Arizona miner. [volume], September 21, 1864, Image 1

About Arizona miner. [volume] (Fort Whipple, Ariz.) 1864-1868

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1-1
Tisdalb A, Hand,
" The Gold of that Land is good."
PUBLISHER
, . . ; - , '. "" 1 . iimC
VOLUME I.
PllESCOTT, AKIZOtfA,. WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 21, 1864
NUMBER 13.
mumiuuifirimi
THE ARIZONA MINER
T. A. IIAICD, Pu1llUcr.
SUHSCRlFTIOItf s
Payablo in advance, without exception. '
For one year - . .'. . .... .
For six mouths . i ... - -".
For three mouths - -
Single oopiea - - .- . - . ... ...
$5,00
1,50
ADVKRTISIRTGt ' "
A square equals ten lines of this letter. One
square or less, one insertion, 2,00. Each subsequent
insertion, 1,00, One square standing for three
months, $0.00. For six months. $10.00. For oiie
year $15,00 and at the same rates for larger quantities
THE WOOJLSEY EXPEDITION.
J col, woolsky's report to, the QOVKKNOIl.
i Presl'ott, Arizona, Aug. 28, 18G4.
If To His Excellency, John N'. Goodwin, Governor
II or Arizona Territory.
,1 concluded.
;I We followed Pinal creek down to its mouth,
!and then proceeded dowu Salt river to camp
"J which wo reached about sun down. Wo waited
Jail tho next day for our expected visitors, but
they did not come, though their fires blazed con
tinually on the hills north of tho river. On the
following day J determined to movo camp to Pi
nal creek, and after detaching fifteen men to
meet the pack train Wo started, reaching our ohj
camp at sun down. Tho road from Grapo Vine
spring is, for about ten miles, S. E., to. some.
springs and tanks, and then turning eivst for aboutJ
' t ve utiles, wheie it reaches Pinal creek ai our
camping ground, vrMco iu ufeoui three miJdd from
a round mountain ptk which we copied (Jtipoia
peak, (from camp 56 SO-) .
Tho morning aftsr o.ur .irrivid a few squaw
came into camp and iaqijirod onf intention, ani
Wfio told wo were huogry anti wanted wtibat
ns uio same time on-
Iguged in .cutting anjl ,lhnbhK wheat,. and oup
It T...1! ' l' II f . ...1
iew inuians came in wuu a uug oi truce a. wane
rag tied to a cross), bringing an interpreter with
them. Wu had a long ts,lk, and numbers of
it'iem roc tinned to visit us until, the arrival ol
;our pack train, until then i had thought it
tbeat t bo friendly with them, although it was
S evident that on ono occasion they came with tho
intention of taking our scalps, but found that
awe were too Well prepared for them. Prom tho
Murrivnl of tho pack train (on tho eighth day,) but
wutw Indians visited us. After allowing tho pack
animals one day's rest wo again began our.
march starting at G a. in. on tho morning of
July 4th. Following tho creek to its head in
ttho Pinal mountains, tho highest peak of which
fvn3 situated b. 29 E. about 30 miles distant
from our camp at the wheat fields. Wo found
old at tho head ot tho creek, but not in paying
uautities, aud somo good looking quartz lodes.
Tho water raises in this creek about two mile3
sabovo our camp, and from that to the mountain
wo lounu water ouiy in springs auu lanus. vo
camped on tho top of Pinal mountain, and from
its highest peak tho following observations were
Itaken : Tonto peak, N. GO 30a AV. ; Needles,
X. SG W. : Ca3a Blanca, near Pimo, S. 70 W.,
and Picacho, S. I63 W. AVe remained Tat this
$camp throughout tho day after our arrival, our
iiunter3 keeping us well supplied with venison
land turkey. Eighteen men lofp tho party and
returned home by way of lJirno,
g I sent out a party to prospect for mineral on
Ktho south side of this , mountain, but they re
Seturned without finding any. Wo moved camp
to tho foot of the mountain, on the cast sido, at
somo tanks, and tho next day reached tho San
uariuH river, u uistauco oi tweuty-nvo miles.
There is no water upon this trail for this dis
tanoe, it being all tho way down a dry arroyo, jNY
G0 E. Wo found an Indian corn field and
bean patch upon tho San Carlos. Tho corn was
not yet fit to cat, but tho beans wero just right
tor snaps, auu wo jnauo much ol,. thorn. Tho
next day wo movpd down tho San Carlos to the
Gila river, distant about ten miles, and thonco
by easy marches up the Gila to tho now Fort
Goodwin, distant about thirty miles. .Wo
camped on tho Gila about throo miles from tho
fort, which is situated on a stream palled tl)o Tu-,
lerosa, and immediately reported to Uol. Rigg,
1st Infantry, California Volunteers, comnianding.
II o issued rations to my command, and it was
agreed betwoon' us that I should proceed up tho
country to tjio Black river, and prospect tho dis
trict, also ldoking tor Indians, npd that X should
in the-vicinity of that crook and Signal moun
tain, on tho north Bido of Salt river.
I left Port Goodwin on tho morntug of tho
10th day of July, and proceeded up tho Gila
river about 35 miles to a point near tho Pueblo
Vieio. Leaving tho river hero I struck across
tho mountain divide to a stream called the Bono-
to, striking it, as I suppojed, about, ton miles
from its mouth. The Bonito is a small stream,
40 to f0 miles in length, heading in a range of
lava nius, anu running tnrougn a lava lormation
for its whole length, in a southerly direction,
emptying into tho Gila about 4o miles above
Fort Goodwin. Wo travelled up it about 12
miles and then turned eastward to tho Blade riv
er (or Kio Pneto), distant about eight miles.
Tho Black river is a good sized mountain
stream, heading in a lava mountain about 20
miles south of tho Mogollon mountains, and runs
in a souineriy direction about 00 miles, emptying
into tho Gila about 35 miles abovo Fort Good
win. I think we struck the Blaclc river 15 miles
above it3 mouth. About 30 miles abovo the
canon opens out .into a fino valley of several
miles in length, containing at least 10,000 acres
of fine tillable land, and surrounded by- low rol
ling hills, covered with excellent grass. There
wero about 20 acre3 of ludian corn in the valley,
but we saw no Indians. The day before wo
reachod this valley a Jnqui squaw, about 10 years
of age, came into our camp. Sho had been a
captive among tho Apaches, and had just made
her escape. She came in with us, acd is now at
my Agua Fria ranch.
I'rom the head ot this valloy I mado an effort
to pass the mountains to tho' eastward, but did
Lnot succeed in finding a point whro 1 jcould
pasi wuu mo pacK tram, ami.! was obliged to
hstriru to tho river and continue op it 20 miles
farther to wherts the stream fofks. one fork com
ing: twm tho enutvae-d and the fithr fro in the
uurth-wBt. Upon anamination hero it was
fmmrl i.hrv ty&t-tjr juissil in both str2S.ms as forks
aboot one mile from camp, I reached, this point
on tho 23d day of July, apt! a3 I had promised
Colonel Rigg that I would join Major Blakeuey.
at Final creek'on tho 30th, it was necessary t'd
turn in that direction iu order to keep tho ap
pointment. A portion of the command were
not satisfied that this stream was the Black riv
er, and wero desirous oT going further east to
look for it. 1 therefore detached Mr. P. McCan
non with 40 men in that direction, while with
tho remaining 24 men I started on my return to
Piual creek. jMr. McCannon rejoined me at Fort
Goodwiu in 9 days from his departure, and
made a report to me, a copy of which accompa
nies this paper.
On tho 24th day of July, with 24 men, I left
our camp at tho forks of the Biack river and fol
lowed the western brauch up to its head, distant
about 8 miles.
I then turned in a southwesterly direction.
Wo wero obliged to camp tho Grst night without
water, but about 9. o'clock ,tho next morning we
found water in tanks at the' foot of "aliigh round
mountain, the eud of a rango lying to tho north
west, and covered with pino timber. Soon after
stopping Mr. J. W. Beauchamp left camp to go
to tho top of this mountain aud tako a view of
tho surrounding Country, and tho bearings of dif
ferent points towards which wo expected to
travel. Upon arriving near tho top of tho moun.
tain ho was waylaid by six Indians, shot through
tho chest with a rifle, lanced, stripped and left
for dead. Bo lived somo fifteen or twenty min
utes, however, aftor wo reached him, but died
before wo could got him to camp. Wo buried
him at tho foot of tho mountain, 'which wo
named Beauchamp peak, in momory of tho un
fortunate victim of Indian cruelty and coward
ice.
mi
UK
I return across by tno i)qad3 of ttyo Bomto aud
San Carlos to our oldamr. on Ijual crcetaand
thorp ' join Jjjor Miohias : ' Jf. 'BJatenj tfififfls
niand ami tfifcVn
A dedp and precipitious canon heads upon tho
north-east sido of this mountain or peak, and
running round its northern sido falls off to the
south-west for several miles, then turning north
west passes round a rango ot lugh mountains,
and running thenco southward, is in fact the
principal branch of tho San Carlos river. Wo
travelled along it somo 20 miles over a lqvel
country, covered with grass and .shaded by cedar
tree3, forming a most oxcellent stock rango.
Among; these cedars wo found an abundance of
" bear sign," and one evening just before camp
ing wo had somo excollont sport in killing a bear,
our second, as wo had killed ono on tho Gila
about 16 mile3 above Fort Goodwin. Both of
thorn wore of tho species known as tho Cinna
mon bear. About 20 miles from. Beauchamp
peak, in a southwesterly direction, wo reachod
tho foot of tho mountains last spoken of, una tho
road, over .-.thorn,, for., about 8 miles was ;; very
rough, and rocky, tho, descent; 'upon -'the western
idq bfllng partioulurlldtfiiBtilt,' -Oa relching' U6
foot of tho mountain on tho western side wo
found a small stream of good wator.and a rauch
eria of Indians, who fled at Our approach, somo
ol them on horseback. Wo stopped hero Bpme
three hours lor noon, aud upon leaving, tho Indi
ans hallooed at us from tho hills as long as wo
wero in hearing, taking good care, however, to
keep out of riflo raugo. Wo now travelled over
a level me3a about 20 miles, in a southwesterly
direction, until we reached tho eastern brauch of
the San Carlos. Wo found no water in this
branch, but tho .sext was tho onq beforo spoken
of as hoading at Ueaucharap peak, and in it was
found running wttor in abundance. Still con
tinuing our south-west courso we crossed a level
mesa for about 12 miles, varied only by crossing
the deep canons of tho San Carlos. We suc
ceeded in crossing five of these, but tho sixth
compelled us to follow it- up to the dividing
ridgo between tha waters of Salt river and San
Carlos before wo could pass it. We saw some
Indians on this dividing ridgo, who halloed at us
from tho cliffs. On arriving within about 10
miles of Pinal creek wo wero visited in camp by
nine Indians, who came in without hesitation,
and told us of the so'diers being at our old camp
on Pinal creek. Tho Indians promised they
would como over to tho old camp and havo a
" talk," a3 they said tho soldiers were eating up
an tuoir corn. v o did not reacn tuo old camp
that night, and tho noxt morning, on arriving
within about a mile of it, we heard the discharge
of musketry as though a battle wero in progress,
and saw tho cavalry charging over the hills. 1
immediately ordered the tram to close up and
movo cautiously down to the-water, whild Igal
ioped over ' he point to see what was going on.
I found that tho soldiers wero chasing three or
four Indians that had anneared in sight. Ol
conrdo ti(f Indians I expected did isot conic in,
neither did any Indians afterwards visit the
camp, and no moro wero seen thero except a few
tvnmn uniiir i-iinirnnnv nnn xoiMn as nnctooao.
for a boy that had delivered himself up to him,
aud had atterwards oeen kidnapped by tho Indi
ana. Two of theso wero afterwards liung bv
order of Major Blakeney, tho boy not being re
turned. Major Blakeney and myself immediate
ly commenced preparing to make the raid upon
tho Indians at Signal mountain, as had been
agreed upon at Fort Goodwin, and would have
ueeu reauv to start m ono day, when an order
came from Major Smith to break up camp and
return to h ort uoodwm. 1 had gone to camp
Iiigg to hurry up supplies when this order
reached Major Blakeney, and when ho marched
back to camp Rigg I found my men with him. 1
immediately started for Fort Goodwin to en
deavor lo get Colonel Rigg to etill send an ex
pedition to Signal mountain. Iho Colonel
mado an order for two compames to proceed to
that plape and operato against the Indians in
conjunction with my command, and two days af
ter left for La3 Cruce3, turning over the com
mand of tho Apacho expedition to Major Jo
seph Smith, who found it impossible, to fit out
tho expedition, owing to the excessive rains and
the consequent failure of somo provision trains
to arrive at' tho Iort. The streams wero also
swollen, so that ho feared it would bo impossible
to cross. Tho expedition .was therefore aban
doned, to ray great mortification and chagrin. 1
rernained six days at tho Fort, and during that
timo Mr. Mcpaiinon returned from his expedi
tion to the eastward in search of another Black
river.
A nortion nf mv command concluded to re
main at Fort Goodwin, and obtainod employ
mnnh t two nnlist.pfL and two rp.mn.inGd in t.hi
hosnital. and with the balance, numbering when
I reached camp Rigg fifty-four men, I started for
Homo The nyer una was swollen by the rains,
and" difficult to ctfoss, and wo did not reach camp
lrvr t.tt.it lltst .Iiim') Antj rift,, InnlTinr, Tis4. tfsvswl
win. a distance of fortv miles. Leavimr camn
- - -q i
Rigg tho ndxt day we reached tho old camp at
Pinal creek in a day and a half, and then, follow
ing our- trail back by Grapo Vino spriDgs to
Salt river, and up Tonto creek to near its head.
Crossing tho dividing ridgo, a distance of about
10' miles, wo struck tho east fork, of the. -San
Francisco, about 10 mile3 below our former
camp on that stream", then following down tho
liio Verde or Sah Francisco. '
While nas3infr down the oast fork wo shot at
an Indian but did not succeed in stopping him.
About two hours .ol ter, as wo wero passing along
a very rough and difficult trail on tho sido of a
hill, and overlooked My a high cliff of rocks,
somo Indians attempted to aunoy us by rolling
rocks down fetid hill, and also shot a few arrows
at us. 4Nono, hpwovcr, reached us, nor Ml any
r5nd; guha sodu -kfor(jll tKS ,lrfo
passed without injury. Wo camped on the San
Francisco, and tho next morning commenced tho
ascent of tho mountain On this Bide of that riv
er, following an old Indian trail, which proved a
good one. although pretty steep in some ' places.'
On reaching the top we struck across t he smooth
mesa to tho Agua F ria ranch, which wo reached
on the third day from the San Francisco river,
tho thirteenth from Fort Goodwin, and tho eighty-seventh
day from tho day of starting upon tho
expedition.
iho whole country through which we haro'
passed is covered with excellent grass, water'is
plenty for all ordinary purposes. In many pla
ces beautiful littlo valleys invito the farmer and
ranchero to follow tho occupation of their choice.
Wo never found gold in paving quantities, and
yet I cannot help thinking that there is in that
part ot tho 'jerntory great mineral wealth.
From tho preceding page3 your excellency will
easily discover why wo killod no Indians upon
this expedition. With the exception of thoso
at Pinal creek we wero never able to get within
shooting distance of them, and for those at Pi
ual I deemed the reason given for not fighting
thorn as sufficient at tho time, and still con
sider it so. Notwithstanding the failure to find
aud to kill Indians, I still think the expedition
has been of great benefit. Wo havo followed
tho trail of tho Apache to his home in tho
mountains, and havo learned whero it i3 loca
ted. Wo have dispelled the idea of vast num
bers that has ever attached to that tribe. A few
hundred of poor miserablo wretches compose
tho formidable foe so 'much dreaded by many.
ihat, they wui bo brought to terms speedily
or exterminated, I .cannot doubt, whett onoo
1. " .. i V V'... '" '. il '-( ii.
uiu government span Know now small $s
enemy by which SO much aurioyancehas'rjeen
caused. ' n
All of which is respectfully submittedi
K S. WOOLSBX.
J
t uiuuicuDj ii our
Walker ;1iud' Weaver Mihes.
TXllLY. ot distances:? i,,-
From Anna Fria Ranch
i .
To Fisher's Cienega, X G9 E, 15 miles.
Rio Verde. N G9 B, ..10 . 1
Clear Creek, E '. 'G e r'f
Creek, S S W, 8 '' f
Fossil Creek, S E, . . .
Head of Fossil Canon, E,. . . , . . .XQjwfV I
rI op of mountain, B, v .
East Fork.E... i -
Grcon Valley. S, . . . .' '.V. . :VJ l
5 miles from month of Tonto Creek u
SSOE,
3alt river, E, rittji
Grape Yine Springs, E,.-. ..... ..'l4 . "
Cow Springs, S E, . JO'
Pinal Creek, E, -.I'fTg
Pinal Mountain, S 29 B;. .1 l ,rfm u
Rio Sau Carlos, N G0 E . . w , . a M -
Mouth of San Carlos. S 10 W, A10 "
Ft. Goodwin, S 10s E,.. . . ... . ...O
Pooblo Yiejo, S 70 E,. . .u. a.35 '
Bonito, N 75 E, :. . . .-.Jurf. 10
Up Bonito. N, 1S "
Negrita, or Black river, B, 8
UpwTogrita to valley, N, . .r. .30 "
Forks of Xegrita, X N E.. 20
Head of West Fork, X W, 8
Bpauchamp Peak, S W, ..t. 5 "
Foot of mountain, S W,. a -20 l
Over mountain, Ws. . . ., .. . . . .. 8 "
East branch of San Carlos, S W, . . .20
Main branch of San Carlos, S W?,ia, . 4 "
East branch of San Carlos, S W, I . .12
Divide south of Salt river, N N W7.35
Pinal Creek (old camp), W,. . I h . 20
From bend of Touto (;reok-
leau oi aouio wrueiv , . . . .t
To EasfFork of Vordo, X . . . llO
iuuulu ui x.iisui'uiii, r , iu
Top of mountain, W,. .... Jtf'f. 5 "
Agua Fria. (East Fork,) . . . M m Jr.15
Agua Fria liauch,. 1 "
MR; V. ll'CiNXON's REPOllT.1
' Ft. Goodwin, A'ugiist',12, 16ti-i .
To JJeul. Col. King S, Vroolsey, command iug
Arizona Volunteers, Apacho Expedition
Sir:' 1 havo tho honor to ' report to you tt
tho movements 6f the party under my'condin mcJ
as follows : . : -
Tho next rnorning aftor you Joft-u&iJajy 'ii;
wo broko camp and travelled m tiA Jeft ftirK-
tho Black river, in an easterly' directi m. W
mado but abdut ft milee, owing to 'th -;
rain, And onuped. The next day continued
march in tJio.samo diredtion until moon, whi t
were compelled: .Oguio to camp by JtJiOjrtvy r.ti,.
llayjn trayoljed,abou84maes.j
f(K)Km oT ok vovnru r
ur OWn
i i