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Unser Freund Pete schrieb diesen Artikel über die Geschichte der Ranch/er:
The Williams Family Ranch is a working cattle ranch with a long history. It is located in an area where some of the earliest settlers came to Arizona. Early in 1863, the Walker party came from New Mexico, along the Gila River and up the Hassayampa River. Mountain men had trapped along the river as early as 1820.
The historians disagree on what Hassayampa means, it is an Indian word and the consensus is that it means "water that is upside down" that sounds about right as quite often the river is underground for long stretches and you have to go a long way to find it. The Walker party established claims along the river and worked the area extensively.
Wickenburg, the town where you were when you came into the ranch, was founded in 1863. Henry Wickenburg discovered gold and named his mine the Vulture, which eventually became one of the richest gold-producing mines in Arizona. Henry sold 80% of his mine early on because he was afraid it would play out soon. For his 80% interest, Henry received $20,000 in cash, and a note for $65,000. The new owners soon claimed that Wickenburg didn't have a clear title to the property, and refused to pay the remainder of the price. Wickenburg spent most of his $20,000 trying to collect on his note, but never succeeded.
Henry Wickenburg, despite being denied payment for his mine, was not destitute. His farm prospered and his remaining 20% of the mining venture, brought in some money. Wickenburg, unfortunately, had sold the Vulture Mine before anyone determined its true wealth. At the time, most gold strikes played out within a few weeks. It had probably seemed prudent to sell before the Vulture did the same thing. Wickenburg continued to prospect, but he was never again as lucky. He regretted selling the Vulture Mine for the rest of his life.
Wickenburg was a nice old boy who made many friends throughout the years. When he was seventy years old, in 1890, the Walnut Grove Dam on the Hassayampa burst and destroyed most of his ranch. Henry Wickenburg was too old to start over. He told friends that he was old and tired of living. Little by little, he donated most of his land to the town of Wickenburg. In 1905 he was eighty-five, and no longer able to live on his own. Wickenburg walked into a grove of trees behind his house, and turned his old Colt revolver on himself. The town of Wickenburg now surrounds his grave.
In the early 1900's, as the mine played out, ranching and tourism took over as economic mainstays of the area. Wickenburg was incorporated in 1909. The town now has a population in excess of 5000 people.
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On the way in you passed the JV Bar Ranch. The Williams family at times has operated that ranch, and were good friends of the people that had the ranch in the 70s. When you went down in the big wash, which is called King Solomon wash, past the wind mill you were at Sayer spring or Sayer station, at one time it was a stage stop. You may have seen the footings of some of the old buildings.
Then it's up the mountain to the top of the hill. Off to your left and down in the small valley are the remains of the town of Constellation. Constellation was supposed to be the center of the Black Rock mining district. Established in 1901, the town went on to have a half dozen buildings consisting of a two story saloon, gambling den, dance hall, store, and a saloon. The actual town of Constellation is gone but the mines the Monte Cristo, Gold bar, and Black Rock still stand with associated rubble and buildings.
As you travel along the road you see the tailings of many old mine workings. This area has a long history of mining. Arizona was founded on mining and ranching and that was the principle industry for many years. The next large mine you pass, on the right, is the Monte Cristo mine It has a metal head frame, a wheel house and a big shed below. The head frame still standing. There are also several collapsed buildings in the area.
The mine was first discovered by a couple of Mexican prospectors, just before the turn of the century, who worked it for a couple of years before being run off by some claim jumpers who said that "furriners" were not allowed to own or work mining claims. But the Mexicans did such a good job of hiding the entrance that the claim jumpers had nothing to show for their misdeeds.
The person who eventually ended up owning the mine, Ezra Thayer of Phoenix, was quoted as saying he considered his money safer in the ground than in a bank. He spent a good deal of money blocking off the ore deposits instead of mining them. He finally sold the mine in 1926. It has been worked off and on since then and there is believed to still be good deposits of gold and silver bearing ore down there.
The next significant place is Slim Jim wash which you cross just before you get to the cattle guard, which is the entrance to the Williams Family Ranch. On the right just past the cattle guard is what remains of the old goat pens, when the Williams tried their hand at Angora goat ranching, an enterprise not unfamiliar in this area. The goats attracted so many Mountain lions that the family spent most of the time fending of lion attacks on the goats Carrol had to spend her nights standing guard with a rifle to try to save the goats. The lions finally prevailed and the goats were sold off and the lions headed for greener pastures.
On past the goat corral up the hill and to the left you come by a red "stock tank" as we call them. These tanks are very important in this country to catch and hold rain water for the cattle as well as the deer and other game in the area. Soon you are at the fork in the road, someone told me once "if you come to a fork in the road take it" you take the right hand road…
According to O'Brien and Hutchinson family records F.X. O'Brien was born in St. Louis in late 1848. He came west as a young man and along with, James Mahoney discovered the Gold Bar Mine in 1877. O'Brien wash and Mahoney wash are named after these people. O'Brien apparently spent time in the Wickenburg area, however in the 1870's and 80's his primary residence was Leadville Colorado, where he owned mining interests and a gambling establishment (The Board of Trade).
In 1888, he returned to Wickenburg and married Patricia Hutchinson, daughter of W.T. Hutchinson, an engineer at the Vulture Mine. The O'Brien family settled in Wickenburg, purchased Henry Wickenburg's home, and after F.X.'s death, Patricia turned it into Wickenburg's first dude ranch. O'Brien held other mining properties including the Camp-B and Consolidated Union Grande Mining Companies. He was an officer in the Interior Mining and Trust Company that owned the Gold Bar, and managed it for the corporation.
The wash you go into next is O'Brien wash. Soon you come to Amazon wash and the road follows Amazon right to the ranch. There are many times during a big rain when the wash becomes a raging torrent pushing boulders and other debris down into the Hassayampa and making travel to the ranch imposable. Soon you get your first glimpse of the ranch and a Western experience that will change your outlook about cowboys and the west.
Carrol was raised in Prescott, which in the early days was the state capitol. There was a man there named Gail Gardner who was born in Prescott. In 1900 his dad was in the hardware business. Gail was a cowboy and a poet as well as later on he was the postmaster of Prescott. In about 1920 or so he wrote a poem that became well known in Arizona and other places. It contains some of the vernacular of the old west, a language that is slowly dying out. And now is only contained in the old songs and poems that are sung and told around campfires and such. I thought maybe you might like to hear some of the old songs so I put some together and you can get them at the ranch.
~ P E T E ~
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