November 12, 2007 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.
I can not
claim to be Chuck Aylor’s biographer, but while working for the Barkley
Cattle Company in the 1950s I met Chuck and Peg Aylor on several
occasions and had many interesting conversations with them.
The first time I met Chuck Aylor was
with my father in 1948. The next time our trails crossed, Chuck Aylor
was at his Caballo Camp in East Boulder Canyon. I believe it was in the
summer of 1955. Barkley had asked me to pack salt down to the Brush
Corral salt grounds. I found my way to Brush Corral, dumped the salt and
then decided to take the stock over to East Boulder for a drink of
water. As I was riding up East Boulder I came upon Chuck and Peg Aylor’s
Caballo Camp. Chuck knew I worked for Barkley the moment he saw me
riding toward his camp. I am sure Betty Barkley had told him. Chuck
always called me “Slim” or “Red” for obvious reasons. He asked me to
step down and talk for a little while. He offered me a cool drink of
water and a chance to rest. This began my friendship with Chuck and Peg
Aylor that lasted for almost a decade.
I was no different than other visitors
that stopped at Caballo Camp. Chuck began his spill about the mountains
once he learned who my father was. We talked for a couple of hours about
the old Dutchman and Spanish gold in the Superstitions. He offered to
take me over to see his mine, but I decline because it was getting late
in the afternoon and I needed to get back to First Water Ranch and start
the windmill or Barkley.
Chuck was working closely with the
Q.E.D., a corporation on the East Coast at that time. A man named Jim
Butler was the lead man for Q.E.D., and Chuck had taken him into the
country above the Upper Box of La Barge Canyon. I am sure he showed
Butler old Roy Bradford’s diggings at the head of the Upper Box and they
may have gone on into Miller Basin looking for the juniper stumps.
Chuck Aylor was a very interesting man.
He found quoting Shakespeare a way of relaxation. I was told Chuck had
worked as a cook in an insane asylum in Colorado prior to moving to
Arizona. I heard many stories about Chuck and Peg Aylor; some were
probably true and others were undoubtedly not.
Chuck was always packing people and
their gear into the mountains to make a little money. He had two burros,
one named Cisco and the other Jacko. There were many occasions when I
was sitting around a campfire I would think of Chuck and Peg Aylor and
their many stories.
Chuck and Peg staked a claim in the
Pioneer Mining District near the Silver King Mine on January 20, 1937.
They called the claim El Caballo. They soon moved to the Superstition
Mountain area in 1938 and then recorded the Palomino #1 on February 24,
1939.
Chuck and Peg were actively involved
with prospecting and mining in the Superstition Mountains from
1939-1961, according to the record books. I have heard stories about
them prospecting in the Superstition Mountains as early as 1935.
My father and Bill Cage first met Chuck
Aylor in 1937 on the old road to the Silver King Mine. About 1955 Chuck
built Peg another house in La Barge Canyon near the old Indian Paint
Mine. Chuck had to give up this residence and returned to Caballo Camp
when the forest service learned about the La Barge house in an article
written by Mary Leonard in the Arizona Republic. The forest rangers
would not allow any permanent camps. Chuck’s La Barge Canyon dwelling
had a masonary wall and a large glass picture window.
The last time I saw Chuck and Peg in the
Caballo Camp was in late spring of 1960 when I rode into Charliebois
Spring. Chuck Aylor had come in contact with many of the old timers who
had searched for the Dutchman after 1900. Chuck believed in the gold of
Superstition Mountain, and many men have spent time with Aylor
prospecting and talking about these mountains. Aylor’s stories still
flourish because of these people.
The other side of Chuck Aylor’s life was
his wife, Peggy. She considered herself an astrologer and also thought
of herself as a predictor of future events. Peggy had also taken up oil
painting and had painted several pictures of the interior of the
Superstition Mountains. I have one of her paintings in my collection
that was done about 1951. There is a good possibility that several of
Peggy Aylors’ oils still exist around Apache Junction.
The Aylors were a special part of
Superstition Mountain history. They were icons to many old timers who
hiked the trails of the Superstition Wilderness in the 1950s and early
1960s. Their names have been etched into the pages of Superstition
Wilderness history and will remain there forever.
Chuck and Peg Aylor both passed away in the early 1960s leaving behind a legacy of searching and dreaming.