TERRITORIAL. Prescott Arizona Corral. TIMES of Westerners International T T. Prescott Arizona Corral of Westerners International

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1 T TT T T TT TERRITORIAL Prescott Arizona Corral TIMES of Westerners International Prescott Arizona Corral of Westerners International TT TT A publication of the Prescott Corral of Westerners International VolumeCorral VI, Number 1 A publication of the Prescott of Westerners International 1 Volume VII, Number 2 T TT T T TT

2 The TERRITORIAL TIMES is a publication of the Prescott Corral of Westerners International, Prescott, Arizona, a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, preservation, promotion and dissemination of information with respect to the real history of the American West. Price per copy is $10.00 ($12.50 by mail). Back copies of available issues may be ordered by mail. CORRAL OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS Sheriff Tom Collins Byteslinger Russ Sherwin Deputy Sheriff Brad Courtney Swamper Barbara Inman Trail Boss Bob Galloway Symposium Coord. Fred Veil Keeper of the Chips Jack Hoeft WI Liaison Al Bates Brands Recorder Donna Sherwin Historian Bruce Fee Immediate Past Sheriffs: Cindy Gresser and Dana Sharp. PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE The Corral members responsible for this publication are: Al Bates, Brad Courtney, Jay Eby, Bruce Fee, Fred Veil and Andy Wallace. PHOTO AND ILLUSTRATION CREDITS Illustrations in this publication were provided by courtesy of the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives (Pages ii, 24, 27, 30), Arizona Historical Society (Page 18), and Dr. Andrew Wallace (Page 3). Other historic illustrations are within the public domain. John Huff created our front cover design. Territorial Times is printed by EMI Print Works, Prescott. Cover Illustration: The Prescott Corral of Westerners International is pleased to offer this special edition of Territorial Times as our contribution to the Prescott Sesquicentennial celebration. Our goal in this project has been to present the story of Prescott s beginning in words of actual participants to the largest degree possible by quoting from their letters, and similar documents. Prescott Corral of Westerners International, Box 11086, Prescott, Arizona

3 A publication of the Prescott Corral of Westerners International May 2014, Volume 7 Number 2 Prescott Begins CONTENTS 1 President Polk Creates the American Southwest 2 Arizona Escapes from New Mexico 3 Gold is Discovered in the Central Arizona Highlands 4 General James Carleton Gets Involved 5 An Embarrassing Start to a Long Journey West 6 The New Officials Take Charge 7 Prescott Celebrates the Fourth of July i

4 A Portion of the R. W. Groom Map of the Prescott Township, 1864

5 Prescott Begins: A Blank Spot on All Maps Becomes Territorial Arizona s Capital City By AL BATES The events that resulted in the small mining community of Prescott becoming Arizona Territory s first capital city had their beginnings 18 years earlier while the isolated area around it was an unexplored part of the newly independent nation of Mexico. So, before there could be a Prescott there had to be an Arizona, and that required both a war and a large land purchase. Part 1: President Polk Creates the American Southwest P resident James K. Polk presided over the final land acquisitions that satisfied America s manifest destiny thus making the United States a bicoastal giant. In his single term as President he settled the boundaries for our Pacific Northwest by negotiation with England. And then he created the American Southwest by setting in motion a monumental land grab from Mexico. The Mexican-American War began in 1846 as a dispute over where to locate the Texas border with Mexico Americans wanted the border at the Rio Grande River, the Mexicans thought it should be much further east. President Polk guaranteed war by sending American troops into the disputed area, and Mexican troops obligingly attacked them. The American response to the Mexican attack climaxed with a year later with the capture of Mexico City and the Mexican government conceded that, indeed, the Texas border would be at the Rio Grande. But then the American negotiators dropped the other shoe: They also wanted California and the lands between there and Texas for which we would pay them ten million dollars. The Mexicans unhappily had to cede territory to the United States that became the states of President James K. Polk California, Nevada, Utah, and the Territory of New Mexico that then included most of today s Arizona. The original instructions to American negotiators for setting terms to end the war were to set the Texas border at the Rio Grande River and to establish the remainder of the southern border for the United States at the 32 nd parallel (a few miles below Tucson) to provide room for a transcontinental railroad corridor. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established the border with New Mexico Territory well above the 32 nd parallel, using the Gila River as a major dividing point. Even so, Mexico ceded a gigantic chunk of its lands, to the United States for peace and a paltry sum of money. However, defects in the boundary settlement quickly brought the treaty under fire from both sides. 1

6 The boundary location was at issue because the map used in the treaty negotiations was highly inaccurate and left the exact border position open to conflicting interpretations. Attempts at a compromise were rejected by the United States Congress, leading to saber rattling on both sides. A second war appeared imminent unless these issues could be resolved peaceably. The Gadsden Purchase When most of what is now Arizona came into the United States following the Mexican War, the area above the Gila River was an isolated, unsettled western outpost of New Mexico Territory with no separate identity and of little perceived value. It was only after the purchase of almost 30,000 square miles of land below the Gila River that the idea of a separate political entity named Arizona emerged. In 1853 the new American President, Franklin Pierce, dispatched James Gadsden, a southern railroad man, to Mexico as United States Minister with instructions to settle all issues left over from the Mexican War. However, Gadsden s most essential mission was to obtain sufficient land for the building of a transcontinental railroad on a route below the Gila River. The ceding of Baja California to the US was quickly off the table and the Mexican government held firm to the position that their territory must continue to include a land route to Baja. This removed any possibility for an American port at the Gulf of California, but had no impact on the goal of providing for the southern railroad route. A draft treaty signed on December 30, 1853, by Gadsden and the Mexican negotiators was submitted to the U. James Gadsden S. Congress for ratification, but first Congress had to tinker with the results. The final boundary line evolved as it did to fill two desires. The stepped section to the east was intended to bring the heavily used Gila Trail within the U.S. and the diagonal section to the west was in response to Mexico s request that the border be far enough above the Colorado River delta for the building of a bridge linking Baja California to Mexico. The Gadsden Purchase was ratified in 1854, but formal takeover was delayed until the new dividing line between the two nations was surveyed and marked. On February 20, 1856, the last Mexican troops withdrew from Tucson, and tradition has it that a tiny group of pioneers (including William Kirkland) then raised the American flag over the Old Pueblo for the first time. The Gadsden Purchase was not universally applauded. One California newspaper correspondent wrote that it was, a barren, deserted, dreary waste a desert useful only as a dwelling place for the coyote, the owl, the rattle-snake, and the prairie dog. But when American settlers began arriving in the Gadsden Purchase they found more than an inhospitable waste populated by cactus and lethal critters. They found opportunities in mining, farming and ranching. This despite the growing menace of the Apache tribes and the activities of a lawless element that was encouraged by a lack of law enforcement. In the words of one early settler, they had no laws for our guidance, no courts, [and] no officers to preserve the peace. American set- 2

7 KAAIJSA.S UrAH & NEW tt XtCO refrfrlfofty ^qq Sf ;$ANTA F H s (nnrscorrd,64.) \$ t Ut -t a Gadsden Purchase of 1854 also showing location of Prescott. tlers in the Gadsden Purchase including those former Mexican citizens who chose to become Americans began clamoring for the establishment of a separate territory, with its capital located at either Tucson or Mesilla. The first important use of the name Arizona was in an 1856 memorial to Congress advocating a separate government for the Gadsden Purchase to be named Arizona Territory. This was only the first of several attempts to urge the process along, including at one point creating a provisional government with a full slate of territorial officers for their definition of Arizona, including Dr. Lewis S. Owings as its governor. Then in 1861 the Arizonans rejected the United States and tried to attach themselves to the newly declared Confederate States of America. Later that year their efforts became moot when a rag-tag army of Texans invaded southeastern New Mexico Territory, and their leader, Col. John R. Baylor defined a Confederate Territory of Arizona, splitting it from New Mexico Territory along a horizontal line at the 34th parallel, declaring himself its military governor. On February 14, 1862, the Rebel government in Virginia formally recognized Arizona as a Confederate Territory adopting Col. Baylor s definition. The Confederate Territory of Arizona was short-lived, ending when volunteer Union forces from California and Colorado drove the rebels back to Texas. At that point, General James H. Carleton, commander of the California volunteers declared himself military governor of Arizona using the shape recently approved by the United States House of Representatives (but not yet approved by the Senate), thus becoming the third individual to claim the title of Governor of a territory named Arizona. 3

8 Part 2: Arizona Escapes from New Mexico M ost of what we now know as Arizona became a part of the federal union in 1850 when New Mexico Territory formally became part of the United States. The area was attached to the United States in 1848 as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but formal creation of New Mexico Territory was delayed for two years until the Great Compromise of 1850 established controls on the extension of slavery into newly acquired territories. Congress began debating the creation of an Arizona Territory in 1856, considering a variety of configurations for the new territory. The debate over splitting Arizona from New Mexico Territory included some 18 Congressional bills that produced a variety of proposed shapes. Some proposals split Arizona from New Mexico Territory along a horizontal line while others called for a vertical split. It was not until February 20, 1863, that the Senate finally agreed to a bill that had passed in the House over nine months earlier and President Lincoln signed the organic statute four days later. The next step was to appoint a slate of officers for the new territory. And here s where Charles Debrile Poston, the selfdesignated Father of Arizona, comes in. Poston, a colorful self promoter, had been one of the earliest adventurers to inspect the Gadsden Purchase for potential mineral riches (fabled Spanish silver mines) and had, with backing of Eastern financial interests, established a productive mining operation with its headquarters at Tubac. However, with the coming of the Civil War and the resultant withdrawal of Union troops from New Mexico Territory, the Apache menace forced him and surviving associates to flee to safer climes. Poston was soon in Washington where he began, by his description, successful efforts to lobby the president and members of Congress in the cause of territorial status for Arizona. When these efforts appeared to be bearing fruit, he turned his attention to the forming of the new territorial government with, he hoped, a prominent role for himself. And that brings us to the fabled Oyster Dinner with a guest list of congressional lame ducks and other politicians eager to gain public appointments in the new territory. Details of the dinner, such as who organized it and who paid the bills, are not revealed in Poston s account of the event, but through his presence he was able to get for himself the consolation post of Territorial Indian Agent, but only after all the plum assignments had been doled out. His contention in later years that his influence on the lame ducks aided in final passage of the creation bill is self serving and probably inaccurate. Preparations for the journey from Washington D. C. were made with the goal of the newly appointed officers being in Arizona before 1863 ended (thus to ensure that the officers were eligible for that year s pay), but were delayed by the death of Governor-to-be John A. Gurley. The final slate of territorial officers included: Governor John N. Goodwin, Secretary Richard C. McCormick, Chief Justice William F. Turner, Associate Justice William T. Howell, Associate Justice Joseph P. Allyn, District Attorney Almon Gage, U. S. Marshal Milton 4

9 Duffield, Surveyor-General Levi Bashford, Superintendent of Indian Affairs Poston and Postmaster the Reverend Hiram W. Reed. The bulk of the Governor s Party traveled west over the Santa Fe Trail, while Poston and Marshal Duffield travelled separately to Tucson (via San Francisco), arriving in January 1864 where they expected to meet the Governor s Party. (One proposed version of the Organic Act included a provision that the seat of government be established in Tucson, but that item was removed, thus leaving the location to be selected by the governor.) Plans had changed and when the Governor s party left Santa Fe their new destination was to be the new gold diggings in the Central Arizona Highlands and the eventual establishment of Arizona s first Territorial Capital on the banks of Granite Creek. Part 3: Gold is Discovered in the Central Arizona Highlands On May 10, 1863, the first recorded event in Prescott history occurred. At a spot some six miles south of today s courthouse plaza, a band of 25 men approved a document that created the first mining district in the Central Arizona Highlands. Those men were members of the Joseph R. Walker exploratory party who had found placer gold on the Hassayampa River after a roundabout trip from California that crossed Arizona, headed up into Colorado and then swung down into New Mexico before turning west again into this previously unexplored area. The journey had started two years earlier when a young Canadian miner convinced Walker, who at age 62 was living quietly in northern California, to take on one more expedition. George Lount sold Walker on the idea that there was gold to be found in the Little Colorado River valley of Arizona. The old mountain man was eager for one last adventure before failing eyesight forced his retirement. Walker and Lount began with a nine-man party that also included two of Walker s numerous nephews. Then, while still in California, they merged with the seven-man Miller party (Sam and Jake Miller and their father John plus four others). The size of the party changed over time as members came and went during their travels. One of the newcomers was Daniel Ellis Conner who joined them in New Mexico using an assumed name because he was fleeing the federal authorities for his part in a failed insurrection in Colorado. He later wrote about his experiences in a manuscript published posthumously. Thus far the expedition had been unsuccessful in their search for gold, so they now turned south and west with hopes of finding gold in the Verde River Valley. It was then they encountered another newcomer near Pinos Altos, New Mexico Territory. John W. (Jack) Swilling had interesting information that caused Walker to change plans. But first would have to come the mission Swilling was on at the time of their encounter. Civilian contractor Swilling was key to a Union Army plan to capture the dreaded Apache 5

10 Chief Mangas Coloradas. The successful implementation of that plan which was modified to use some of the Walker Party members as decoys and its deadly aftermath, is detailed in Conner s writings. Swilling convinced Walker that three years earlier he had encountered significant traces of gold in an unexplored area north of the Gila River when he had led a militia group called the Gila Rangers in a retaliatory raid on Apache stock raiders up an unknown river now called the Hassayampa and into an unexplored area. Thus, after a pause while Swilling completed his army contract, they continued west. The Walker party followed a route well known to Swilling that took them to Tucson, then up to the Pima/Maricopa villages, and back up the unknown river to find the promised placer gold and the formation of the Pioneer Mining District. Under rules established that day, and documented in the Journal of the Pioneer and Walker Mining Districst, each of the 25 original prospectors was allotted two initial placer claims along either side of the Hassayampa River near their campsite. Before serious mining could start they had to restock some essential supplies such as flour, salt, coffee and tobacco so a trip to Ammi White s flourmill and trading post at the Pima/Maricopa villages below the Gila River was in order. Caching some equipment and supplies to keep them safe, they retraced their steps down the Hassayampa. After completing their business at White s establishment including communications of their findings to the outside world the expedition headed back up the Hassayampa. There was a surprise along the way. A dust cloud approaching them was at first assumed to be an Apache war party. To their relief they discovered that the dust was being raised by the Abraham Peeples party guided by Paulino Weaver who had come from the Colorado River to the Wickenburg area and who had also run short on essential supplies. News of the Gold Find Spreads Before arrival of the Walker Exploratory Party in the Prescott Basin in the spring of 1863, Central Arizona was unknown territory, thus all maps of the time show just an empty space where the Prescott area now is. In fact, an important reason for Captain Walker to come here was a desire to see, in his words, the only unknown section of the United States and its territories. No news spread more quickly in 19 th century America than word of a gold strike and when news of the 1863 Walker and Weaver Party finds spread to the other American states and territories and to Mexico fortune seekers began to arrive from all directions. Today, some members of the Walker and Weaver exploratory parties are immortalized in Prescott street names and, more prominently, in settlement names such as Wickenburg, Peeples Valley, Miller Valley, and the ghost town of Weaverville. Other early arrivals left their names at Kirkland and Groom Creek. Some members of the Walker party left their imprint on Yavapai County history, others quickly disappeared. The almost-blind Captain Walker soon retired to the family ranch in California. Daniel Conner stayed a bit longer but moved to California after famously trading his ownership of a valuable ranch for a pistol. Jack Swilling s best-known accomplishment was the introduction of modern agriculture to the Salt River Valley resulting in the founding of Phoenix. Another member of the Walker Party, John Dickson (sometimes spelled Dixon) went into 2

11 Original Prospectors of the Pioneer Mining District, May 10, 1863 Capt. J. R. Walker Jos. R. Walker Jr. Daniel Ellis Conner John Dickson Abner French Jacob Linn Chas. Taylor Jacob Miller H. B. Cummings Jas. V. Wheelhouse Wm. Williams Jack Swilling G. Gilliland Frank Finney Jackson McCrackin S. C. Miller Rodney McKinnon George Blosser Felix Cholet A. C. Benedict M. Lewis S. Shoup Jas. Chase T. J. Johnson George Coulter farming in a partnership with King S. Woolsey. He married Miss Mary Ehle of an earlyarriving family and also was an early settler at Skull Valley. (Governor Goodwin presided over the Dickson s marriage ceremony) The Miller brothers, Sam and Jake, tired of the stoop labor involved in placer mining, switched to freighting into the isolated area, first with mule trains and then with wagon trains. George Lount, who had left the Walker Party somewhere between New Mexico and the Hassayampa River, soon arrived at the diggings. Over time he established Arizona firsts as a partner in Prescott s first sawmill, and in the first ice plant in Phoenix. A very early arrival was the colorful and controversial King S. Woolsey who followed the Walker Party up the Hassayampa after their return visit to the Pima/Maricopa villages. He partnered with John Dickson in establishing a farm on the Agua Fria River at today s Dewey-Humboldt. He was a noted Indian fighter and later a power in the Territorial Legislature. One final early arrival of note was Jacob Waltz who established a placer claim in the Pioneer District with four others on September 21, Waltz later made statements that would lead to disappointment and sometimes death when others tried to discover his legendary Lost Dutchman s Gold Mine. Captain Walker announced the official disbandment of his exploratory expedition late in 1863, making this statement: We have opened the area to civilization, now it is up to civilization to do the rest. Part 4: General James Carleton Gets Involved W hen in mid-may 1863 the Walker Party returned to Ammi White s store at the Pima/Maricopa villages for necessary supplies, they took the opportunity to inform friends and relatives of their gold finds in the central Arizona wilderness. At least two of their letters went to General James H. Carleton, military commander for both Arizona and New Mexico territories, reaching him at his Santa Fe headquarters in June. General Carleton and his volunteer Column from California had played a pivotal role in flushing the Confederate army from Arizona then a part of New Mexico Territory in The general then assumed military governorship of Arizona until a civilian government would be in place. The new territory s appointed officials would not be in position to take control for another 3

12 six months. They were at this point (June 1863) three months away from beginning their cross-country trek from the east coast; meanwhile Carleton had all the reins of civilian leadership for the new territory in his hands. official letter predicting the new capital, will be at the gold fields, not at insignificant Tucson which was located in a sterile region. Surveyor General Clark s Visit His response to early letters from Kirby Benedict and Jack Swilling caused the founding of the first Fort Whipple at Del Rio Springs and would divert Governor Goodwin and his party from their intended destination of Tucson to the wilderness around the Hassayampa diggings. In one of his next letters to his military superiors, Carlton emphasized that,... it will be absolutely necessary to post troops in that section of the country; indeed, the capital of Arizona will be sure to be established there. He quickly made plans to verify accuracy of the early reports. The initial plan was for Surveyor General John A. Clark, with a military escort commanded by Capt. Nathaniel Pishon, to follow a southern route through Tucson and then up the Hassayampa. Those plans changed when a gold seeker named Robert Groom appeared at Carleton s office. Groom, who had recently crossed northern Arizona from the Colorado River, convinced the general that he was able and ready to guide the Clark party across a much shorter northern route. And so he did. While waiting for Clark to report back, Carleton had additional encouraging letters from men whose statements are to be credited. These prompted him to send another General James H. Carleton After a false start caused by the change in the intended route from Santa Fe Clark, with a military escort commanded by Capt. Nathaniel Pishon, and with Robert Groom as their guide, left Fort Craig, New Mexico Territory, on July 2, 1863, for an isolated place none of them had ever seen. The expedition consisted of 35 men mounted on horses and mules and three wagons, each pulled by a six-mule team The initial stage of their journey via Fort Wingate and the Zuni Pueblo to the Flagstaff area was well known since the route had been surveyed by Lt. Amiel W. Whipple in , as part of a federally funded search for railroad routes across the west. From the Flagstaff area they angled southwest into rugged and unexplored territory using advance scouts led by Groom to find routes that offered water for men and animals and terrain passable by the wagons. The final stage of their journey was simplified on August 17 when the advanced scouts, Groom and one of the military escort, encountered Paulino aka Pauline, birth name Powell Weaver who brought them up to date on events at the diggings. (The illiterate old mountain man, trapper and guide had changed his given name when he was forced to become a Mexican citizen while living in Taos in the 1830s because of the Mexican government s strict residency requirements.) Two 2

13 days later Clark s party was at the Hassayampa diggings. They had learned from Weaver that most of the Walker party plus newcomers had moved eight or ten miles east to Lynx creek where there were miners dry washing. Also, an even richer find had been made by members of Weaver s party 35 miles to the southwest. Placer mining still predominated, despite water shortages, but some lode claims were being made by miners around Lynx Creek. Clark s immediate reaction to what he had learned, noted in his personal journal, convinces me that this is a very rich & extensive mineral country. The gold is very coarse & is found in almost every ravine. Clark observed miners at work and also went on prospecting parties, and was given a share in two claims discovered while he was there. He also obtained samples of gold nuggets and specimens of mineral-bearing quartz. An ongoing problem for the miners was a seasonal lack of water in the creeks which limited their take since dry washing yielded only the coarser gold while the smaller flakes were lost. Another problem was getting from place to place over roadless and rugged terrain. Clark left until last a visit to the unusual and so far the most productive placer gold find located atop Rich Hill, between Prescott and Wickenburg. There he saw a quantity of the gold which has been picked up in working over the ground with a butcher knife. At that point the placer had already yielded $20,000 ($1,300,00 at current rates) and less than half the ground had been worked over. Jack Swilling, one of the claim s six partners, gave him a fine specimen and sent two specimens to General Carleton. Clark s return to Carleton s Santa Fe headquarters was much quicker than the trip out, reaching there on September 17. Carleton responded to his very favorable report by sending troops to establish a military presence at the diggings for the protection of both the miners and the long-awaited party of territorial officials. That post was named for General Amiel Weeks Whipple who had recently died of wounds suffered during the Civil War battle of Chancellorsville. Whipple had surveyed across both northern and southern Arizona following the Mexican War. In a letter announcing departure of the Fort Whipple founding party, Carleton again expressed his opinion that the capital, will be at the goldfields, not at the insignificant village of Tucson. But now he had solid evidence to back up the earlier reports, two specimens of pure gold. These he sent to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase with the request that the larger nugget be presented to President Abraham Lincoln. By this time Carleton was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the appointed Arizona officials, wondering if the government, would ever come. When they did arrive at Fort Union, New Mexico Territory still five days travel from Santa Fe on November 9, 1863, General Carleton was there to greet them with news and a suggestion. There is no record of their conversations, but when Governor Goodwin and his party left Fort Union the next day they had a new destination. Instead of heading to Tucson, they were headed west to the diggings following the route established by Groom. Still, location of the first capital was not certain, and Governor Goodwin would not make his choice known for almost a year. 3

14 Part 5: An Embarrassing Start to a Long Journey West In the afternoon of Saturday, September 25, 1863, after a two-hour delay to complete packing, the party of Governor John Goodwin and other Arizona Territorial officers left Leavenworth, Kansas, on the first leg of their wagon train trek to the wilds of the southwest. Soon afterwards, they, and their military escort, were completely lost. Most of the appointed officials had been approved by early March, but circumstances had delayed their start west until late August when they began travelling in small groups by train and river steamer to gather at Leavenworth. Among them was Associate Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court Joseph Pratt Allyn who recorded the party s cross-country progress over the next four months in letters published in his hometown newspaper, the Hartford Evening Press, using the pen name Putnam. Judge Allyn describes the beginning chaos thus: The train dotted the further slope of the hill-side thither I hastened and found a pile of our personal baggage unpacked, and no place for it apparently. The Major in command of the escort solved that problem, and in the twinkling of an eye what a change. Trunks, boxes, bundles, &c., began to fly, one into one wagon, another into another, until I concluded it would be much like looking for a needle in a haymow to ever try to find them again. About 4 o clock we moved, the cavalry sweeping over the rolling swells of the prairie in advance then the string of ambulances, each with four mules, our transportation train and that of the escort, some thirty odd white covered wagons in all. From front to rear the whole stretched over a mile; the dark mass of cavalry creeping up the farther swell, throwing back the sun s ray from flashing sabers and gleaming rifles, the starry banner flaunting its folds proudly over them; the long line of white wagons contrasted with the dark colored mules. We went on perhaps an hour, when we discovered we had left the main road and telegraph wire. We followed the troops, the wagons followed us. The road grew worse and worse until it got to be no road at all. Somebody had blundered. There had been no guide, as it was supposed impossible to get out of a broad traveled main road. There we were. To turn around, impossible; before us a steep hill, at the foot of it a ravine fringed with trees, and beyond a beautiful little valley, a tiny house nestling alone in the grove. There we must camp. The troops of course went across without difficulty, and the ambulances followed empty and without accident except that one broke a spring. We bivouacked, for our wagons were stuck at the ravine, and improvised supper. I have told you how we started, mess chest in one wagon, trunks in another, bed in another; now even the wagons had not come. Necessity is the mother of invention; we had coffee, coffee pot, some tin plates and cups, a ham boiled in Leavenworth, and a loaf of bread; we borrowed sugar, bought milk, and in short fared sumptuously. To be sure we hadn t any knives, or forks, or spoons, but we had appetites and fun for this wagon business took the comical turn. They all got across, breaking four not badly, and upsetting one. We slept on the ground without a tent, and I never slept better. Next morning we rose early and breakfasted much as we supped. How to get out was now the 10

15 TERRITORIAL OFFICIALS Seated: Judge Allyn, Governor Goodwin, Secretary McCormick. Standing: Gov s Secretary Fleury, Marshal Duffield, District Attorney Gage. Missing: Surveyor Bashford, Judge Howell, Chief Justice Turner, Indian Agent Poston, and Postmaster Reed. Date and location of the photograph is unknown question. An hour spent in exploration found a passable way over the adjoining farms, taking down fences, &c. The troops and ambulances, as before, got safely out and the wagons stuck; six of them broke something, and the doctor s large six-mule spring wagon upset injuring it considerably. It was noon before we got fairly started on the main road again, and then we were just four miles from Leavenworth. At evening we reached precisely the camp we hoped to make the evening before. After a night spent repacking the wagons, a 6 a.m. Monday start had them on their undaunted way towards Arizona Territory. On the Right Road, Finally Once past their embarrassing start from Leavenworth, Kansas, and finding their way back to the army s supply road to the west,, Governor Goodwin s party of territorial officials and their military escort fell into a military style travel routine as Judge Joseph Allyn wrote from Fort Riley in his October 4, 1863 letter: Our plan of march is for reveille to sound before sunrise and the train to move promptly at 6 o clock, and make the whole march at once, camp leisurely and have plenty of time for sporting. The scene at reveille is perhaps the most striking, as it certainly is the most trying (to one s temper). The moon shines brightly on the white tents and wagons, the mules are browsing in the tall grass, and the slow pacing of sleeping sentries is seen, when suddenly the shrill notes of the bugle break on the frosty air, there is a rustling in tents, wagons, and among the sleepers on the ground as of sleepy people turning over under their blankets. Again and again the notes are repeated. By this time the scene is alive; drowsy men creep out, fires begin to flicker all over the field, the mules make the most unearthly noises I ever heard, teamsters swear and the mules kick, coffee pots begin to boil, quails to broil. Again the bugle sounds, and down go the tents. By this time breakfast is ready; lazy people are brushing their teeth or trying to comb their hair. At last we are all seated shivering around the mess table eating with ravenous appetites and chattering teeth. 11

16 After breakfast begins the packing, and fortunate is one s temper if it stands the strain of this. There is always something more to get into a wagon after it is full; your ax or your spade is missing, or your blankets are damp. At last everything is picked up, the troops are in line, mules are all harnessed, the saddle horses stand pawing and impatient, and the cavalcade moves off promptly at 6 o clock. Several of the civilians in the caravan often including Territorial Governor Goodwin moved ahead of the caravan on foot hunting for the abundant prairie chickens and quail for dinner. Others, including Judge Allyn, rode ahead on horseback, sometimes hunting, other times just enjoying the unique new sights the movement ever west would bring. The travelers were ever conscious of the ongoing Civil War and the bloody impact on the residents of Kansas by marauders such as William Clark Quantrill and his raiders. Just weeks before, on August 21, those raiders had massacred 150 male citizens of Lawrence, Kansas, and left the town a burning ruin. Rumors of Quantrill s next intentions kept the people of eastern Kansas on almost constant alert. Fortunately the rumors diminished as they moved further west. Occasional winddriven prairie fires were perhaps more threatening as being more tangible, than the danger of the bushwhackers. On occasion, soaking rainstorms made the early morning departures even more trying. Judge Allyn again: I have tried to picture to you breaking camp by moonlight, but the same performance in a driving rain is quite another affair. I don t know of anything more absolutely dismal. Everything is wet or at least damp; it is pitch dark, there are no candles in the lanterns of course, the fires are hard to light, and burn fitfully and spitefully after they are lighted; breakfast has to be served in a tent, and you step on each others feet, spill your coffee, and find your ham tough. You finally get started, wet, uncomfortable, and cross. The roads are muddy, the wagons stick, the harnesses gall the poor mules, traces break, &c. On the morning to which I refer, however, the sky cleared just as we started, and the day brightened into the loveliest of the trip thus far. 12

17 After a short layover at Fort Riley, Kansas, for rest, repair and resupply, it was onward again. The next significant stop was Fort Larned, Kansas, which they reached in two weeks after their first encounters with regional wildlife featuring antelope, prairie dogs and buffalo. They Join the Santa Fe Trail On October 11, 1863, the Governor s Party passed the Pawnee Rock landmark near where their route joined the Santa Fe Trail. To that point on their journey they had followed a military supply road that paralleled the famed trail before angling southward to join it. At first, there was little excitement except for the new and, to them, exotic landscape. The leg between Forts Riley and Larned had some more exciting events. Judge Allyn wrote about their passage through a spot called Junction City: Unfortunately for us, Junction City had whiskey shops, and we had a beautifully drunken crowd of teamsters and soldiers by the time we camped that night. Some of the wagons got tipped over and a few things were spilled out, our tent poles among them, which were never found; somebody jayhawked them, I suppose. The result was, the governor and I came to grief, or rather [to] a small wedge tent instead of our statelier wall one. There is this advantage about it, however: it isn t half the trouble to pitch, and that s no mean item when you are tired and hungry. On the next day, a soldier in their escort, when lighting his pipe while passing through high grass, started a prairie fire upwind of an isolated farm. Fortunately no structures were lost but the settler s haymow and corn stack his summer s work were destroyed. Members of the party took up a collection to make up his loss. Judge Allyn again, our first antelope made his appearance and crossed the road right in front of the advance guard, not a carbine was loaded else he might have been easily shot. The soldiers darted off in pursuit; perfect folly, for the antelope is the fleetest of animals and can pass the most inaccessible places. Some buffalo were seen at a great distance and I saw a beautiful tame one among some oxen near the road. That same day they passed Salina, Kansas, the last town and post office until New Mexico. Two days later, Jonathan Richmond a young man who would become the court clerk for Territorial Supreme Court Justice William T. Howell wrote home that they, routed a drove of fifty-seven buffalo, and in the lapse of an hour four lay dead, and were fast losing flesh in the shape of roasts, steaks, etc. The party chaplain, Rev. Hiram Reed on his way to take the post of territorial postmaster showed a surprising skill at butchering: He is the only one in the party that knows how to do it, wrote Judge Allyn. He cut out the tongue and the hump, stripped off enough of the hide to make a bag to put the meat into, tied it up with string made of strips of the hide, all almost as quick as I write this. The next day three more buffalo were killed and butchered and much of the meat was cut up into strips and dried to provide jerky to supplement their fresh meat supply. Buck fever erupted at the first sightings of these grand animals. Judge Allyn again: During the day one large bull came sweeping down reviewing the train. He passed safely from front to rear guard, more than a mile, at some five hundred yards from the road. It was an exciting scene. From all the ambulances men were hurrying out with rifles, while the soldiers had nearly all broken ranks in the mad excitement, and dashed off in chase. Rifle and pistol balls were whistling all around and it was a wonder that no one was hit, including the buffalo. 13

18 The easiest part of the trip was over the terrain was changing and so was the weather. The next significant stop would be two weeks later at Ft. Lyon, Colo., where they would prepare to cross the 8000-foot Raton Pass. They departed from Fort Larned after three days, proceeding to the Cimarron Crossing of the Arkansas River where they took the Santa Fe Trail s north fork, on the way to Fort Lyon, Colorado, choosing the longer route for its better water availability. There was a gradual rise in elevation and they began to encounter early snowstorms. Obtaining water required new procedures; instead of free flowing streams they were forced to dig into apparently dry streambeds to find water for man and beast. They found the result of sand filtering to be pleasant. A more serious issue was providing proper feed for their horses and mules as summarized by Judge Allyn in one of his letters, want of grass begins to tell upon our animals, or rather too much corn, for it requires rough feed, as they call it, that is grass, hay, corn-stalks, &c, to digest corn especially with mules. Wood for fires became scarce, and they were forced to rely on dry buffalo chips for fuel. Jonathan Richmond wrote home, Being out of the wood district, were obliged to use, as a substitute, buffalo 'chips,' which, to our surprise, made a better fire than the wood we had been using. He added, It is amusing to see all, from the Governor down, out on the prairie, bag in hand, collecting 'chips.' On the other hand, Richmond noted that spirits were high: Our party, the escort, the teamsters, and all attached to the party, have enjoyed excellent health and are in fine spirits. The killing of one of the teamsters by the assistant wagon-master striking him over the head with a spade, is the only thing that has happened to mar the pleasure of the journey, thus far. News of the Gold Finds Sunday, Oct 25, 1863, they arrived at Fort Lyon and two days later Richmond wrote a letter that started with a routine description of the fort and the nearby Indian encampments. Then came exciting news: The governor has a Santa Fe paper of the 17th of October, from which I have been reading an official report of Capt. N. J. Pishon, U. S. A., concerning the recent mining discoveries among the San Francisco mountains. He continued, Pishon says in his report that the mines are far richer than any previously discovered. He was there twelve days, travelling and prospecting. Gold was found everywhere. Many of the men of our train intend going into the mines on our arrival. Judge Allyn s next letter did not mention the gold discoveries, but wrote of his concern about the weather and the 8000-foot Raton Pass: We were detained there [Fort Lyon] four days, first for repairs and the necessity of rest, and last by a severe snow storm, the most severe known here since the post was established. We passed the time comfortably enough in camp, barring a few frozen toes and some things of that sort, but it was difficult to avoid gloomy anticipation and forebodings with regard to the passage of the mountains as one looked at the shivering animals picketed around. Their next passage would take them over the 8000-foot Raton Pass and on to Fort Union, New Mexico, where they would hear more news of the gold rush and where a historic decision would be made. Raton Pass was noted for sudden, severe storms that often trapped travelers, some times fatally. They left Lyon in a heavy 14

19 snowstorm, and subsequently found no grass for mules and horses in four days of travel. When they did come to an area with forage it was too late to prevent the deaths of several of their weather-beaten and malnourished animals. They Enter New Mexico Fortunately the weather cooperated, passage over the pass was easier than they had feared and the crossing into New Mexico was uneventful, Two days later they had their first exposure to New Mexico land ownership patterns based on Mexican land grants still recognized by the United States. There the wealthy holders of the land lived like feudal lords, while the poor families who labored for them were held in a state of peonage. Beyond this, Judge Allyn was disturbed to discover that at one large ranch, All the house servants were Navajo girls, captive slaves in fact, for, in defiance of law, they are bought and sold. They make the best of servants it is said, but that is no very good reason why they should be stolen, although it is not very popular to suggest that here. Judge Allyn was more impressed with the prospects for cattle and sheep ranching than for the lure of gold. Given security from Indians and this stock raising is a surer way to a fortune than the richest gulch in the new El Dorado to which we journey. Sheep almost treble annually and disease is a thing almost unheard of among them. Now that they are beginning to shear them the profit is enormous, for your capital more than doubles annually with out estimating the wool at all. The Navajo Indians today own several millions of sheep. A few years ago they had none; so you see thieving pays. The governor and party had arrived during the campaign by General James Carleton to pacify the Navajo Indians and to move them to a reservation far from their established homeland. Feelings against the Navajos were extreme because of their incessant stock raids on Pueblo tribes and the Mexican-American villages. Allyn quoted a prominent New Mexican resident who told of once splendid pasture with herds and flocks. Now the Navajos reign supreme and the few sheep left are driven into town every night. So completely are the rancheros at the mercy of the Indian now, that tender mutton is an impossibility in this land of sheep, the animals having to be driven so far that they keep poor. Cultural differences continued to capture Allyn s interest, This day we camped at a Mexican village of several hundred inhabitants, nearly all peons of the same man. As this was our first real Mexican town, it excited considerable curiosity, and our party began to wonder if Tucson were like this, and I suspect that there was quite a general disgust; to one accustomed solely to American towns, nothing can be more forlorn looking than an adobe village. General Carleton Greets Them On November 9, 1863, they arrived at Fort Union New Mexico and Allyn reported their greeting. General Carleton was here waiting for us, and the Governor s salute echoed from the surrounding mountains as we wheeled into camp. After a meeting between the general and the governor it was announced that Tucson would be bypassed and they would proceed directly to the mines by the Whipple route. Allyn, a member of a prosperous family, expressed doubts about the new destination: We arranged at once to proceed to the field of the new discoveries in the centre of Arizona, and not go to Tucson at all. This saves us 200 miles of land, but leaves us in the woods, in the winter, in about the latitude of 15

20 Memphis, at an elevation of at least 5,000 feet above the sea to found a city. On the other hand, court clerk to-be Jonathan Richmond, from a less affluent background, was gleeful that Tucson would be bypassed: [W]e proceed directly to the mines every one in the party is gold struck. The fever is raging furiously. Across New Mexico Slowly The next stage of the cross-country trip for Governor Goodwin s party took them quickly from Fort Union to Santa Fe where they began to encounter a series of delays. And then on to Albuquerque to experience yet more delays. It was not until Dec 8, 1863, that they were finally on the way to Fort Wingate, the last lonely outpost of civilization before reaching Fort Whipple if it would exist and if they could find it, both events expected but not guaranteed. In all, they had over three weeks in delays, some unavoidable, some not. Much of the unavoidable delay came from the need to find replacement animals for those that had taken them this far. Judge Allyn wrote while en route to Albuquerque, If there is any country where one needs and learns patience it is New Mexico, and if there is any particular thing in which it is more required than in any other it is in the movements of trains, especially if they be government ones. Yet when one gets accustomed to the slow, deliberate way of doing things here, and falls in with it, it is not so unpleasant as you would think it. There is something in the climate that makes mere living so pleasant that persons get over looking for their pleasure in the results of things done. They had expected to leave Santa Fe on a Monday, Allyn wrote, but obstinate and lazy blacksmiths and carpenters combined to make it impossible to start on Monday, and six inches of snow that morning rendered it exceedingly undesirable, so Wednesday was agreed upon as the final day.... Entertainment following entertainment demonstrated that the hospitality of the good people here was as untiring as it was lavish, and days slipped rapidly away. It was quite late on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, when we finally started southward. Those nightly entertainments had consisted chiefly of the bailé or fandango dances (quadrilles and slow waltzes) and Allyn left a detailed but chaste account of his late night experiences among Santa Fe s demi-monde. He found the nightly dances they attended while at Albuquerque to be more sedate and elegant. At each New Mexican town or village along the way they were feted with nightly dances that they welcomed after 50 days of isolation. At Fort Union two of the Missouri cavalry companies of their escort returned east; the third continued on, the escort now to be under command of Lt. Col. J. F. Chavez of the First Regiment, New Mexico Volunteers. At Albuquerque the escort was joined by Captain Rafael Chacón and 29 troopers of New Mexico volunteer cavalry. The presence of the New Mexicans with their experience fighting the Navajos was welcome since there were fears of stock loss to Navajo raiders. The Army s campaign against the Navajos was in full swing, but many of the warriors refused to surrender and be forced onto a reservation, this despite desperate conditions for themselves and families. Allyn again, As the winter approaches, the suffering of these Indians increase. They dare not build large fires, they are out of food and clothing, so that we may reasonably expect that large numbers will follow the example of these and come in; while on the part of those that remain, the war 16

21 will be prosecuted with an increased vigor from [sic] their very suffering. It will require at the hands of our escort the utmost vigilance to prevent the successful raiding of our large train. On December 13, 1863, six days after leaving Albuquerque, they reached Fort Wingate and were welcomed as only one can be at a frontier post. Shut out and isolated as a soldier is, the arrival of a stranger is a godsend. Your horse goes to corn and you to a lunch in less time than it takes to describe it. Oyster and champagne form the bill of fare. Fort Whipple is Established As Arizona Territory s first Governor and his official party were slowly crossing northern New Mexico Territory they were following in the wake of another combined military and civilian expedition headed to the central Arizona diggings. The army part of the expedition on their way to establish a military presence for the area numbered about 180 officers and men. Their transport required mule teams, ox- drawn wagons and three ambulances tended by civilian teamsters and drovers to carry their equipment and supplies. They were joined on the way by a number of New Mexican merchants with wagons loaded with goods to sell at the new dig- gings, and also driving 500 head of beef and 1,500 head of sheep for hungry miners. Major Edward B. Willis of the California Volunteers led the expedition which com- pleted its assembly at Fort Wingate on No- vember 7, The Army s force included two infantry companies, commanded by Captains Benson and Hargrave, plus Cap- tain Nathaniel Pishon and a portion of his cavalry company. Captain Pishon then guided the force along the route he and Robert Groom had pioneered the previous summer following the Beale wagon road west to Antelope Springs where they turned more southerly. General Carleton s instructions to Major Willis were to establish a military post near the gold fields to be known as Fort Whipple in honor of Gen. Amiel W. Whipple, who had recently been killed in the Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville. There they would, preserve order and give security to life and property in that region until the civil officers of Arizona now en route from the east shall arrive within that Territory and shall establish and set in motion the machinery of civil government. Other than the military officers, few names of those on the expedition are known. Army contract surgeon Dr. Charles Lieb and his wife Mary Catherine were the only married couple known to be with the Army contingent, although there may well have been some women with the New Mexican merchants. Albert Franklin Banta, was one of the civilian bullwackers driving the oxen. He later became a newspaperman and many times public servant in the territory. His later boast was that he had held more public offices than anyone else in the territory. Two members of the Roman Catholic clergy of New Mexico also joined the expedition, Bishop J. B. Lamy, whose diocese included both New Mexico and Arizona, and an assistant, Father J. M. Coudert. Bishop Lamy was making his first visit to the western portion of his spiritual domain, and while at the diggings would offer Christmas Day Mass 1863 for 20 to 25 men kneeling on the snow-covered earth along Granite Creek. Fort Whipple was formally established December 23, 1863, at Del Rio Springs in Little Chino Valley, a spot suggested by Captain Pishon for its abundance of water and grass. 17

22 However it was not an ideal spot, as it lacked timber and was situated some thirty miles from the diggings at Lynx Creek. The journey there had not been without incident. Weather across the 35 th parallel was exceedingly cold and stormy, and by the time Willis s command reached the base of the San Francisco Peaks the oxen were failing to such an extent that it became necessary to cache some of the stores at the head of Sycamore Canyon, leaving behind 11 soldiers (Fred G. Hughes, as NCO in charge) to guard them. It was nearly a month before a relief party commanded by Lieutenant Pomeroy arrived with 40 mules all the mule teams of the command. That night, in Hughes words, The herd was stampeded, every hoof taken, and one of our herders shot. Three weeks later a second relief party arrived at the cache, bringing oxen to haul the stored materials to Ft. Whipple, reaching there in late January, shortly before arrival of the Governor s Party. Arizona Territory at Last Governor Goodwin and his party left Fort Wingate, New Mexico, on December 20, 1863, after a wait for the heavy wagons to catch up and be readied. In addition to the two companies of cavalry that served as their escort and their heavy freight wagons, they were accompanied by a number of freight wagons owned by New Mexican merchants and by their 500 steers, that always went ahead opening the road, according Captain Rafael Chacón of the escort. Their next significant stop was two days later at Fish Springs (Ojo Del Pescado) where they took two days to repair wagons and rest the animals, and for an impromptu celebration of Christmas Eve, with music, patriotic speeches and hot toddies all in a pelting snowstorm. They found the occasion to be, unique, impromptu and a success. Christmas Day they resumed their way to the diggings, next passing through the Zuni Pueblo. Judge Allyn reported that, Our party spent most of the day in Zuni and a lively market day ensued. We wanted burros, the Zunis had burros. So, counting out silver and spreading out blankets, cotton cloth, etc., negotiations began... The Indians were shrewd; just as the bargain for one was nearly fin- 18

23 ished, it was discovered that he was blind; another had another defect, and so on. After the animals we wanted were picked out, it took a long time to fix the price, and much longer to pay it, for each piece of money was closely scrutinized, and much of the silver we had was in dimes. On December 29 they arrived at Navajo Springs, certain that they finally were in Arizona Territory. It was thus time to have a formal ceremony announcing the presence of the new government charged with organization of the territory s political structure. A Proclamation is Issued They had hoped to hold the inauguration ceremony at newly established Fort Whipple before the end of December, but previous delays made that impossible. The pressure to hold the ceremony before the end of the year was caused by wording of the Organic Act that led to the impression that at least some of the officers otherwise might not be eligible for 1863 salaries. Because of the change in plans, the preprinted copies of the proclamation had to be amended by hand to change the ceremony s location from Fort Whipple to Navajo Springs and the December 29, 1863, date was added. The amendments also included the statement that, The seat of government will for the present be at or near Fort Whipple. The body of the proclamation outlined some of the important actions to be taken by the new government beginning with holding a special census and formation of judicial districts, and followed by election of members of the legislative assembly and of other officers provided by the Organic Act. The ceremony at Navajo Springs was an important event in Arizona s territorial history but it got scant recognition by the two correspondents in the party. Jonathan Richmond wrote briefly of the event, We arrived here to-day, and the Governor has issued his proclamation, a copy of which I enclose. Judge Allyn, on the other hand, neglected to mention the event at all in his next letter to Hartford. The only contemporary account of the event appeared in the premier issue of the Arizona Miner newspaper on March 9, 1864, which features a report of the paper s owner, Territorial Secretary Richard McCormick, conducting the ceremony and hardly mentions Governor Goodwin at all. The ceremony was opened with a brief speech by Secretary McCormick followed by hoisting of Old Glory and a prayer by Reverend Reed. Mr. McCormick administered the oath of office to Chief Justice William Turner, and to Associate Justices William Howell and Mr. Allyn. Chief Justice Turner then swore in Governor Goodwin and District Attorney Almon Gage. The Governor s proclamation was read aloud in English by Mr. McCormick, then in Spanish by Mr. Read. The Governor s Party was still three weeks away from completing their journey and were facing a spectacular obstacle in Hell Canyon which would be a source of extreme problems for the heavy freight wagons. The Final Leg to Fort Whipple After leaving Navajo Springs, Governor John Goodwin s party of territorial officials and their military escort followed the Puerco River to the Little Colorado River, then past the Cosino Caves (now Walnut Canyon National Monument) and onward to Volunteer Springs (south of today s Bellemont). From there they turned further south, using records from Lt. Amiel Whipple s 1853 exploration, and more recent notes from Surveyor General Clark, for their guides. 19

24 PmoGr.nM loff. TO THE PEOPLE OF ARIZONA: I, JOHN N. GOODMN, having been appointed by the President of the United States, and duly qualified, as Governor of the TERRITORY OF ARIZONA, do hereby announce that by virtue of the powers with which I am invested by an Act of the Congress of the [Jnited Statesr providing a temporary government for the Territor/r I shall this d.y proceed to organize said government. The provisions of the Act, and all laws and enactments established thereby, will be enforced by the proper Territorial officers from and after this date. A preliminary census will forthwith be tak tr, and thereafter the Judicial Districts will be formed, and an election of members of the Legislative Assembly, and the other officers, provided by the Act, be ordered. I invoke the aid and co-operation of all citizens of the Territory in my efforts to establish a government whereby the security of life and property will be maintained throughout its limits, and its varied resources be rapidly and successfully developed. ffipd JOHI\ ]){. GOODWII{. &ffiffi c"*g6f t#s*" By the Governor: RICHARD C. M'CORh{ICK,._@ secretary of the Territory' RIZONA Facsimile copy of the Governor s Proclamation establishing Arizona s Territorial Government on December 29, 1863, while en route to Fort Whipple. 20

25 From the beginning at Leavenworth, Kansas, in September 1863, the party could travel only as fast as the slowest oxen-drawn freight wagon. After passing through New Mexico, the pace was even slower for the Beale Road hardly deserved the name. Still worse struggles were yet to come for they were about to enter an area with no developed roads forcing more frequent rest days for equipment repair and recuperation of animals. Impatience with the enforced slow pace had been building, thus, at an estimated two days ride from Fort Whipple, four mounted members of the party, including Judge Allyn, and Secretary Richard McCormick, accompanied on foot by six soldiers, went ahead on their own. As they approached the recently emptied Fort Whipple cache at Sycamore Canyon they found stuck on a tree a note from Lt. Pomeroy warning that the road ahead was nearly impassable and that Tonto Apaches had stolen 40 of his mules and were in open hostility. They continued on in bright moonlight until halting near midnight but fearing to light a fire lest hostile Indians would discover them. In the morning, Indian smoke signals could be seen, in every direction. After crossing Hell Canyon, they arrived at Fort Whipple in time to get dinner on January 17, In his next letter to the Hartford Courier, Judge Allyn observed, Our welcome was of the most cordial character, and reports from the mines are the most favorable. The rest of the official party arrived five days later. The heavy freight wagons were several days further behind because of the difficultto-traverse Hell Canyon. Judge Allyn wrote of Hell Canyon as, The most infernal canon for wagons I have seen yet. It was about 300 feet deep and the sides were nearly perpendicular, and covered with rolling stones. I doubt if wagons can get down except by letting them down with ropes. The military escort s commander Lieutenant Col. J. Francisco Chavez confirmed Allyn s opinion, This is by far the worst canyon I ever saw for wagons to cross and at first sight it appears impossible. Capt. Rafael Chacón of the escort described the actuality of the crossing: It took us eight days to go through this canyon. Carts and wagons were lowered with a team of horses, with the four wheels tied with rope and half a pine tree fastened behind. Thus they lowered them, one by one, with their corresponding cargo. In order to make our way up, we cleared a space large enough in order that three rows of mules with twenty teams in each row could work. They spread them out to the sides and when they were united together again they had progressed the wagons about eight or ten yards, and we returned to open up the teams until they could get to the top. Jonathan Richmond wrote of the governor s greeting at Fort Whipple, "Our arrival here was announced by the firing of a Governor's Salute of eighteen guns on the morning of the 22nd. Offers of prayers and thanksgiving should have been made, but upon viewing the site which Major Willis had selected for a military post, and, if suitable, for a capitol, we concluded to let the thing slide. Richmond s further comments give a clue to the fort s future. After praising the fine grass available for feeding the animals he noted the lack of wood for buildings and heating, and remoteness from the miners. The next months would be extremely busy ones for the new officials while they established the political structure necessary for a functioning territorial government. One early action would be Governor Goodwin s exploration of his new domain taking him to Tucson and southern Arizona in hid search for the most appropriate site for the Territorial Capitol. 21

26 Part 6: The New Officials Take Charge T he year 1864 was a busy one for Arizona s newly arrived territorial officers, for there was much to be done to establish a functioning government in what had been a sorely neglected part of New Mexico Territory. Governor Goodwin put high priority on learning about his new domain and its residents and scheduled trips to visit key locations. The first trip started two weeks after his arrival at Fort Whipple when he visited the nearby Pioneer and Walker mining districts. A highlight of that brief trip came at Joe Walker s camp where he joined an evening meeting honoring the participants in the Battle of Bloody tanks and their leader King S. Woolsey. The governor praised Woolsey s efforts and named him his military aide with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. It also prompted the governor to deliver a speech recommending the extermination of hostile Indians. Governor Goodwin s next exploration would be a lengthier jaunt east to the Verde River, an area reputed to be rich in minerals. In addition to a military escort he was joined by a group of civilians and by Judge Joseph Allyn who continued to keep the people of Hartford, Conn., informed through his newspaper accounts. Allyn s correspondence made it clear that members of the party were spoiling for a fight to gain revenge for Indian stock raids. The governor s expedition marshaled at Woolsey s Agua Fria Ranch, departing on February 21. They travelled light, with equipment and supplies limited to what could be carried by pack animals over rugged terrain. On Saturday, February 27, there was a brief skirmish with Indians resulting in the deaths of Private Fisher of the escort and five Indians. That evening two of Woolsey s employees caught up with the news that Indians had for the third time stripped the Agua Fria Ranch of every hoof except oxen ploughing near the house. A second skirmish, at an Indian rancheria, was inconclusive, with no known fatalities on either side. The expected mineral deposits did not materialize and on March 11, after going up the Verde River as far as Montezuma s Castle, the governor and most of his party started back to Fort Whipple. Judge Allyn and a companion took a side trip to the Salt River Valley where he commented on the remains of an extensive irrigation system left by an ancient farming civilization. Meanwhile, two appointed territorial officials who had not travelled with the Governor s party Charles D. Poston, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and Milton B. Duffield, Territorial Marshal reached Tucson in mid- January and were wondering when the others might arrive. Governor Goodwin had dispatched Duffield to San Francisco with a request to the army for additional military protection. Duffield chose the ocean steamer route to San Francisco, arriving in early November. The request for additional troops was turned down, but he was offered transportation across the desert to Tucson with a cavalry company soon to leave For14Pt Drum. Why Poston did not travel in relative comfort with the Governor s Party is uncertain, but he 22

27 opted to jolt his way west by stagecoach, arriving in San Francisco in late November He, like Duffield, then travelled to Southern California by ocean steamer, leaving Drum Barracks for the desert journey a few days behind the marshal. Travels of the Poston and Duffield parties began to overlap at Fort Yuma where Duffield spent time prospecting and Poston began his Indian agent duties by distributing presents to the local Indian tribes. They left Fort Yuma separately, but both arrived in Arizona Territory in late December thus relieving any question about pay caused by wording in the Arizona Organic Act. Once at Tucson, their paths separated. Poston continued on to distribute gifts to friendly southern Arizona tribes and to revisit the area where he had run a silver mining operation before being driven out by Apaches in Duffield had little to do in Tucson since there was no existing court system, leaving him idle until February when he was directed to come to Fort Whipple where he would take charge of the territory s first census. Poston on completing his tour of southern Arizona began combining his chores as Indian Agent with a successful campaign for the elective position of first Territorial Representative to Congress. The Arizona Miner Begins To those of us who still use newspapers, March 9, 1864, was an important day in local history for that is when the first issue of the Arizona Miner newspaper was published at Fort Whipple, then still at Del Rio Springs. Some may argue that that the Miner was not the first newspaper published within Arizona s boundaries the Weekly Arizonian had been published briefly before the Civil War, first in Tubac and then at Tucson but the Miner was the first newspaper published in the newly formed Arizona Territory, and for many years was a prominent voice commenting on territorial affairs. Territorial Secretary Richard McCormick brought the materials needed to publish a newspaper overland with the Governor s Party. These materials included a used printing press of 1820s vintage and handset type fonts. According to McClintock s History of Arizona, that press was in use in Prescott as late as 1880, but was destroyed in the Whiskey Row fire of Even then the bed was recovered and used as an imposing stone. The nominal publisher was Tisdale A. Hand, a 23-year-old immigrant from New York, though it is certain that the owner, Secretary McCormick, contributed much of the editorial matter. Albert Franklin Banta who had arrived with the Fort Whipple founders as a bullwhacker, was Hand s assistant for the early issues. In the manner of the times, the Miner had a motto, "The Gold of that Land is Good." It consisted of four pages, with four columns to the page, and initially was published twice monthly before becoming a weekly in Advertising in the first issue occupied only a single column on page four and included jewelry and watch making services, postage stamps and envelopes for sale, and a $100 dollar reward for recovery of Marshal Duffield s lost horse. Additional embellishments on the first page included images of the American Flag and the original territorial seal designed by Secretary McCormick. Editorial content included a description of the governor s proclamation ceremony at Navajo Springs including the text of Secretary McCormick s remarks. The Organic Act establishing Arizona Territory was also printed in full. Much of the remain- 23

28 First Issue of the Arizona Miner Newspaper 24

29 ing columns contained filler material from other sources, a common practice of the time. Page two led off with pledges to emphasize local news and everything outside of note. And there were statements that the Miner would be independent and non-partisan, which political foes of the Secretary must have found amusing. Some of the local news items found in the first issue: Urgent need for stage routes to Albuquerque and Mesilla; Considerations of where the Territorial Capital should be located; Indian troubles including the third raid on King S. Woolsey s Agua Fria ranch; and information on the upcoming special census. After Fort Whipple moved to its new location on Granite Creek, the newspaper moved to the new Prescott townsite. Their offices were located across from the town plaza in a frame building that the paper proudly announced was the first building completed in the townsite. The first issue published with a Prescott dateline was June 22 and the paper apologized for missing one edition due to the move. Publisher Hand did not remain in Prescott for long. Banta, although a not totally reliable source, shed some light on his departure telling of an incident, featuring Editor Hand and a desperado named Lou Thrift. He told that one day at dinner in the Prescott House Hand got into a political argument with Thrift, a native of Virginia and ardent Confederate supporter, and in the dispute Hand was so indiscrete as to call Thrift a liar. Thrift proposed to settle the matter then and there with Colonel Colt as arbiter. Hand demurred saying he was unarmed and never carried a pistol. Thrift then drew one of his two six-shooters, cocked it, and placed it beside Hand s plate indicating he was free to use it. Hand prudently declined to do any shooting. Thrift, boiling with rage, picked up his gun, and slowly returned it to its scabbard. Banta concluded his story with, Shortly after this Mr. Hand left the country for the East. The Governor Travels South By early April 1864 Governor Goodwin was on the road again; this time headed to southern Arizona to visit the Tucson and Tubac areas. Before departing for points south, the governor (and Secretary McCormick) had completed two necessary tasks preceding the elections of the territorial legislators and the representative to Congress. First was to create the three judicial districts that also would serve as the original legislative districts. Second was to establish the ground rules for the special census that, among other things, would determine how many councilmen and representatives each district would have in the bicameral legislature. Just below the community of Weaver (sometimes called Weaverville or Antelope) the governor encountered a party headed for Fort Whipple that included Indian Agent Charles Poston and Judge Joseph Allyn who were being escorted by 60 Maricopa and Pima Indians led by Chiefs Juan Cheveria and Juan Manuel. The news that the governor shared with Poston and Allyn was bad. Half the population had left to avoid starvation and death (at Weaver the estimated population had dropped from 400 to 100). Fort Whipple was thronged with fugitives; and there wasn t an animal fit to use left in the country. And King S. Woolsey was leaving with 100 men on a second expedition against the Apaches. After stopping at Weaver where Maricopa Chief Cheveria was celebrated as a hero for 25

30 his role in the Bloody Tanks affair Poston and his Indian escort abandoned a plan to visit the Hopi villages and instead headed to a hoped-for rendezvous with Woolsey to help on his new anti-apache campaign. Allyn and two companions continued on to Fort Whipple,... a melancholy journey, past burned and deserted cabins. Governor Goodwin continued to Southern Arizona where he would remain for almost two months while the citizens of Arizona waited to hear which location the governor would choose for the first legislature, and would-be politicians waited to learn what openings they might vie for. A Special Census is Taken During the absence of the governor from central Arizona during April and most of May 1864, the taking of the special census was the most noteworthy event. Territorial Marshal Milton Duffield led the effort. He chose to cover the first (southern) district himself, and appointed Charles A. Phillips to the second (western) district, and Minister/Postmaster Hyrum Read to the third (northern) district. There was a profound racial bias to the census since Indians even friendly tribes were excluded. An analysis of the 1864 census shows the total non-indian population of Arizona to be 4573, slightly higher than an abstract of the results used by the governor in allocating seats in the legislature. The third district headcount including some late entries was 1088 and was centered about the area that would soon become Prescott. The population was heavily male, with the 49 women and girls outnumbered 22 to one. Single women outnumbered the married ones and there was a scattering of children. There were 19 married couples, one pair being spliced by the Rev. Reed while taking the census. Race and ethnicity was ignored by the census, but in the third district over half the women and 300 of the men were born in Mexico or places that had been part of Mexico until About half of those counted were born in the United States, but 24 other nations of origin were identified. Almost 200 of the men were married to women left behind in the states or in native lands, some never seeing those spouses again. There are accounts of early arrivals conveniently forgetting their marriage vows and finding new wives locally. The list of occupations given to the census taker ranged from the whimsical, bummer and whatever to a wide list of serious occupations, although miner, soldier and laborer were the three most common. There was one whiskey seller and one minister/postmaster. Seventeen of the single ladies listed their occupation as mistress which is open to interpretation. Of political importance, the census answered the question of how power in the first territorial legislature would be divided. The southern district (Tucson mainly) was assigned just under half the seats, making it a good bet that the two most powerful offices, the Council President and the House Speaker would go to men from Tucson. A Townsite is Surveyed and Named April 1864 had been a quiet month, but windy, and once the Governor had left for southern Arizona, there was little going on politically except the tedious task of completing the first census and Indian Agent Poston s travels in search of votes for Territorial Representative to Congress. One event of some interest came when Robert W. Groom surveyed a quarter section west of Granite Creek that Secretary McCormick claimed and named Pinal Ranch. McCor- 26

31 The Combination Office and Residence Shared by the Territorial Governor and Secretary mick s intentions for the land would become known only after the Governor s return. While the announcement of where the first legislature would meet would wait until after the July 18 elections, there were hints maybe only wishful thinking that since Fort Whipple had been moved to Granite Creek, the Governor must have decided that this would be the place. Therefore, some interested citizens, primarily Robert W. Groom and Van C. Smith with no documented authorization started the actions essential to establish a suitable site for a capital city. Those citizens picked two adjacent quarter sections located between Pinal Ranch and Fort Whipple as appropriate, and Mr. Groom with a small crew surveyed streets and avenues and alleys and blocks divided into lots. Shortly after the Governor arrived back from Tucson May 24, an anonymous notice was widely posted saying, There will be a public meeting held at the store of Don Manuel, on Granite Creek, on Monday evening, May 30, 1864, for the purpose of considering and adopting the best mode of disposing of lots in the proposed town. The Federal laws controlling such disposition of public lands posed some problems, but a work-around was found that was not perfect, but ultimately was confirmed. The Arizona Miner in its next issue the first published in Prescott reported on the meeting, noting that Mr. Groom was chosen to preside and Miner Publisher Tisdale Hand was appointed secretary. Dr. J. T. Alsop of Lynx Creek had a prominent role introducing a series of resolutions, which were unanimously adopted after some discussion. No count of or list of attendees was published. The first two resolutions approved the townsite as surveyed by Groom and that it would be named Prescott in recognition of the prominent historian. Whether Secretary McCormick was present or not is unknown, but he did accept credit for the name suggestion. (Interestingly, official use of the name 27

32 Prescott is found in a governor s proclamation dated four days earlier.) The next resolutions adapted federal law to recognize local circumstances, first declaring: That we believe it to be for the best interest of all concerned, that the lots be sold and disposed of under the act of Congress approved March 2d, And then declaring, That on account of the great delay which must attend communication with the Secretary of the Interior, (owing to the lack of mail facilities), and in the absence of a Register and Receiver of the Land Office in this district, that Messrs. Van C. Smith, Hezekiah Brooks, and R. W. Groom, are hereby appointed to act as Commissioners... in laying out, appraisement and disposition of the lots in accordance with the said Act of Congress. The commissioners acted quickly and the first auction of lots was held just five days later. In all probability the store of Don Manuel on Granite Creek was the property of a young hispano from New Mexico who was one of the New Mexican merchants who came to the diggings with the Fort Whipple founding party. The 1864 )*+,-,!./! 01,2,!34+-*0!561,461!47*!"%8!9.6+!1+!:*;! 3*<1).8! 4+! =61>.+4! 6*,1?*+2!./! /1@*! A.+2B,8!.))-C421.+! A*6)B4+28!;12B! 6*40! 42! DE8FFF8! 4+?! C*6,.+40! *,242*!42!DE"8FFFG!! That original log cabin served a variety of purposes for the next 70 years before being moved to the Sharlot Hall Museum grounds as Fort Misery.! A Plaza is Specified A housekeeping resolution provided for a portion of the lot sales to pay for the expenses of the survey. However, all other payments on the lots were to await perfection of the title to the lots by the general government. One final piece of business was proposed, this time by Mr. Charles Dorman, and again unanimously approved, that the 88 th anniversary of American Independence be celebrated on July 4 in Prescott. In the days that followed, the Governor and Secretary moved their tents to Pinal Ranch across Granite Creek from the townsite and began arrangements for construction of a large log building that they would share as a combination government office and residence. And thus the town of Prescott began through the efforts of a few men who refused to let legal technicalities interfere with necessity in order to enhance the prospects for bringing the territorial capital there. Now all they could do was to wait expectantly for the governor s official announcement, but that would not come until after the elections for the territorial legislature in July. Their efforts were rewarded. In late August, the Arizona Miner published the Governor s proclamation stating that the newly elected members of the Council and House of Representatives would meet at noon September 26, 1864, in Prescott. The recent wilderness area had become the territorial capital for now even though that role would not be permanent, for this was a plum that other communities craved. The next resolution would have a significant impact on the characteristics of the new town by stating, That at least one square in the proposed town site should be reserved for a public plaza... thus providing for our noteworthy courthouse plaza.! "(!

33 Part 7 Prescott Celebrates the Fourth of July On July 4, 1863, it is probable that the handful miners in the Central Arizona Highlands were too concerned with survival and hopes for wealth to give any thought to the nation s birthday. The twin problems of Isolation and Indians forced concentration on essentials. But a year later with the arrival of the Army and government officials, enough had changed for the better so that a celebration was in order even though the isolation caused shortages of almost everything and the Indians were still pesky. Independence Day in Prescott 1864 began with raising Old Glory on a 100-foot flagpole on the plaza, followed by a review of the Fort Whipple troops by Governor Goodwin. At noon the dignitaries appeared on a platform located at the southeast corner of the Plaza and Rev. H. W. Read opened the event with a prayer. Next, the Star Spangled Banner was performed by three musicians, on two violins and a banjo. Our Declaration of Independence was read in English by District Attorney Almon Gage and in Spanish by Milton Hadley. The orchestra then performed The Grave of Washington prior to an oration by Secretary McCormick. The Secretary s remarks were so well received that, by unanimous vote of those present, copies of the oration were asked to be printed (presumably on Secretary McCormick s Arizona Miner press). The ceremonies ended with firing of a national salute and the crowd scattered to the few available places where whisky was sold. The result according to the Miner, Nobody was hurt although the boys waxed very merry, and some of them very tipsy, and there was no little promiscuous firing of revolvers. Years later, Daniel Ellis Conner recalled that there were no ladies among the audience of about thirty or forty persons present, most of whom were miners dressed in all sorts of costumes. He continued on to elaborate on the appearances: The officers were dressed ordinarily, while the citizens, miners, or adventurer, whichever would be their proper name, for the most part were dressed most any way. None of them had coats. Some had moccasins on, while others wore old shoe tops alternately half-soled and worn out, probably a dozen times previously. Hosiery was unavailable and he described the miner make-do consisting of rectangles of cotton flour sacks to be in the height of fashion on this occasion, while the wearers had patched trousers and one... wore only his under pantaloons, because he had no trousers to put on. He continued, All of them had the remains of a check shirt and what was left of what was once a felt hat that had been mended so often that it was of many colors. The common costume also included pistols and butcher knives. Conner, a one-time Civil War insurrectionist, recalled of his life in the wilderness, This was the freest country on earth at that time. No civilization, laws or books. No restriction nor anything to eat. Thus ended the first celebration of the Fourth of July ever had in central Arizona and it was a success and pleased all the attendants. I remember that a light shower of rain fell after it was over on that day, the first of the season.! "#!

34 ! Prescott, Circa 1868! Sources 1864 Census for Arizona Territory, Historical Records Survey, 1938 Allyn, Joseph Pratt, Letters published in the Hartford Evening Press, using pseudonym Putnam, published between October 8, 1863 and February 12, 1864 (Sharlot Hall Museum Archives). Altshuler, Constance Wynn, editor, Latest from Arizona!, The Hesperian Letters, Arizona Miner newspaper, selected 1864 editions. Bates, Albert R., Jack Swilling, Arizona s Most Lied About Pioneer. Browne, J. Ross, Adventures in the Apache Country. Carleton, James, correspondence published in Farrish. Clark, John A, personal journal, (Sharlot Hall Museum Archives). Conner, Daniel Ellis, edited by Berthrong & Davenport, Joseph Reddeford Walker and the Arizona Adventure. Farrish, Thomas Edwin, History of Arizona. Griggs, George, et al, The Mexican Experience in Arizona. Henson, Pauline, Founding a Wilderness Capital. Meketa, Jacqueline Dorgan, Legacy of Honor, the life of Rafael Chacón, a Nineteenth-Century New Mexican. Nicolson, John, editor, The Arizona of Joseph Pratt Allyn, Letters From a Pioneer Judge. Poston, Charles D., Building a State in Apache Land. Sacks, B., M.D., Be it Enacted: The Creation of the Territory of Arizona. Arizona s Angry Man, United States Marshal Milton B. Duffield, (monograph). Sanders, Thomas, My Arizona Adventures, The Recollections of Thomas Dudley Sanders: Miner, Freighter and Rancher in Arizona Territory, Al Bates, editor. Richmond, Jonathan, letters published in Farrish. Walker, Joseph R., et al, Journal of the Pioneer and Walker Mining Districts, Yavapai County Archives.! $%!

35 ABOUT US The award-winning Prescott Corral ( was founded in 1962 as an affiliate of Westerners International ( an organization dedicated to the preservation of the real history of the American West. The Prescott Corral has a well-earned reputation for excellence in preserving Western history through its monthly dinner meetings, the annual History Symposium it co-sponsors with the Sharlot Hall Museum, and its contributions to other area historical preservation groups. ABOUT OUR CONTRIBUTORS Al Bates was the Prescott Corral Sheriff in 1998, and writes and speaks about events and people of Arizona Territory. He is the author of Jack Swilling; Arizona s Most Lied about Pioneer and the editor of My Arizona Adventures, the Recollections of Thomas Dudley Sanders, Miner, Freighter and Rancher in Arizona Territory. ABOUT THE BACK COVER: The design of this first Arizona Territorial Seal featuring a stalwart pick- and- shovel miner is credited to the first territorial secretary, Richard C. McCormick. It may not have been official but was used by the government, nevertheless, from 1864 until at least It reflects the primary basis of Arizona s economy at that time.

36 !!!!!