Staging on the Black Canyon Road

Transcription

1 Stagng on the Black Canyon Road By Leland J Hanchett Jr W hy would anyone lvng n beautful Prescott n the 1870s want to travel to Phoenx? After all Prescott had been the terrtoral captal and Phoenx was barely a blp on the mltary maps Phoenx dd have one dstnct advantage over Prescott; the large amount of foodstuffs needed by men and horses at the terrtoral mltary camps and mnes could not be provded from the Prescott area Phoenx wth ts seemngly endless water supply was begnnng to be the farmng center for the regon Gettng from Prescott to Phoenx was no easy task To go south from Prescott you frst needed to go north crclng Grante Mountan and then proceed down the west sde of the Bradshaw Mountans to Wckenburg transportaton hub for the terrtory and then on to Phoenx At least that s how the route started out But just as wth todays hghway systems new cutoffs were constantly beng constructed to shorten the dstance and ease the stran of travel on both passengers and stage or freght teams The mltary soon realzed n ther attempts to travel from Camp McDowell to Fort Whpple or Camp Verde that there was a far shorter route through the Black Canyon Although shorter the route n ts orgnal condton was too demandng on teams pullng freght wagons or stagecoaches A less demandng route was needed to carry flour from the mlls n Phoenx to the Indan reservaton at Camp Verde W B Hellngs owner of the Salt Rver Flourng Mll commenced constructon of the Black Canyon Road n the summer of 1873 By the fall of that year the Arzona Mner was toutng the good work done and the much mproved tmes for travel between Phoenx and Prescott As an afterthought W B Hellngs hs brother E E Hellngs and C H Vel n early 1874 fled ther ntenton to charge a toll for usng the road from Phoenx to a pont twenty mles west of Camp Verde For some unknown reason the road never became a toll road 1 In May of 1877Yavapa County let a contract to an energetc Prescott busnessman by the name of James Patterson who went to work creatng a vable stage road at least from Black Canyon to Prescott Patterson had a marvelous sense of busness and understood very quckly that a need exsted for stage transportaton along ths newly mproved road To mnmze hs rsk Patterson took n a partner by the name of W H Caldwell Caldwell had nowhere near as much experence n busness as Patterson but he was an energetc young man who could provde a lot of motvaton to the busness and he knew how to drve a stagecoach Thus the Patterson and Caldwell stage lne was formed By late Aprl of 1878 Patterson had sold hs nterest n the lne and Caldwell had a new partner Alfred Le Valley 2 In those days runnng a stage lne requred assstance from the Unted States Post Offce n the form of mal carryng contracts Caldwell and LeValley appled mmedately but they were underbd by 21

2 the partnershp of Kerns and Grffth who were beng dsplaced by the Southern Pacfc Ralroad from ther routes n Southern Arzona3!r _ 1;r; ] j ; ; rj ;; _ + ; $/;**;11;; lar"* """; ; t ; I r1rr _1 r rj t!r 5lr ; r; I j r;;l;;r;r ;r1ttjr;t=! t;5l1f ur; "; a = r" 1"1; rl!; " Caldwell and LeValley carred on for a few weeks but once they realzed that only a mal contract could sustan ther dream they devsed a plan for balng out The plan was a smple one Frst they moved ther headquarters from Prescott to Antelope Staton about one thrd of the dstance between Prescott and Phoenx To be as nconspcuous as possble they contnued to meet ther departure schedules untl one day on arrvng at Gllette they announced that the stage equpment needed repar and that they would return the followng day to pck up that weeks gold shpment Instead of returnng to Prescott however they went back to ther headquarters put LeValleys famly n the coach and wth a Mexcan employee to drve the stock proceeded on ther way to New Mexco va the Lttle Colorado Rver4 {+!"r ; z rr ; 1r;; l$ Jr1 1 _ rr j j$"t _! ;" 1r;!lj rf"" _ r 11!r;; ;;Fr;rl 1rt rlr5 l rr" rltj t "; r "rj l 4 "!;r _ "!!_1 a1 r 4rrjt 1 ;1 r 1;*;1 ;r1r ll;r r +ff l ;r j_ f _ r/ f1;;;; r _ lr_j l ;== 1 rr ;tt r= t \jr1 r t;;tt ] jl flltl " r;r1;4 t " "tl;j I ;; l ;;t+;r jt ; 1 ")1rrJ rr ] tff1t **"r Trr;j r _ r 1 &$yont 1;;ff;;;111 lrllr j t = r ; t11;*1 1"$" lf;r! yr$($"ff l r olrttt p&rsr"; r1 1; r " " rl " r0;$ f ; 1 1 lra+jr " ; _1 rl{$; j " "1tr"lt= +rj r l *r "t;" ; r l l J _s jl j" rtajrjr; r/r fr Lrr ; =t jl Jarr " l=l t11 =!rlrr ; rrl rll; l ;BfrrrfJrrr"r ="ur1rr+ r; r!;r!!r l?_ {; r ;!;11f j ; rj";f l l 1 ;;r r;fr1; ]ft!1!r ;;1n 8ff; lrt ;;ltlff;r1 r; rt t =""" "! 1 r! n r _rrj ; ; j 1!;r {!; 1 t} r + t ;J; h;*;11 = t1$1nr; ;t;1r" ;1+ ltl;tal 1 1;1rjl ;+ff I;;1;r; 1 ;;rr1tt+al 1 1 ; ;r r"x 1; " r;nj jl t ;1111j1!r r j 1t= 1;r1; ;; 1 jr"r 1!rr;nrj1r_ j ; l j r l t r rllt;qr jrj tlt /1 r 1 Pu#sl}r It was some days before t became known that they were gone and they were well on ther way across the Mogollons before a twoman posse consstng of a constable from Gllette and a local ranch hand started n pursut Caldwell and LeValley owed money to many busnesses from Prescott to Phoenx so the constable was armed wth an attachment for ther property consstng mostly of lvestock but no warrant for ther arrest If he overtook them and they could satsfy the demands he had aganst them they would be allowed to go on wth whatever else they mght have5 Black Canyon Route Stage Statons fve months to arrve n Prescott and when t dd come many Vctoran eyes must have opened wde Word was brought back that when the party had reached the ralroad n New Mexco Mrs LeValley and her chldren took the tran and left the two men to brng the stock Subsequently Mrs LeValley wrote to frends n Prescott that Mr Caldwell had been left behnd What she ddnt menton was that t had been reported n a New Mexco newspaper that Mr Caldwell had A week later news came back that the posse had caught up wth the fleeng party The next word on the matter took 22

3 been found dead shot through the heart It was also learned that a btter jealousy exsted because of Mrs LeValley s relatonshp wth Caldwell whch was anythng but agreeable to LeValley LeValley and wfe lved on through the frst decade of the 20th century on a cozy farm wth orchard n the state of Kansas 6 Kerns and Grffth s stage lne lasted but a couple of years and were replaced n 1880 by Glmer and Salsbury s Arzona Stage Company They n turn were replaced by the Hocker Brother s Black Canyon Stage Company n the md 1890s 7 The Black Canyon route certanly had ts share of robberes Most occurred ether just south or just north of Gllette over a farly short secton of the stage road Two reasons for ths consstency are evdent Frst Gllette beng near the border of Marcopa and Yavapa between the more establshed ctes of Phoenx and Prescott t seemed easer to get away wth robbery or other lawless acts there The second reason was that Gllette was located on the Agua Fra Rver at the low pont of the valley Stages leavng n ether drecton had to clmb out of that valley and were therefore susceptble to beng stopped when they were movng at ther slowest speed Unlke the scenes from Hollywood style stage robberes holdups almost always were commtted by men on foot when the stage was movng slowly Who would be stupd enough to try to catch a stagecoach runnng at full speed? One dramatc robbery and murder took place near Gllette n 1879 Blly Thomas a local busnessman was on board the stage and was shot and mortally wounded The mal was taken and the robbers even stole from the stage drver three very fne horses The Arzona Mner Journal noted that the three robbers were probably well on ther way to ther homeland of Sonora Mexco Whle two of the Mexcan bandts dd escape to Sonora one was captured Hs name was Domnguez and he had the dubous honor of beng the frst man lawfully hanged n Phoenx 8 Sometmes the robberes occurred n pars It dd not take long for the stage robbers to fgure out that at a certan pont north of Gllette the up and down stages crossed at some tme n the evenng It made sense to tme the robbery so that two stages could be robbed for the same effort t took to rob just one A classc example occurred n August of 1882 The hghwaymen made a bg haul Eght to ten passengers were made to stand and delver and the Wells Fargo strongboxes were empted At the tme ths was known as the most darng robbery perpetuated n the Terrtory 9 The bandts were casual to the pont of jokng wth the passengers and even returnng a small amount of cash to each so they would have somethng to buy food wth at ther next stop Of course they wore the usual costume for Knghts of the Road consstng of a slk scarf extendng from ther forehead to ther breast through whch holes were cut for the eyes The men were evdently old hands at robbng stages The dea of gettng two stagecoaches for the prce of one stll prevaled as late as 1885 Ths tme the ntal hold up occurred three mles south of Gllette The southbound stage was stopped frst Two men dressed n blankets lke Indans showed up on one sde of the road and whle they had the drver dstracted a thrd man wth shot gun n hand appeared on the other sde of the stagecoach Al 23

4 though they broke open the express box ther only reward was sx dollars taken from one of the passengers They dd however remove three horses from the team and advsed the southbound stage drver to not proceed any further because they were off to rob the northbound stage The hghwaymen met the northbound stage about 2 mles beyond New Rver Staton It had no passengers on board They took the express box broke t open and found nothng n t to amount to anythng They also broke open a box of frut scatterng t around and helpng themselves They next approprated the team and came on south towards Phoenx A day later two of the horses came walkng down Washngton Street and a thrd was reported to be out on the Grand Canal From ths t was concluded that the hghwaymen must have returned to the Valley and were stll there A huge effort was expended to catch the hghwaymen but there was not a lot to show for t Stage robbng at that tme was more of a sport than occupaton Certanly none of these men made a lvng at t yet the stages contnued to be robbed Possbly the challenge outweghed the rsk and the poor rewards! 10 Between June of 1883 and the same month n 1885 the stage was robbed no less than sx tmes all between Gllette and todays Black Canyon Cty It dd not take long for the Wells Fargo detectves to determne that some knowledge of the contents of the strong box must have played a role n the robberes Unfortunately they were unable to determne who mght have such knowledge and therefore who mght have commtted the crmes At that pont they called n an expert We may never know hs name because the news artcle on fle at the State Archves contans nether the publcaton date nor any nformaton concernng the author Evdently he was a member of the 12th Arzona Legslatve Assembly What he dd was ncredble He could easly compete wth Sherlock Holmes Hs frst step was to head for Gllette The Wells Fargo detectves felt certan that the local Wells Fargo agent was somehow mplcated After makng certan that the agent had no part n the crmes our hero postoned hmself at a pont n the room where the Wells Fargo agent operated He noted a small table where the agent routnely opened the express box Although raled off from the front the setup was just hgh enough for someone to lean upon and observe the contents of the box He next observed two men enterng the room The two were well known to be the blacksmths for Gllette Both men walked up to the box leaned on the ralng and the larger of the two looked nto the box The agent beng busy dd not notce the movement After jokng wth the agent for a few moments the larger man slghtly nudged hs companon and both left the room The observer later sad that he had spotted the robbers wthn fve mnutes after reachng Gllette; t was just a queston of eyes and bran To reconfrm hs suspcons our observer proceeded to the TpTop Mne a few mles to the west Meetng wth a mner who ran a Faro game durng paydays he learned that the two blacksmths held a game there whch they fnanced wth $900 n gold 20s and $35 or $40 n paper all of whch they lost durng the day Now he was certan he had hs robbers When he returned to Phoenx and reported to the Wells Fargo detectves they frst assumed that he too had gven up n hs 24

5 attempt to fnd the robbers Our hero then explaned that hs frst dea was to solve the reason why the holdups were at one place and why the stage was held up only when somethng was n the Wells Fargo box He then told the detectves that one of the blacksmths was mentally weaker and f placed n separate cells wth judcous questonng the weaker man would turn states evdence and ths was so The leader drew 25 years and the other man 19 years 11 Not only were the stagecoaches drvers guards and passengers at rsk but the stage staton keepers were also n constant perl As late as 1895 two more Sonoran bandts attacked the Goddard famly and some frends who were peacefully sttng down to eat ther dnner at the staton near Black Canyon Cty Goddard and a frend Frank Cox were murdered The Mexcans were fnally apprehended tred and found gulty of murder on March By July 31 of that year they were both swngng from the hangman s scaffold n Prescott 12 Along wth all of the stores of murder and mayhem whch occurred on the Black Canyon stagecoach route one must always nclude a story of fath courage and good fortune Wll Barnes provdes us just such a story It begns early on a cold snowy wnters mornng n Prescott n the year The passengers that mornng were Barnes Prce Behan Buckey O Nel a young commercal traveler and two Ssters of Charty dressed n ther dstnctve garb Fve or sx mles nto the trp the team started off down a steep grade at a fast trot the coach swayng and rockng lke a shp n a heavy sea Wthn a few moments those nsde were convnced that the drver was drunk and could not or would not control hs team The men decded on a plan of acton Behan and ONel overpowered the drver and Behan took over the rens Handcuffs were snapped onto the drver s wrsts and as soon as the team was stopped he was placed n the bg leather boot at the back of the stage At noon the stage reached Bg Bug the regular mal staton where the drver was handed over for transport back to Prescott as a prsoner No other drver was avalable so Behan agreed to drve the team on to Gllette some 35 mles to the south Ran was fallng n torrents and the Agua Fra must be crossed to reach the stage staton on the southern sde At nearly mdnght the stage rolled out of the Black Canyon onto the gravelly bank of the Agua Fra The stage was stopped a few yards from the waters edge and across the bolng turbulent rver they could see the lghts of the staton The four men studed the stuaton They were wllng to rsk crossng but what of the two ssters? The two women were huddled together n the dark vehcle shverng wth cold where ONell told them of the stuaton of the danger of crossng under such condtons If the water was deep enough to float the heavy stage the whole affar mght be swept downstream and all would be lost The elder of the two women spoke You men must decde We leave t all to your good judgment All of us are n the hands of our heavenly Father He wll surely answer our prayers for gudance and success 25

6 It was agreed that Behan would drve and ONell would fll a bucket wth small stones wth whch to hasten the movement of the mules The other two men each wth a Sster of Charty at hs sde were to stand on the upstream sde of the vehcle There holdng tghtly to the ral on top they were to lean as far back as possble and act as a counterbalance aganst the tremendous pressure of the stream aganst the sde of the stage Behan loosened the brake and wth hs wld yell the mules lunged nto the whrlng water of the stream ONell pelted the anmals wth rocks whle Behan lashed at them wth hs whp As the gallant lttle leaders struck deep water and began to swm they were swept around wth the current and downstream The longer legged Wheelers kept ther feet a lttle whle then they too were forced to swm Fnally the huge stage tself floated free The water was up to the knees of the four clngng to the sde Each was leanng back just as far as ther arms were allowed to keep the stage from overturnng whle Behan dd hs best to keep the team headed towards the farther bank As the stage swung around n the stream the wheels on the lower sde struck a submerged rock For one or two agonzng moments t seemed as f t would be turned over n the water and all would be lost Just at ths crtcal moment the two lttle lead mules touched the bottom and wth the ponts of ther front feet clawed and tore at the steep bank Gradually they got the stage to move ahead The long leg wheelers also touched bottom and they clawed and dug as f they realzed the need of usng every ounce of power avalable Inch by nch second by second the heavy stage began to move through the water towards the bank Gradually t settled back onto an even keel The gong out was very steep and t took the last rock n ONells water bucket plus much yellng and slashng of the whp to get the whole outft safely out onto the sold land Mnutes later Behan drove the stage through the grove of cottonwoods to the staton Today 140 years after ts orgnal constructon the Black Canyon Road has become an Interstate Hghway followng or parallelng the orgnal stage and freght route Who would ever thnk of travelng from Prescott to Phoenx by any other road? 1 John H Maron Notes of Travel Through the Terrtory of Arzona D MPowell ed (Tucson 1965) Weekly Journal Mner November Yavapa County Court Records Prescott and Phoenx Toll Road January Sharlot Hall Museum Lbrary and Archves Document Box 191 Folder 2 Item 3 2 Weekly Journal Mner May Weekly Journal Mner October Ibd 5 Weekly Journal Mner October Weekly Journal Mner February Weekly Journal Mner March and September Weekly Journal Mner November andnovember Phoenx Herald September Phoenx Herald August Phoenx Herald June and July Undentfed news artcle at the Arzona Hstorcal Foundaton 12 Coroners nquest on Frank Cox February Arzona Department of Lbrary Archves and Publc Records No Wll Barnes Arzona Hstorcal Revew Aprl