My father encouraged me as a young lad to be interested in history. He always claimed the Superstition Wilderness Area had a fascinating history, and he based this on the many prospectors and cowboys he had met in the area between 1932-1952.
We visited many of the old cabins and cabin sites within the Superstition Wilderness Area between 1947-1952. These old cabin sites contain memories and stories about the various characters that once occupied them. The mountain range’s history comes from the characters that once lived in these small cabins. My father always said this history was a study into the heart and soul of these characters and their relationship with the mountain. I could never find fault with his conclusion. These men were neither hero nor villain in the eyes of others. Many just “marched to a different drummer.”
One weekend my father and I hiked up Red Tank Canyon toward the divide. As we topped out at the summit we [chose] to rest for awhile. Father pointed out two old cabin sites in the area. He talked about Bradford’s Cabin and the old stone cabin under the cliffs of Coffee Flat Mountain. We hiked over to the old stone cabin under a huge boulder and looked around.
This old cabin supposedly belonged to a man named Polka. Twenty years later Bob Ward told me a similar story about the cabin. We took a couple of photographs and then hiked down to Brad’s Cabin. Dad visited awhile with an old timer there, then we moved on down the trail toward the Upper Box of La Barge Canyon. The golden green color of the cottonwood trees were spectacular as we hiked along the edge of the deep canyon. This particular trip was in early April and the trees had just leafed out.
Other cabins and cabin sites are sprinkled throughout the Superstition Wilderness Area. There were cabins located at the south end of Bluff Springs Mountain in a draw off of Bluff Springs Canyon south of Bluff Springs. This cabin was located close to the old campsite for the Lost Dutchman Mine No. 1. This mine was active in 1941.
At different times there were cabins located at various spots in Needle Canyon. Old John Pierce maintained a cabin in Needle Canyon. All that remains of that site today is a small concrete slab. Chuck and Peggy Aylor had a cabin-tent in East Boulder Canyon after they left the Pioneer Mining District near Superior, Arizona in 1939.
The Barkley Cattle Company maintained an old cabin at Charlebois Springs for many years before moving it to Bluff Springs Corral. “Brownie” Holmes and some of Barkley’s cowboys moved the cabin to Bluff Springs from Charlebois Springs in 1948. The old metal shack remained at Bluff Springs until it was removed in the late 1960s.
There was always some kind of tent or shack at the Indian Paint Mine until the early 1970s. A dead man was found in a camp tent at the Indian Paint Mine in 1906. Carl A. Silverlocke worked the Indian Paint Mine for several years before giving it up in 1912, and moving to a claim near the base of Superstition Mountain. Silverlocke and Goldleaf, as the partners were known, constructed a small cabin near this prospect. A concrete foundation survived for many years until it was broken up and destroyed in the early 1980s.
Abe Reid had an old cabin at his mine site in upper Whitlow Canyon near the confluence of Fraser and Whitlow Canyons. Reid kept a campsite down at what is [known] today as Reid’s Water. Reid’s tunnelling operation at the mine site was quite extensive considering it was primarily the work of two men. My father and I visited old Abe many times. My dad and Abe went back a long time together. Abe [used] to promote copper investment stocks around the mining camps of Central Arizona in the early 1920s. As Abe grew old, more and more people paid less attention to his dreams of getting rich on copper. He finally settled for what he called the Silver Belle. Abe passed on in October 1957.
There was an old cabin in Lost Dutch Canyon in the mid-1920s. Some claimed this cabin belonged to old George Drakulvich (Miller), but I am not convinced it did. Miller lived in a cabin near the upper windmill. Today you can find the ruins of a stone foundation near this windmill. Miller claimed this old stone cabin belonged to Jacob Waltz, the German prospector who allegedly possessed the Dutchman’s Lost Mine.
Over the past century several small isolated cabins have been constructed within the wilderness. Another interesting old cabin is the one along the Silver Spur Ridge off the Campaign Creek Trail. This one burned down several years ago. The best known structures within the wilderness, but on private land at one time, were the Reavis Ranch and the Tortilla Ranch.
Several old cabin sites were built under ledges along deep canyons. One such mysterious cabin was in Fish Creek, high above the creek’s bottom. This cabin had horizontal shutters over its windows. The cabin was constructed of stone and mortared together with cement and sand. It has been more than twenty years since I visited this old cabin, but at the time it was in excellent shape.
Many years ago there was a small stone cabin on Peter’s Mesa in a clump of laurels near the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon. Many such cabins probably served as line shacks for different ranchers over the years.
Another interesting cabin stood near the head of Rough’s Canyon. The cabin was constructed of small Ponderosa pine logs. The last time I saw the cabin, the roof was gone and most of the walls were down. There was a board cabin located near the Roger’s Canyon mill site at the base of Iron Mountain. This small cabin had two rooms and even running water. Years ago the old steam boiler was still at the site.
There are several cabins I have forgotten or never had observed. Also it is important to classify what is a cabin and what is not. Many of the cabins in the Superstition Wilderness Area were nothing more than a wooden floor with a wood frame covered with canvas. Eight-ounce canvas was usually only good for two or three seasons in this hot and dry climate.
The policy managers for the Superstition Wilderness management plan want to remove any evidence from the region that is indicative of contemporary man’s occupancy of the area. There has been a great effort on behalf of several people to try and preserve the history of all these cabins within the wilderness. Hopefully we will not [lose] this legacy to some notion that contemporary man is not part of the history of this region.
These old cabin sites are silent witnesses to men who dreamed about the gold of Superstition Mountain. The adventures, prospectors, miners and cowboys are all a part of the Superstition Mountain legacy.
