Chapter 2 Arizona's Silver Belt ©1991 by Wilbur A. Haak "Men move eternally, still chasing Fortune; and, silver nuggets and ledges of precious metals. He noted Fortune found, still wander." This quote is from Robert that these findings were located near "a butte that looks Louis Stevenson's 1883 book, The Silverado Squatters. like a hat." It was written about California, but applies just as well Thorne allegedly made subsequent visits to the area, to the nineteenth century fortune seekers in Arizona. but was unable to relocate the site. His glowing reports, They came in search of gold; silver would do, but always though, opened the door for other prospecting adventures. there was the hope, the dream, of finding gold. Many prospectors appeared in Arizona in the middle King Woolsey years of the nineteenth century. Most had failed When the Civil War broke out in 1861, most of the elsewhere - Colorado, California, Nevada, New Mexico Army was called away to fight in the east. Indian -and came to Arizona to try their luck. They were joined depredations increased, and Arizona civilians took it by soldiers, cowboys, merchants, professionals and upon themselves to play the military role. Men from all drifters. Any report or rumor of a promising claim lured walks of life joined to retaliate against the natives, men by the hundreds. A large amount of gold was found especially the "troublesome" Apaches. at various places in Arizona, but silver was the more In early January of 1864, up to 400 head of livestock prevalent precious metal, and its mining became an were reported stolen in Yavapai County. King Woolsey, important factor in the growth and economy of territorial a rancher on the Agua Fria River, initiated an expedition, Arizona. consisting of ranchers, miners and traders, whose purpose Much of this silver mining activity centered in what was to retrieve the livestock and "exterminate" the later became southern Gila County and an adjacent Apache thieves. This expedition culminated in the Bloody area of Pinal County. This area became known as Tanks massacre, in which a large number of the enemy Arizona's "silver belt." Millions of dollars worth of silver were killed. was taken from the mines at Silver King, Globe, Richmond On this and two later expeditions, Woolsey and his Basin, McMillenville and other locations. men explored the land for signs of silver and gold. On Tonto Creek they "found color, but not in paying The Search For Color quantities." Later they proceeded to the heights of the Prior to 1860, the future "silver belt" was an empty Pinal Mountains and again "found gold -- and some land, occupied only by the roving and warlike Apaches. good-looking quartz lodes." In his report Woolsey wrote: Trappers had been through the region, along with an "I cannot help thinking that there is in that part of the occasional prospector, explorer, or military detachment. Territory great mineral wealth." In 1857, a geologist named Humboldt said of the area: The Banta - Cooley Party "There lies the future treasure-house of the world." Corydon E. Cooley, while enlisted in the New Mexico Spurred on by such reports, prospectors moved into the Infantry, met Doc Thorne and heard about the fabulous area a few years later, led by one named Doc Thorne. fortune the latter had seen near the hat-shaped butte. Doc Thorne Cooley dreamed of finding that treasure, but it was not Doc Thorne was an Army surgeon in New Mexico in until July of 1869 that he had a chance to do so. He the early 1860s. After he had successfully treated an and Alfred F. Banta, along with a friendly band of Indian with an eye affliction, he was persuaded to travel Apaches, left Zuni, New Mexico on their quest for gold. to Arizona's Apache country, where the disease was They prospected at Sombrero Peak, near the mouth of endemic. Cherry Creek, but found nothing. They then moved on While in the area, Thorne took some time to explore to Fort McDowell, where they commented that the the countryside. When he returned to New Mexico he expedition had been "a wild goose chase." reported that he had seen gold and silver-streaked ro~ks, Cooley regrouped at the Fort and again headed for the 31 32 Wilbur A. Haak upper Salt River. In a skirmish with unfriendly Apaches, of Texas in the early 1860s. His story is as interesting he lost two horses. Upon the recommendation of Colonel and colorful as any in the west. Sanford from Fort McDowell, Cooley agreed to join forces According to Globe historian Jess G. Hayes, Holmes' with another group of prospectors in the vicinity. career in Arizona started as a Methodist colporteur; that is, he distributed Bibles and religious tracts and The Jackson Party books for a living. Later he did some farming in the At about the same time that Corydon Cooley set out Phoenix area, but the gold bug eventually got him, and on his second trek, Calvin Jackson and twenty-nine he joined the ranks of Arizona's prospectors. other men left Prescott for the same destination and for Holmes was a member of Cooley's second expedition the same purpose. They also prospected at Sombrero in 1869. Rather than give up with Cooley, he joined the Peak with negative results, and then headed for the Salt Cal Jackson group, and assisted in the construction of River, where they joined Cooley's group. Together they the stone fortress in Big Johnny Gulch. He apparently explored about thirty miles up the Salt River but found was not present on Jackson's return to the area, as he no indications of precious metals. Discouraged, Cooley is not included on the list of men who made claims at and most of his men returned to the Salt River Valley. that time. However, Holmes, H. B. Summers, an old At this time Jackson and his men were joined by prospecting buddy, and a group of men that included William A. Holmes, a member of the Cooley party. They twin brothers Robert and David Anderson, made seven turned southwest to prospect along the streams that claims a short distance from the stone fort. Later that flow from the Pinal Mountains. In Big Johnny Gulch, year Holmes and the Andersons were part of a group just a few miles from present-day Globe, the group was that discovered the Silver Queen Mine near present-day menaced by a band of Apaches. For protection, they Superior. constructed a crude rock fortress in a shallow cave. Holmes' most profitable claim, the Daisy Dean, was When the Indians were out of sight, they looked around adjacent to the Ramboz Camp, established by Henry and found some good-looking black ore which, when Ramboz in 1875. Holmes reportedly made a "small assayed later in Prescott, proved to have a high fortune" from the Daisy Dean Mine. percentage of silver. While at Ramboz Camp, a man named Marco Banjevich In November 1870, Calvin Jackson and his men, this jumped Holmes' claim. This deed resulted in the death time with a military escort, returned to the fortress in of Marco by a bullet from William Holmes' six-shooter. Big Johnny Gulch. Fifteen claims were located and Holmes spent most of his "small fortune" on the defense staked, one for each member of the party and one each of his case. Since claim-jumping was considered for two of the military escort. They quickly returned to justification for killing in those days, Holmes was declared Prescott and filed the claims with the Yavapai County innocent by a jury of his peers. Recorder. These claims, entered as the Pinal Claims, During the 1880s Holmes was a permanent resident were the first to be filed from the area of the future city of the city of Globe. He did odd jobs, dabbled in politics, of Globe. served as deputy to Sheriff George Shute and Sheriff The Miner-Safford Party Glenn Reynolds and wrote some poetry. It is said that Tom Miner bragged that he had seen signs of gold in he recited his poems in a local saloon. One of the poems the Pinal Mountain region in the early 1860s. Ten years entitled "Hunkydory" is probably the source of his later he and eighteen other prospectors from Nevada nickname. organized the Mogollon Mining Company. Its purpose In November, 1889, the Apache Kid and several other was to re-discover Tom Miner's riches. His recruiting convicts were being transported by stage to the Territorial efforts in Prescott attracted only thirty men, but Arizona Prison at Yuma. Deputy Hunkydory Holmes accompanied Governor Anson P. K. Safford happened by, and he Sheriff Reynolds on the trip. On a steep and sandy grade decided to fall in with the party. Safford recruited seventy beyond the Gila River near Riverside, Reynolds, Holmes, men from the Salt River Valley to join the expedition. and some of the prisoners were forced to walk in order In July of 1871, the group, who now called themselves to lighten the loaded stagecoach. After driver Middleton the Pinal Prospectors, went on a round-about trek to and the shackled Apache Kid travelled ahead, the other the Pinal Mountains. From Prescott to Florence to Fort prisoners suddenly attacked and overwhelmed the two Grant to the San Carlos River, they finally ended up armed law officers. Both Reynolds and Holmes were in the Sierra Ancha, hopelessly lost. Arguments between killed. The Apache Kid and his cohorts disappeared into Miner and Safford regarding the proper route caused the surrounding hills.