Going Home To Reavis Ranch

April 23, 2012 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

Approaching the old Reavis Ranch. circa 1975.

A clap of thunder, a flash of lightning and the threat of rain made the old Reavis Ranch house a haven to weary hikers, horsemen and cattlemen who rode or walked the trails of the eastern portion of the
Superstition Mountains for more than a half of a century.

This old skeleton of a ranch house survived almost thirty years alone in the heart of the Superstition Wilderness Area with little or no maintenance. Many friends of the old Reavis Ranch house tried desperately to help the old house limp into the Twenty First Century.

The Friends of the Reavis Ranch cleaned, cleared, hauled trash off and repaired the old ranch house for more than a decade. Their effort was a labor of love, nothing more.

We all understood the character and spirit of this old house after spending a few days in it. The roar of the fire place, the clanging of the tin roof, the wind blowing through the breezeway and the attic, the squeaking of a door hinge were sounds all of us were familiar with. The house had plenty of mice and even an occasion family of racoons. The beauty and solitude of this valley has made the ranch house a popular destination for hikers and horseman.

Since 1956, I have traveled to and from the Reavis Ranch on foot, horseback and by vehicle on many different occasions.

I can recall the old road and how rough it was between Castle Dome Corral, up through Windy Gap and on to Plow Saddle. I can remember the friendly smile of Alice Stone and the strong handshake of Floyd Stone when welcomed to their mountain ranch. I can recall the closing of the road and Mary Leonard’s article in the Arizona Republic about the old ranch in 1967. Only those who have spent time at the old ranch in Reavis Valley know what we have lost. The Reavis Valley is a pristine ecological niche of the Upper Sonoran Desert with the old ranch serving as a window for humankind.

The Reavis Ranch house burned down sometime around Thanksgiving 1991. The old house was constructed about 1937 and the ranch was patented by the Clemans Cattle Company in 1919. William J. Clemans purchased the ranch from John J. Fraser in 1909. Fraser had acquired the ranch shortly after the death of the old hermit Elisha Marcus Reavis in 1896.

Clemans and his two sons, Earl and Mark Twain, ran the ranch from 1910-1946. Billy Martin Sr. served as foreman of the Clemans Cattle Company from 1915-1946. Prior to Martin, William “Billy” Knight served as foreman from 1891-1915.

To this day, there are old catch pens deep in the forest made entirely of wood, not one nail or a piece of wire was used in their construction. The range was so brushy the Clemans’ cowboys had to trap a lot of their cattle.

The Reavis Ranch road was started in 1910 by a group of  Mesa promoters who wanted to sell lots in the pines south of the Reavis Ranch. They never completed the road.

Bacon and Upton purchased the ranch from the Clemans Cattle Company around 1946.  The road was completed by Bacon and Upton in 1948. Floyd Stone, Bacon’s son-inlaw, and Kenneth Lockwood purchased the ranch in 1955. Stone and Lockwood sold the ranch to the United States Department of Agriculture in 1966 for $80,000 and twenty acres of patented land near the Apache Trail.

Shortly after the government purchased the Reavis Ranch, they closed the access corridor. The reason for the closure of the road was the extreme maintenance cost and the danger to vehicular travel. After the road was closed in 1967, only hikers and horseman were able to access the Reavis Valley and the ranch.

When news of the Reavis Ranch fire spread among those who had visited the old ranch over the years a sort of sadness prevailed. I suppose many of the wilderness purists believed the fire was a blessing to the wilderness concept.

Many hikers and backpackers were disappointed to find their severe weather haven destroyed by fire. Now outfitters and packers will have to carry more gear and take more animals to provide adequate service to their customers.

Many will miss the old ranch house because of the nostalgia associated with it. I must admit I really enjoyed being a part of this history. The destruction of the old Reavis Ranch house ended an era in the history of the Superstition Wilderness Area. Settlers and cattlemen have lived in the Reavis Valley since 1874.

The Reavis Valley had served as the first Camp Geronimo for the Boy Scouts in 1920, before the Spade Ranch north of Payson became their permanent home. Arizona’s Governor Thomas Campbell rode horseback to the Reavis Ranch in 1920’s to visit with the Boy Scouts at Camp Geronimo (Reavis Ranch) and tell them stories around a campfire. Even post cards told the story of the idyllic Reavis Valley.

I visited the Reavis Valley but to see the old ranch house once more. The walls were still standing and the chimney towered above the old house like a monument to the past.

I returned to the site of the old Reavis Ranch in October of 2000. None of the walls of the old ranch were standing. All that remained was the concrete slab the old ranch house was constructed on.
I was amazed how obliterated the site was. All human history had just about been eradicated and the valley had been almost returned to its pure natural state, this being the original concept of “wilderness.”

Like all man-made things, the Reavis Ranch was just a temporary fixture on the landscape, destined to be destroyed someday. Those who knew the old house undoubtedly had a better understanding of man’s mark on the wilderness and the value of this place.

Now the old ranch is only a memory in the minds of those who once lived there or visited.

Two Soldiers' Lost Mine

April 16, 2012 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

Castle Rock is located just east of the Soldier’s Grave.

The tale of the Two Soldiers’ Lost Mine has been around since the turn of the century and continues to appear in stories about the Lost Dutchman Mine and the Silver King Mine. Sims Ely mentioned the story in depth in his book The Lost Dutchman Mine by William Morrow & Company, New York, N.Y., 1953.

According to Ely and others, the story goes something like this. Two soldiers were mustered out of the Army at Fort McDowell in 1879. The young men decided to hike across the Salt River and through the mountains to the Silver King Mine were they hoped to gain employment. The reason they choose to hike across this country was to save money.

Somewhere south of the Salt River in a rugged canyon that was in view of a tall pointed peak, they found an old Mexican mine and dump. They believed it to be a Mexican mine because of the small tunnels that were only large enough for a man to crawl into on his hands and knees.

The young soldiers, fearing Apaches in the area, spent only enough time to fill their packs with what they thought was highgrade gold ore. They then departed the area and hiked up the drainage of Tortilla Creek then down into Randolph Canyon and eventually into what is known as Fraser Canyon today.

They eventually made their way to the southeast finally arriving at the Silver King Mine. The first person they talked to at the Silver King was Aaron Mason. Mason at the time operated the Silver King Commercial Mercantile Store. They told Mason their story and showed him samples of gold ore they had. Mason immediately suggested he would grubstake them if they would go back relocate the mine and claim it.

The two soldiers decided to rest and wait for a while before making any deal with Mason. After a couple of weeks they decided to take Mason up on his deal. They planned on returning to the site of gold ore and staking a claim with all three of their names on it. Mason grubstaked the soldiers and they left town. Mason never heard from them again.

There are many stories as to what happen to the soldiers. Some claim they never found a gold mine and used Mason grubstake to make it to California to prospect for gold along the American and Yuba Rivers. Others believe the soldiers were murdered before they found their way back to the old Mexican mine and dump.

Another story that associates itself with the Two Lost Soldier’s mine occurred just east of the old Bark Ranch (Quarter Circle U Ranch) in Pinal County. Matt Caveness built the old stone house (barn) at the Bark Ranch in 1877. The old stone house had rifle ports because Apaches still raided in those days. Caveness sold the ranch to a man name Marlowe in 1878 or 1879. Marlowe tried to make a living raising a few dairy cows and hauling the milk to the Silver King mine to sell it.

The Marlowe boy was bringing in some milk cows from about a half-mile east of the Bark Ranch in 1880 when he found a body along the trail. The man had been shot in the head. The boy said the man was dressed like a soldier.

The body was buried where it was found and, according to Gus Barkley, the grave was dug up in 1907 or 1908. The incident really upset Barkley and he ask Roy Bradford, who was working for him at the time, to rebury the soldier. This was one of the earliest references to the man being a soldier.

Some time in spring of 1954 my father and I were visiting with Gus Barkley at the old Quarter Circle W (Three R’s) just east of Dinosaur Mountain in what is now Gold Canyon. Gus insisted the victim that lay in that grave was a soldier because of military blouse he was wearing and the buttons on it. He further said the Marlowe boy had told him the military buttons were clear indicators of a mustered out military person. Anyone else would have been accused of being absent from duty.

Bill Finch, Arizona State Brand Inspector, told several stories about the grave along this trail across Bark’s Basin eastward toward Coffee Flat and Reid’s Water. This was the main trail through the mountains to the Silver King Mine. The entire trail was not suitable for a wagon once you entered Fraser Canyon just beyond Reid’s Water. A team could turn down Whitlow Canyon and make its way out through an area called the Milk Ranch and eventually to the Silver King Road. However, it was a much shorter route up Fraser Canyon and into Hewitt Canyon and eventually over the ridges to the Silver King mine on horseback. Prospectors, miners and horsemen often used this route in the 1880’s.

The story of this grave became a mystery in itself over the years. Eventually the grave returned to nature and was very difficult to recognize. William Thomas Barkley showed me the gravesite in 1959 while we were working cattle in the east pasture of the ranch. I doubt very much I could find site today, but I probably could come within two hundred feet.

To this day the missing soldiers are still a story that attracts interest and attention when it comes to tales about the Superstition Mountains and the Lost Dutchman Mine.

An Uneasy Encounter

April 9, 2012 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

At left, Bill Billman, the main investor, Chuck Crawford and Tom Kollenborn, circa 1984.

Bob Corbin believed the Lost Dutchman mine existed
somewhere in this rugged region and he really enjoyed
getting into the mountains and looking around. Bob was also
a lawyer and a former Arizona Attorney General.

Bob Corbin and I were riding up La Barge Canyon toward the Upper Box in the fall of the year. Bob really enjoyed getting into the mountains and looking around. He believed the Lost Dutchman mine existed somewhere in this rugged mountain region. Our plan was to ride up through the Upper Box of La Barge Canyon and visit Roy Bradford’s old diggings.

Bradford lived in these mountains for many years digging prospect holes above the Upper Box of La Barge Canyon. He constructed a small cabin near a water seep just east of his diggings. This seep is known today as Brad’s Water.

Bradford had several oldtimers who helped him out. One man was Chuck Aylor. Aylor would occasionally bring “the curious” out to see Brad’s prospect in La Barge Canyon. An Easterner named Jim Butler thought he saw promise in Bradford’s prospect and decided to invest some money. Butler’s investment in Bradford’s claim and diggings kept him going for a few more years.

I had told Bob Corbin about the Bradford Claims and he wanted to see them. I knew Charles “Chuck” M. Crawford had claims in the Upper Box of La Barge Canyon. I told Bob the prospectors in the area might be a little hostile about our intrusion into their private domain; or at least they thought it was their private domain.

As Bob Corbin and I rode up the canyon we could see some activity ahead. There was a rifle pit high on a ledge above the trail. We couldn’t see anyone in the rifle pit, but it did make us a little uncomfortable. As we rode into a clump of Laurels we could see there had been a lot of activity in the area. We didn’t hear anyone even though we called out, “Anyone in camp?”

When you ride into a situation like this you have some concerns about what might lie ahead. I knew Chuck Crawford quite well and he had invited me to visit his camp in the mountains hoping I would write a column about his mining operations.

We were riding along a very brushy trail when we had to step off of a bank along a wash. As my horse stepped down he tripped a trip line that set off a buzzer and rodeo. I thought for a moment I was going to be dumped in a pile of rocks when my horse finally quit jumping. For a moment I thought I was riding a wild-eyed bronco. My faithful trail dog “Duke” just hopped over the trip line and never set it off. When my
horse broke the trip line the loud squealing buzzer spooked my ride. Just for an instant, I thought somebody would soon be shooting at us. Instead, I heard Chuck Crawford call out, “Is that you, Kollenborn?”

I let him know it was me and that I didn’t appreciate my horse being spooked out of his wits.

Once in the wash above the “box” we saw Crawford’s Camp on the left-hand side of La Barge Canyon. Crawford had three or four men in camp. Bob Ward was his security chief. His main investor was Bill Billman, a Peoria contractor.

Chuck’s camp was well supplied. They had an excellent water delivery system that kept large containers full of water. There were tents and cots for all of the crew. The crew had tarps stretched out to provide
shade and protection from precipitation.

Bob Ward, Crawford’s security chief, told us his guards had us covered ever since we entered the La Barge Upper Box. “The boys,” he said, are carrying 7.62 caliber sniper rifles with 10X scopes. Then Bob went on to say, “Nobody fires their weapon without direct orders from me.”

Corbin and I looked at each other and thought, how lucky we are. We sat around and visited with the group for about an hour and then told them we had to head back to the Quarter Circle U Ranch before they
sent out a search party.

Bob and I never actually felt threatened, but we also knew better than to confront this group and there was no reason to do so. When you think back, these guys were “the law” in this situation.

As we rode back to the Quarter Circle U Ranch, we thought about this uneasy encounter so far removed from urban America.