USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. II > Part 2
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body, fighting and quarrelling over it not more than ten feet from where St. John lay. An occasional pistol shot kept them from entering the enclosure. With Sunday morning came re- lief. Mr. Archibald, correspondent for the Memphis Avalanche, arrived from Tucson on his way to the Rio Grande. Seeing no flag fly- ing and no one moving about the station, he halted a half mile distant, leaving his horse with his companion, and approached with his gun cocked. St. John could not respond to his hal- loas as his tongue and throat were disabled from thirst. Archibald at once started for the spring, a mile distant up the canyon. He had no sooner left than three wagons of the Leach road party approached from the East. They, too, seeing no life about the station, left the road and made a detour about half a mile to the south-fear- ing an ambuscade. Then they cautiously ap- proached the corral on foot. In the party were Col. James B. Leach, Major N. H. Hutton and some other veterans, who quickly dressed St. John's wounds, which were full of maggots. They buried the bodies of Hughes and Cunning- ham in one grave. Laing still hung to life tenaciously although nothing could be done for him-he died on Monday.
"An express was started for Fort Buchanan by way of Tucson, as the direct route was not deemed safe for two men. They reached the fort on Wednesday following. The doctor, Asst. Sur- geon B. J. D. Irwin, started at once with an es- cort and reached Dragoon on Friday morning- the ninth day after St. John was wounded. The arm was amputated at the socket. Six days
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
afterward, St. John got into a wagon and rode to the fort; five days later he was able to walk about, and ten days thereafter, being twenty-one days from the operation, was able to mount a horse and ride to Tucson. A remarkably quick recovery from such severe wounds." (For an account of the operation upon St. John, and his recovery, see Surgeon's report, American Jour- nal of Medical Science, October, 1859.)
The Butterfield route was fully established in 1858, but was discontinued towards the close of the year 1860 on account of Indian depredations, and the almost certainty of war between the States.
The establishment of the Butterfield route, over which was run a tri-weekly stage for a dis- tance of two thousand miles, through an Indian country, over rough, natural roads, was a triumph that cannot be too highly praised. Through the wild Indian country, particularly the latter portion, which Cochise and Mangus Colorado claimed as their territory, it was ex- tremely hazardous, and was made mostly during the night. Of course there were occasional in- terruptions in the regular traffic; now and then stages were held up and their occupants killed and the stock driven off, but, considering the hazardous undertaking, the success attending can be considered as little short of marvelous.
The first stage left St. Louis September 15, 1858, being followed by a second the next day; the latter being necessary to handle the accumu- lation of mail. Both arrived in San Francisco October 10th, twenty-five days out in the one case, twenty-four in the other ; thus inaugurating
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the first transcontinental mail and passenger line on which continuous travel was kept up. Although the contract allowed them twenty-five days on the road, after the first few trips, the time was much shortened. It was divided into eight divisions and arranged as follows :
Miles. Hrs.
1. Tipton, Mo. to Ft. Smith, Ark. 2181% 49
2. Ft. Smith, Ark. to Col- bert's Ferry (now Dennison, Texas) . 192 38
3. Colbert's Ferry to Ft. Chad- burn .. 2821% 651%
4. Ft. Chadburn to El Paso 458 1261/5
5. El Paso to Tucson. 360
82
6. Tucson to Ft. Yuma. 280
713/4
7. Ft. Yuma to Los Angeles. .282
721/4
8. Los Angeles to San Francisco. 462 80
2535 585
This schedule was adhered to with remarkable accuracy. During 18 months the stage arrived at San Francisco late but three times. During the months of January and February, 1859, the two coaches, one from St. Louis, westbound, and the other from San Francisco, eastbound, met at the middle of the route near El Paso within three hundred yards of the same spot. Deducting time lost at stations, in changing horses, feed- ing passengers, crossing ferries, etc., this sched- ule required an average rate of five and one- half miles per hour, or one hundred and ten miles a day. The best time ever made from one terminus to the other was twenty-one days, twenty-three hours, the incentive being some spe-
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
cially important Government mail. A good part of the road was little better than a trail made by horsemen and pack animals. There was, how- ever, a wagon road from Tipton to Ft. Smith, Ark., and from El Paso to Yuma, the latter hav- ing been constructed by the Government. Although stages had been in operation from Los Angeles to San Francisco since 1854, the road across the Indian Territory and Texas was un- broken. Little or no work was ever done on the balance, except the building of a few short bridges and the cutting down of the banks of streams, the road going around obstacles rather than incurring the expense of removing them.
The trip was a hard and laborious one and not to be undertaken rashly. It meant twenty odd days confined in a hard-seated and practically springless stage coach, with the constant jar, night and day; at certain portions of the jour- ney being exposed to rain, and at others to the dust and heat from the desert by day, and to the cold by night. For long stretches water had to be hauled to the stations for miles. In Western Texas there was one station where water for both man and beast had to be hauled in casks twenty-two miles during four-fifths of the year. The stock being mostly of the variety known as bronchos, were vicious and unruly. It was not only trying on the nerves but an absolute nui- sance with cach fresh team, to have to go through the same process, bucking and rearing, followed by a stampede, only brought to an end by exhaustion, during which time the stage would run sometimes on one wheel and then on the other, over rocks and gullies, sometimes on
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the road, but oftener off it. Altogether the trip seemed to bear out the estimate made by an old Californian, who, writing from the East after having made the trip, said: "I know now what hell is, for I have had twenty-four days of it."
The trip was made only by those to whom time was an object, all others taking the less try- ing routes by Panama or Nicaragua, or even around Cape Horn.
The through passage cost $150 exclusive of meals, which were from forty cents to a dollar each. The bill of fare, outside of an occasional item of game, was abominable, consisting, ac- cording to the records, of chicory coffee, sweet- ened with molasses or brown sugar; hot, heavy biscuit; fried pork, floating in grease, and corn bread, from the hands of the frontier cook, soggy and unpalatable.
The Indians from Ft. Smith to the Colorado River were a constant menace. The despera- does of the Southwest, composed largely of Mexicans from Sonora, were even worse than the Apaches. Another bad element was made up of fugitives from justice from the Eastern states and California, it being asserted that Judge Lynch and the San Francisco Vigilantes were Arizona's best emigrant agencies. These regarded the Mexicans with great contempt, and the feeling between the two classes was bitter, resulting in a race war practically all the time.
In the four years ending 1861, one hundred and eleven Americans and fifty-seven Mexicans met violent deaths.
At the beginning of the Thirty-seventh Con- gress, in March, 1860, the country was on the
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
verge of internal war. The Southern element, which had caused the selection of this route, no longer controlled Congress. It was also appar- ent that the Southern States would secede from the Union, and that the line must be discon- tinued or changed to a different route. The route was never a popular one. The great over- land emigration followed the much shorter and less hazardous one by way of South Pass and Salt Lake. By act of Congress, approved March 2nd, 1861, the Southern Overland Mail Company was authorized and required to change from the Butterfield to the Central route, via South Pass and Salt Lake, the eastern terminus being fixed at St. Louis, Missouri, the western at Placer- ville, California. For this they were to receive one million of dollars per year for transporting the mail, and were required to handle letter mail six times a week on a twenty day schedule dur- ing eight months of the year, and on a twenty- three day schedule during the remaining four months; other mail to be carried on a thirty-five day schedule. Denver was to have a tri-weekly service; the company to run a pony express, etc. The charge for the pony express for delivering a letter was ten cents, and the time ten days from the Missouri River.
The old company was given a year in which to rearrange the route, being allowed the regular pay under their old contract for so much of this time as was required in removing their equip- ment and stock, and two months' pay as indem- nity for damages and losses incurred. Service from St. Louis over the Butterfield route was discontinued April 1st, 1861, and on July 1st of
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the same year, the new company started their first stage from St. Joseph. In abandoning this old route, they, of course, sacrificed all the im- provements they had made in the way of sta- tions, ferries, etc. They also suffered heavily from the loss of stock, equipment and forage. The Texans confiscated all they could gather to- gether, and the Indians, emboldened by the with- drawal of the troops, made a number of attacks, to the great detriment of the service and loss to the company, so it will be seen that the transfer of the stock and equipment was made in the face of great difficulties; it was no child's play to move a great number of stages and stock from Texas and Arizona to the Missouri route.
Notwithstanding overland service had been de- manded by the public for a long time, when the service was established, the public was slow to avail themselves of it. During October, 1858, but two thousand five hundred and nine letters were carried; in October, 1859, sixty-four thou- sand, and in March, 1860, one hundred and twelve thousand, six hundred and forty-five. The total postage paid on mail carried on the route from the start, September 15, 1858, up to March 31, 1860, was $71,378.00, about $3,860.00 per month, while it was costing the Postoffice Department $50,000.00 per month. It had hardly been established before efforts were made in Congress to withdraw it. Efforts to change the service to weekly trips instead of semi- weekly, were attempted. The Butterfield Com- pany, however, stood upon their contract, and no change was made. The agitation was largely
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
owing to the sectional fight in Congress at the time.
Financially the line was a failure. Its returns from passengers were comparatively small, the mail contract just about paying running ex- penses. The originators never received any re- turns from their original investment. The Com- pany was quite willing to part with their entire right, which they did by sale in 1861, to Ben Hol- liday and the Wells, Fargo & Company Express Company.
Over the Butterfield route was hauled machin- ery for the betterment of the Heintzelman and the Mowry mines. Prospectors covered that portion of the country, locating mining claims which eventually proved quite valuable. As al- ready stated in this history, Colonel Poston raised the capital necessary for the development of what was known as the Heintzelman Mine, Major Heintzelman, afterwards a Major-Gen- eral in the Federal Army, being President of the Company. They shipped large quantities of rich ore, some of it going as high as four and five thousand dollars a ton in silver, to the East, which served to throw new light upon the mineral resources of Arizona. Colonel Heintzelman se- cured a furlough from the Army, and for two years employed himself actively as Superintend- ent of the mine, up to 1860. Regarding the products of this mine, Poston says that it was yielding a profit of from twelve to fifteen thou- sand dollars a month, more than one-half of the ore reduced being net profit.
The same success attended the working of the Mowry mine. Lieutenant Mowry was a West
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Pointer, but had resigned his commission in the Army and turned his attention to mining, and, according to his statement, was making, at that time, a great success in the venture.
In 1857 the Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, organized an expedition in charge of Lieutenant J. C. Ives, Topographical Engineers to explore the Colorado River, the object being to ascertain how far the river was navigable for steamboats. With his report, which was submitted to the President by the Secretary of War, June 5th, 1860, Lieutenant Ives submitted his daily jour- nal of this expedition, a document of great inter- est to those interested in the early explorations made by the Government in Arizona. The transportation of supplies across the desert had been attended with such difficulties that in 1850 and 1851 General Smith, commanding the Pa- cific Division, sent a schooner from San Fran- cisco to the head of the Gulf of California and directed Lieutenant Derby, Topographical Engi- neers, the author of Phoenixiana, to make a re- connaissance with a view of establishing a route for supplies to Fort Yuma, via the Gulf and the Colorado. The result of the reconnaissance was successful and the route was at once put in operation. The freight carried in sailing ves- sels to the mouth of the river, was transported to the fort-the distance to which, by the river, is one hundred and fifty miles-at first in lighters, and afterwards in steamboats.
In 1851, Captain Sitgreaves, Topographical Engineers, with a party of fifty individuals, made an exploration from Zuni westward. He struck the Colorado at a point about 160 miles
2
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
above Fort Yuma, and followed the east side of the river, keeping as near to the bank as possible, to the fort.
In the Spring of 1854, Lieutenant Whipple, Topographical Engineers, in command of an ex- pedition for the exploration and survey of a railroad route near the 35th parallel, reached the Colorado at the mouth of Bill Williams' Fork, and ascended the river about fifty miles, leaving it at a point not far below where Captain Sit- greaves had first touched it. The expedition was composed of nearly a hundred persons, including the escort. The Mojaves were friendly, furnish- ing provisions to the party whose supply was nearly exhausted, and sending guides to conduct them by the best route across the desert west- ward. The river was probably higher than when seen by Captain Sitgreaves, and it was the opinion of Lieutenant Whipple that it would be navigable for steamers of light draught. The course of the Colorado northward could be fol- lowed with the eye for only a short distance, on account of mountain spurs that crossed the val- ley and intercepted the view. A high distant range, through which the river apparently broke, was supposed to be at the mouth of the "Big Cañon" which the Spaniards, in 1540, had vis- ited at a place far above.
Lieutenant Ives' expedition was to explore the Colorado and to run a line to the Zuni villages. The members of the expedition were assembled in San Francisco in the middle of October, and received great assistance from General Clarke commanding the department of the Pacific, and the officers of his staff. The party divided into
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three detachments. One, in charge of Dr. New- berry, the physician of the expedition, and also in charge of the natural history department who had previously made extensive geological sur- veys in California and Oregon, while attached to the party of Lieutenant Williamson, topograph- ical engineers, in charge of the Pacific railroad surveys in those regions, started on the 28th of October in the coast steamer to San Diego, at which place some mules were procured and taken across the desert to Fort Yuma. The second detachment, in charge of Mr. P. H. Taylor, one ' of the astronomical assistants, went by the same steamer to San Pedro from whence they were to go to Fort Tejon, collect the remainder of the animals, and also cross to Fort Yuma.
Lieutenant Ives, with Mr. A. J. Carroll, of Philadelphia, who was a steamboat engineer, and an escort of eight men, went by sea to the head of the Gulf of California upon the steamer Mon- terey.
At this time there was a company under the direction of Captain Johnson, which was carry- ing freight from the head of the Gulf of Cali- fornia to Fort Yuma, and they, being unable, according to Lieutenant Ives, to furnish a boat for the use of the expedition at any reasonable rate of compensation, a steamboat of suitable construction, adapted to the enterprise, was built on the Atlantic coast and transported to San Francisco. This steamboat was also con- veyed to the head of the Gulf on the same schooner upon which Lieutenant Ives and his companions made the trip, arriving there at a time when it was thought that the survey could
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
be made at the worst and lowest stage of the river. This steamboat had been built in sections to be put together by the party at the mouth of the Colorado River. After the usual delays, the freight was unloaded on the 4th of December, at a suitable point, and the work of putting to-
gether the steamboat was commenced.
This
boat was 54 feet over all, not quite half the length of Capt. Johnson's "Colorado," at that time plying between Fort Yuma and the mouth of the Gulf of California. Amidships she was open, but the bow was decked, and at the stern was a cabin 7 x 8 feet, the top of which formed an outlook. For armament she was supplied on the bow with a four pound howitzer. This weapon, however, was not of much service.
In this narrative it is not necessary to go into detail. The party had the usual difficulties at- tendant upon such explorations. The steam- boat was finally assembled and named the "Ex- plorer" but could not be launched until flood tide. When the anticipated flood came, the en- gines were put in motion and Lieutenant Ives had the satisfaction of seeing the little vessel, under the bright moonlight, slowly back out of the pit which had been her cradle, into the whirl- ing, seething, current. During a squall, the next day, the boat shipped water alarmingly, but the journey was continued over the gliding tor- rent. This was on the 30th of December. J. H. Robinson was engaged as pilot, and on the 11th of January, 1858, the "Explorer" left Fort Yuma upon her mission concerning which Lieu- tenant Ives, in his letter to his superior officer, Captain A. A. Humphreys, topographical engi- neers, says :
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STAGE LINES AND NAVIGATION.
"The main object of the work being to ascer- tain the navigability of the Colorado, detailed in- formation upon that point was also forwarded as the examination proceeded. It was my desire, in the communications referred to, rather to lay stress upon than to undervalue the difficulties encountered. At the same time the opinion was expressed that the delays and obstacles met with in the first experiment might, in a great measure, be avoided upon a new trial, conducted with the provisions that experience had suggested.
"This view has since received ample confirma- tion. The outbreak among the Mojave Indians, and the consequent movement of troops into their territory, caused the navigability of the Colorado, at different seasons of the year, to be thoroughly tested. The result has been beyond my most sanguine estimate. The round trip be- tween the head of the Gulf and the Mojave vil- lages-which are 425 miles from the mouth of the Colorado, and but 75 miles from the point which I think should be regarded as the practical head of navigation-has been made in eight days.
"I would again state my belief that the Colo- rado would be found an economical avenue for the transportation of supplies to various mili- tary posts in New Mexico and Utah. It may be instanced that the amount of land transportation saved by adopting this route would be; to the Great Salt Lake, 700 miles; to Fort Defiance, 600 miles, and to Fort Buchanan, 1,100 miles. The estimate contained in the hydrographic re- port, of the cost attending the river service, is, I think, a liberal one. The first organization of
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
transportation establishments, to connect the upper part of the river with the interior of the Territories mentioned, would be attended with expense and trouble, but I am convinced that it would ultimately be productive of a great saving in both. The results of the exploration, so far as they relate to the navigability of the river, will be found embodied in map No. 1, and in the hy- drographic report.
"The region explored after leaving the navi- gable portion of the Colorado-though, in a scientific point of view, of the highest interest, and presenting natural features whose strange sublimity is perhaps unparalled in any part of the world-is not of much value. Most of it is uninhabitable, and a great deal of it is impassa- ble. A brief statement could comprise the whole of what might be called the practical results of the land explorations. The country along the Colorado, however, with the exception of a few places, has been almost a terra incognita. Con- cerning the character and value of the portions previously explored, great differences of opinion existed. Between the mouth and the highest point attained are many localities unique and surpassingly beautiful. Some of the Indian tribes, of whom little has been known, are sub- jects for curious speculation ; and it being doubt- ful whether any party will ever again pursue the same line of travel, I have thought it would be better in place of condensing into a few lines, the prominent facts noticed, to transmit the journal kept during the expedition.
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"In passing from the Colorado eastward, an opportunity was afforded of forming connec-
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tion between the Big Sandy on Lieutenant Whipple's railroad route, and the point upon the river north of the Needles. The examination verified the judgment of Lieutenant Whipple, who, though prevented from actually passing over the country, had selected it for a railroad location. The distance by Whipple's travelled route between the above points was 180 miles, and is over a rough and difficult region; by his railroad route, it is 80 miles. For 35 miles the line is nearly level; for the remaining 45 miles there is a uniform grade of about 70 feet. Dur- ing the whole distance there is scarcely an ir- regularity upon the surface of the ground."
On March 12th, 1858, Lieutenant Ives reached the foot of Black Canyon in the "Explorer, " and from thence he went to the head of Black Can- yon in a small boat. Returning from this point to the Mojave villages, he sent the boat down to the fort, and with part of his scientific corps, being joined also by Lieutenant Tipton with an escort of twenty men, he started eastward by land. His route was north of that followed by earlier explorers, including the cañons of the Colorado Chiquito and other streams, and also, for the first time since the American occupation, the Moqui pueblos. He reached Fort Defiance in May. He visited the Grand Canyon at the mouth of Diamond Creek, the Havasupai Can- yon, and other places.
Early in January, 1858, Captain Johnson, in his steamer, the "General Jesup," went up from Yuma to ferry Lieutenant Beale across the river on his return from California. Before meeting Beale, Johnson pushed his steamer ex-
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
perimentally up the river to the head of Black Canyon, the point which Lieutenant Ives claimed to be the head of navigation. Johnson did this, according to Dellenbaugh, expressly to anticipate the exploration undertaken by Lieu- tenant Ives, and, although in this manner, Ives was robbed of the credit of being the first to ascend the Colorado to this point, yet to him be- longs the credit of first making a careful survey and map of the river to the point designated.
In 1866, Captain Rodgers took the steamer "Esmeralda," ninety-seven feet long, drawing three and a half feet of water, up to Callville, not far below the mouth of the Virgin River, but this probably was accomplished when the river was at a high stage, sometime during the months of June or July.
The Mormons, who may be regarded as the pioneer explorers of the great West, were the first to explore the northwestern part of Ari- zona. In reference to their early activities, Dellenbaugh furnishes the following :
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