October 26, 2009 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.
Landmark
names in the Superstition Wilderness Area have caused a considerable
amount of debate in recent years. The debate results from changes in
place names and landmark names from generation to generation. There will
never be any real resolve to this issue because of changing
generations. Place or landmark names can be here one year and gone the
next.
Being a resident of the area for more
than fifty years I have observed many changes in place and landmark
names. The most obvious being name changes here in Apache Junction. How
many of you remember County Line Road, Wilson Drive, Vineyard Road,
Hickman Road, Transmission Road, Rattlesnake Drive or Sunset Drive? This
name changing has also occurred in the Superstition Wilderness Area for
the past one hundred years, and even continues today as new folks find a
different name for a landmark or come up with their own name.
Some of these names remain and we are
challenged with trying to interpret somebody else’s knowledge when it
comes to search and rescue or hiking in these mountains. Jack Carlson
and Elizabeth Stewart have done an excellent job with their hiking guide
books for preserving place and landmark names. Their books will be
around for a long time and hopefully will benefit future historians and
research people, and will help stabilized the present names on
landmarks. Their books are the most accurate and factual ever written on
the Superstition Wilderness Area. I highly recommend them for anyone
who plans to become involved with the Superstition Wilderness Area in
any way from hiking to historical research.
The premises of any landmark name that
leads to any kind of solution about its origin has to be based on
accurate research. Ironically, most information to do with landmark and
place names is based on hearsay. This material is extremely subjective
and very difficult to document. Let’s study, just for moment, the most
popular landmark in the Superstition Wilderness Area, other than
Superstition Mountain. Even with this statement there would be
controversy as to what landmark within wilderness would be the best
known. Some would say Ship Rock, Flat Iron, First Water, Weaver’s
Needle, and Peralta Canyon just to name a few. Let’s evaluate the name
of Weaver’s Needle.
This landmark is the oldest historically
named landmark in the area. It was named after mountain man and guide
Paulino Weaver. This prominent landmark east of Superstition Mountain
has been named since 1853, however it has been called other names on
maps and in a variety of stories.
Weaver’s Needle was known as Picacho
Peak and Statue Mountain on various military sketch maps. These sketch
maps were basically maps submitted by commanding officers who led
campaigns against the Apaches in the Superstition Mountains between
1864-1878.
Arizona already has one Picacho Peak
near I-10 Highway between Phoenix and Tucson. Weaver’s Needle has
appeared as Statue Mountain on a couple of military sketch maps of the
1860’s. References were made of the prominent point being called Picacho
as late as 1872. This reference can illustrate what happens to place
names. Believe me, there have been many changes in place name during the
past fifty years in our area. Recording landmark and place names for
the future is very important when there is a need to do historical
research about an area. Proper names help to identify a location and
some of its history.
Within the Superstition Wilderness Area
there are more than twenty-five hundred landmarks and place names that
can bear out a systematic study. Many place names have three to five
different names according to the source and the period the source lived.
The forest service wilderness management
plan discourages the naming of places and landmarks within the
wilderness area. However, the management office has conceded to the fact
search and rescue operations would be almost impossible with
recognizable landmark and place names to guide searchers. Could you
imagine following instructions for a search and rescue operation in the
wilderness with no names for landmarks? There also remains the distinct
possibility that GPS coordinates could replace landmarks and place names
in the Superstition Wilderness Area. To do this everyone would have to
have GPS instrument and know how to use it. The names will survive and
technology will help in the location of various landmarks and place
names.
The
additional argument for place and landmark names is the preservation of
local history that was generated by the old cowboys; ranchers, miners,
prospectors, treasure hunters and adventurers who walked and rode these
hills. This history will never be lost as long as there are those of us
who are interest in preserving stories of this unique region we call the
Superstition Mountains of central Arizona.