Explorations along the Beale Road
Up to 1862, beyond the explorations made by Lieutenant Beale, Felix
Aubrey, and others, along the Beale road, nothing was known of Central
Arizona, its mines, its forests, and its agricultural possibilities. It was
the home of the Apache, the most treacherous and dangerous of all the Indian
tribes. The first expedition to explore this section of the country was
known as the "Walker Party." Captain Joseph P. Walker, who commanded the
expedition, was an old hunter and trapper. In 1837, and 1838, in company
with Jack Ralston, who later died, he discovered in this part of the country
a metal which, years afterwards when visiting San Francisco, he found to be
gold. In 1861, Walker desiring to explore this country for the yellow metal,
organized in Kernville, Kern County, California, a company for that purpose.
The following are the names of the members of that company;
Captain Joseph R. Walker,
Joseph R. Walker, Jr.,
John Walker,
John H. Dickson,
George Lount,
George Cutler,
_____ Tarsith,
______ Clothier,
John I. Miller,
J. L. Miller,
Samuel C. Miller,
George Blasser,
Col. Harding,
Phelix Buxton,
Albert Dunn,
Martin Lewis,
Jacob Lynn
Luther Paine.
Their objective point was the country in and around Prescott and the Little
Colorado. After crossing the Colorado, they were continually harassed by
Indians, which prevented them from exploring the country to the south as
they had intended. The San Francisco Mountain was their landmark and passing
around its base, they followed up the Little Colorado, but failing to find
gold, they pursued their journey eastward, and reached New Mexico that same
year. Upon reaching New Mexico, the party maintained its existence and
enlisted under "Kit" Carson against the Indians. Captain Walker retained his
rank and the original number of fighting men under him. In 1862, the party
went to Colorado, and in the fall of that year, another expedition was set
on foot with the Hassayampa as the objective point. Thirty-four hardy and
intrepid men signed the muster roll, with a full determination to blaze the
trail for others to follow. The names and nativity of the men composing this
expedition are as follows:
Captain Joseph R. Walker, Tennessee;
Joseph R. Walker, Jr., Tennessee;
Martin Lewis, Missouri;
Jacob Lynn, Missouri;
Charles Noble, Missouri;
Henry Miller, Missouri;
Thomas Johnson, Missouri;
George Blasser, Pennsylvania;
Alfred Shupp, Pennsylvania;
John J. Miller, North Carolina;
Jacob Miller, Illinois;
Sam. C. Miller, Illinois;
Solomon Shoup, Illinois;
Hiram Cummings, New Hampshire;
Hiram Mealman, New Hampshire;
Wm. Wheelhouse, New York;
George Coulter, New York;
John "Bull," England;
George Lount, Canada;
Rhoderic McKinney, Canada;
Bill Williams, Massachusetts;
A. C. Benedict, Connecticut;
A. French, Vermont;
Jacob Schneider, Germany;
John Dixon, Mississippi;
Frank Finney, Louisiana;
John Young, Kansas;
Jackson McCracken, South Carolina;
John W. Swilling, Georgia;
______ Chase, Ohio;
Felix Buxton, France;
Chas. Taylor, Sailor;
F. G. Gilliland, Kentucky;
Daniel E. Conner, Kentucky.
In September, 1862, the company left Pueblo, Colorado, and being regarded
with some suspicion, the authorities thinking they might be seeking to
effect a junction with the Confederates, General Carleton employed A. C.
Benedict to accompany the expedition for the purpose of watching its
movements and reporting the same. The party went south to what afterwards
became known as Fort West, and stopped a short time, at that place, during
the Winter of 186263, where Jack Swilling and Jackson McCracken joined them.
Jack Swilling, as we have seen, had served under Captain Hunter when the
Confederates captured Tucson, and commanded the little detachment that
killed Lieutenant Barrett of the Federal army, in the engagement near the
Picacho. While at Fort West, the party served the Government under the
command of Captain McCleve. Leaving this place, they followed the old
Butterfield trail for some distance but branched off from it to explore the
unknown wilderness in the north, from one hundred and fifty miles to two
hundred miles distant.
This was the first invasion of Arizona by any organized body of white men,
and was the beginning of the end of Apache dominion in that section of the
Territory of Arizona. Crossing the great Gila Desert from Sacaton Station,
now known as Oatman Flat, on the River Gila below the Pima Indian Villages,
the Walker party reached the wooded territory in and around Prescott, and
there made a final stand for a new base of operations. They felled the trees
and built a corral in a hollow square that the savages could not break
through, in which their sixty head of mules were kept during the night. For
nearly a year previously, six men were required to guard the stock
constantly, day and night; it only required one man to guard the corral.
This change, inaugurated by Captain Walker, was very satisfactory, but the
party were here stored away, or rather, secreted in a nook in the
wilderness, unknown to any of their race, and it became necessary to notify
the outside world where they were located, so it was decided to make a
flying trip to the Pima Villages on the River Gila. A hole was dug into
which all their supplies and equipage was cached, and the party went south
with their mules to get a full supply of pinole and other foodstuffs from
the friendly Pimas, with whom they left letters to go eastwardly and
westwardly by any stray party of soldiers that might pass through the
Villages during the next six months. These letters described the locality
and situation in the previously unknown woodland, in which the party had
decided to make their final stand. The return trip was made without
accident, the party arriving at their new home after an absence of twenty
days. Preparing to do business with the Apaches, they strengthened their
corral, and constructed a large log cabin, or fort, beside it for protection
against their Apache foes, and for shelter from the storms, as the rainy
season had begun in earnest. This corral and log cabin were built on the
Hassayampa about five miles from the present location of the city of
Prescott. From this point, parties went out in all directions prospecting.
Early in May, 1863, Sam Miller and four others went up Lynx Creek. Here
while some of the party went hunting, Miller went over to a bank nearby, and
washed a pan of dirt, from which he got $4.80. Word was sent to the main
camp on the Hassaympa of the rich find. The party broke camp and moved on to
Lynx Creek, where they worked successfully in placer mining and trapping.
A miner's meeting was organized, and Thomas Johnson was selected for
president, after Captain Walker had declined and William Wheelhouse for
recorder. This was the first mining district ever organized in Central
Arizona, and it was located about five miles south of the present city of
Preseott on the north bank of the Hassayampa, and these were the first white
men to locate in this part of the country, and with the abundance of gold
they washed out, and the number of Indians they killed, they experienced,
says Mr. Fish, what some termed "booming times." From this encampment, the
party explored the surrounding country as far east as the Agua Fria and
north or northwesterly to the Chino Valley on the Verde River, and Bill
Williams' Fork, Bill Williams' Mountain, and other localities. Only one trip
was made to Bill Williams' Mountain, north of the corral, as it was a
stronghold of the Apaches, and the party venturing into it had two of its
members wounded. From the signal smoke, and occasional contact with Indian
pickets, the party was convinced that the savages were increasing their
number by orderly concentration, and that at any time they were caught off
guard, the whole party would be massacred. About six months had elapsed when
they were surprised by the sudden appearance of a company of soldiers under
the command of Captain M. J. Pishon and accompanied by Surveyor General
Clark of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The soldiers came over the old Beale road,
and passed through the pretty woodland to its south edge, discovered the
recently abandoned corral, passed out of the headwaters of the Hassayampa to
Lynx Creek and found the party in temporary encampment there. There they
remained for about three days, and when they started on their return, they
abandoned five covered wagons in the northern plain, which were subsequently
utilized to transport provisions from Los Angeles, California, to Prescott.
General Clark stated that lie had been searching for this locality for three
months before finding the party. The route which he had travelled was
estimated by the military to have been about five hundred and twenty-five
miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Prescott, Arizona.
The next party to enter this new region came in response to the letters left
with the Pimas, and consisted of what was known as the "Peeples Party" This
party was organized by A. H. Peeples in May, 1863, and entered Arizona from
California, by way of Yuma, where they met Pauline Weaver, who had come by
appointment, Peeples having written him from California. The party, with
Weaver as guide, followed up the Colorado River to La Paz, where the
Mexicans had been placer mining for some time. They went east across the
Plomosa Range and up the Cullen Valley. On nearing the mountains, some
antelope were discovered, and Peeples followed them and succeeded in killing
five. From this he named the stream Antelope Creek, and the mountain which
rose from its northern bank, Antelope Peak. The party camped nearby, and
before sundown had panned out some gold, on what they named Weaver Creek, in
honor of the guide. The next day, four Mexicans, who had joined the party at
Yuma, started off after their horses which had strayed during the night. In
the evening, they came in with their stock, and, taking Peeples aside,
exhibited a large quantity of gold nuggets which they had picked up on top
of the mountain. They could have kept the secret to themselves, but they
gathered a large amount of gold and then rode safety into Mexico. The next
morning, the party went to the top of the hill where innumerable chunks and
nuggets of gold were found in a sort of sloping basin. In about a month, all
the surface gold was gathered and the party scattered, some remaining to
work the gravel bars of Weaver Creek. It is estimated that during the first
month a quarter of a million dollars in gold was gathered. The mountain was
named Rich Hill, and has yielded many thousands of dollars since that time.
From this period, newcomers came from all directions, settling down with the
Walker pioneers, in and around what afterwards became Prescott. The Walker
party was dissolved in 1864, and some of its members afterwards became
identified with the early history of the Territory of Arizona.
The history of this expedition has been written by Daniel E. Conner, the
last survivor of the party, and I hope the State of Arizona will secure it,
as it gives a succinct and continuous narrative of the expedition of the
Walker party, which was the first to enter Central Arizona, the vanguard of
that army of pioneers which subsequently reclaimed this rich and fertile
country from savage dominion. The success of these pioneers is largely to be
attributed to Captain Walker; he understood the Indian character well, and
while his policy toward them was never brutal, but humane, yet he was always
ready to meet them in battle, when such a policy was necessary and could not
be avoided. Patient and prudent, conservative, and cautious, enjoying the
full confidence of his followers, the campaign, in every way, was a
successful one.
The reports spread by the members of the command of Captain Pishon upon
their return, of the rich gold mines in the vicinity of the Hassayampa, and
Lynx Creek, and around the headwaters of the streams in that vicinity, did
much to attract attention to that region. Several parties were hurriedly
organized to prospect in the new El Dorado. Jim Shelby, of Santa Fe, fitted
out five teams loaded with provisions, groceries, etc., and left Santa Fe
for the gold fields in October, 1863. There were with him Frank Shaffer,
Louis St. James, Billy Foster, Frank Riggs, John Justice, Tom Barnum and
others. In a short time there was a second party on the way, which consisted
of Rufus E. Farrington, W. C. Collins, Lew Alters, Ed. G. Peck, and Lon
Thrift.
Among these early pioneers may be mentioned T. Lambertson, who was one of
the first settlers in Walnut Grove; Gus Swain also an early settler at the
same place; Theo. Boggs, who staked out a home on Big Bug, in 1863; John
Townsend, who located a ranch on the Agua Fria in 1863. Townsend was a half
blood Cherokee, cunning and brave, and had an undying hatred of the Indians
and hunted them to the death. Several of his relatives had been killed by
the Comanches in Texas and it is said that in revenge he had sent
twenty-seven Indians to their happy hunting grounds, but, like many others
in Arizona, the Indians got him at last. While out hunting in the year 1873,
he came upon a small band of Indians at Dripping Springs, and was shot by
one of them. His body was found a few days later. He had exchanged a few
shots with the Indians, and had received his death wound unknown to them.
In January, 1863, the military District of Western Arizona, which, up to
that time, had belonged to the Department of the Pacific, was attached to
the Department of New Mexico, and, by order of General Carleton, issued in
October, 1863, all of the Territory of Arizona, lying north of the Gila
River, and west of the Colorado, except that portion occupied by Fort
Mohave, was created into a Military District. General Carleton decided to
establish a post in the Chino Valley and two companies of troops were
ordered to accomplish this work. Captains Hargraves and Benson were
selected, and the expedition was put under the immediate command of Major
Willis of the First Regiment of Infantry, California Volunteers. This
expedition, with Captain Pishon as guide, left Fort Wingate on November 7th,
1863, following the old Beale route to Antelope Springs where they diverged.
After leaving the Beale trail, they found the road extremely rough and many
of their wagons were broken. The main portion of the command reached Chino
Valley on December 23rd, and here was located Fort Whipple, so named in
honor of Brigadier General A. W. Whipple, who fell in the battle of
Chancellorsville, and who, as a lieutenant of the U. S. Topographical
Engineers, had, before the Civil War, explored New Mexico and Arizona. This
location was about twenty-two miles from the present town of Prescott, and
in May, 1864, the location was changed and the present post established.
Notes About Book:
Source: History Of Arizona Volume 2, By Thomas Edwin Farish, 1915, Printed
and Published by Direction of the Second Legislature of the State of
Arizona, A. D.
Notes about Online Publication: This manuscript has been ocr'd and heavily
edited. Many of the Native American words have been reproduced as clearly as
online publication will allow us, but not all are exactly the way they were
in the original work. The structure of this manuscript has been changed to
allow better online presentation.
