCHS membership meeting and the elec- dren. George Hance visited Missouri tion of Board Members. in 1912, the first time in nearly fifty Membership is $20 per year ($25 outside U.S.). To become a member print years. As far as we know, John Hance out the online application at never returned home. But the Mis- grandcanyonhistory.org or write down your name, address, phone number souri Hances were delighted to learn and email address and send it with your check to the Grand Canyon His- from me that, somehow, their fam- torical Society at PO Box 31405, Flagstaff, AZ 86003. ily history and places and spirit had spawned a man who was the right match for the spirit of the Grand Can- scenery to visitors.” shop, 1999). yon. 1 Hamlin Garland, The Grand Canyon of Ari- 4 A. J. Hamilton, A Fort Delaware Journal: John Hance is still playing games zona (Chicago: The Santa Fe Railway, 1906) The Diary of a Yankee Private, A. J. Hamil- with us, for on his tombstone it says p 108. ton, 1862-65, edited by W. Emerson Wilson 2 Ruth Hance Thayer, Fact or Fiction: The (Wilmington, De.: Fort Delaware Society, he was 80 years old, meaning a birth- Hance Brothers of Yavapai and Coconino 1981) p 50. date of 1838, a date probably derived Counties, Arizona (a paper written for an 5 Ibid, p 66. from George’s obituary of John. English class at Northern Arizona University, 6 Ibid, p 34. 1963, and in the archives of Grand Canyon 7 Joseph G. Rosa, Wild Bill Hickok: The Man I never did discover how John National Park and the Camp Verde Histori- and his Myth (Lawrence, Ks: University Hance had lost the tip of his index cal Society) p 2. Press of Kansas, 1996). finger, so perhaps it was also true that 3 Eathan Allen Pinnell, The Diary of Captain 8 Coconino Sun, January 17, 1919. Eathan Allen Pinnell, edited by Michael E. 9 The Courier, August 2, 1932. “I plum wore it off, pointing out the Banasik (Iowa City, Iowa: Camp Pope Book- 10 Thayer, Fact or Fiction, p 2.