WICKENBURG: YESTERDAY AND TODAY

WICKENBURG YESTERDAY STORY BY

We wouldn't trade places with anyone in any other place in the world," they. all said. "People here are friendly. The air is wonderful. We have the best water in the world. We live among clean, rolling hills and purple mountains. You don't walk down the street in Wickenburg, you stroll, and everyone smiles at everyone whether they know each other or not." We heard this everywhere and board members the "Top Hands." Boss Dana Burden is co-owner of Remuda Guest Ranch. Straw Boss Guy Stegall owns the Purple Hills Motel. Wrangler Andy Hervey was a top publicity man in Hollywood for forty years. Top Hands are Bill Bass, owner of La Siesta Motel; Bill Rue, Double R Sign Company; Bruce Hunt, manager of Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Company; and Sky Thurber, owner of Brayton's Commercial and Thurber's Western Wear Stores. Carl Beillen is office manager. Carl and his wife, Verna, owned Monte Vista Guest Ranch for fifteen years. Martha Jenkins is secretary. Her husband, Robert, is pastor of First Baptist Church. Luke White, retiring Boss, is co-owner of White Land and Investment Company. The club averages around 150 members.

"Was Wickenburg as friendly in the old days?" we asked Andy Hervey, wrangler of the Round-up Club. "It was," he assured us, "unless of course you got crossed up with somebody carrying a gun or who had imbibed too much red-eye."

The Round-up Club is Wickenburg's chamber of commerce. Its president is the "Boss"; vice president, the "Straw Boss"; publicity director, the "Wrangler"; One of the Round-up Club's fourteen standing committees is the Keep Wickenburg Western Committee. The club's program is to encourage progress without losing the atmosphere and charm of the Old West. “Wickenburg is the last small western town that hasn’t been spoiled today by civilization,” says Brad Blossom, general chairman of Gold Rush Days. The Round-up Club is well-named. We asked Andy Hervey if he could tell us more about the little town on the Hassayampa River and what maintains its popularity and prosperity. “Let’s ask some more people,” said Andy. Within a short time he had rounded up all the town’s officials. “No one ever turns down a job here when asked to do something,” says Andy. “That’s one thing that makes Wickenburg tick. Most everyone is serving on two or three committees. In fact everyone is so willing to help that we have to restrain the city fire department from helping the rural fire department when there’s a fire, and remind them it’s illegal!” “The Brenda Cutoff (short-cut from Phoenix to Los Angeles that will by-pass the town) will not hurt us

Community hospital At Remuda Guest Ranch and TODAY Street scene, Wickenburg IDA SMITH

If we keep Wickenburg western,” they all said. “We must keep it an attractive place for tourists and homes. By the time the cutoff is completed, our economy will be such that we will be independent of highways. Wickenburg has had a substantial and steady growth. Real estate values have continued to keep stable. It is not generally known, but Wickenburg draws a large amount of business from Blythe. And many Blythe people patronize our doctors. Wickenburg people are Wickenburg-minded, thanks to our fine Round-up Club. Interesting things happen here. If they don’t, we make them.” Wickenburg’s permanent population is around 2500, increased by another thousand during the winter season. Two things that contribute to its popularity and keep it western are its famous dude ranches and fine western shops and stores. A century ago there were no man-made dwellings on the site of Wickenburg, except a few wickiups where Apaches grew their crops. In 1863 Henry Wickenburg, a mineralogist immigrant from Germany, discovered rich gold ore not far from the Hassayampa River. Discouraged prospector acquaintances laughed at him and called it “fool's gold.” Wickenburg traced the ore to its source, staked his claim, and named it the Vulture, for the big bird that eyed him from a nearby perch. He tried to persuade his prospector friends to share the claim, but they still scoffed. When the mine began producing $3000 a day, they tried to sue him for a share in the profits.

Wickenburg worked his mine alone at first, hauling ore from the mine to the river, where he crushed it in an arrastra. Later he sold ore at the mine for $15 a ton. Numerous arrastras were built along the river, and the little settlement became the town of Wickenburg a century ago last October.

Beset with disappointments, Henry Wickenburg's hopes turned into constant vigilance against treachery. In 1866 he sold the mine to a New York company. In 1879 the Vulture was still grossing $21,000 a week. Between 1865 and 1880 crime ran rampant throughout western Arizona. Wells Fargo drivers were murdered for the gold they guarded. The early-day wealth of the Vulture brought an onslaught of bank robberies, stage holdups and swindlings. Desert Country said, “Mankind had arrived at the Hassayampa and had brought civilization along.” In 1890 the Hassayampa went on a rampage during a severe rain storm. It broke Walnut Grove Dam twentyfive miles north of Wickenburg. Mines and ranches were ruined, the town virtually wrecked, and lives lost. At around the same time the rich body of ore in the Vulture disappeared by a fault and has never again been found. It was as though the Big Boss had said, “You've made such a mess of things, let's start over.” The ruggedness of early-day pioneering left little time for hobbies such as we enjoy today. By 1905, Henry Wickenburg was a disillusioned and tired old man. Near his eighty-eighth birthday he was found, along the Hassayampa where he had first camped, with a bullet in his head. Whether suicide, or murder, the details of Henry Wickenburg's last hours on earth will probably never be known.

Other ore deposits were discovered at the Vulture, but none as valuable as the original vein. The town's prosperity rose and fell with the Vulture and other later mines.

Wickenburg's need for hay and grain led a group of its citizens to develop irrigation systems and agriculture in the Valley of the Sun where the prehistorics had farmed, which led to the founding of Phoenix.

The history of Wickenburg up to and after 1875 is scattered through numerous documents, many of them unpublished. Helen B. Hawkins compiled it painstakingly up to 1875.

Wickenburg's prosperity in the intervening years has been based on a more substantial economy and the salvaging of the renowned hospitality that brightened the dark places of the Old West. The late Charles L. Maguire, affectionately known as “Mr. Wickenburg,” did much to advance the town.

With its elevation of 2072 feet, Wickenburg has a warm, dry climate. It has little wind and dust due to the surrounding hills and heavy top soil. Winter temperatures range in the mid 70's. July temperatures are much less noticeable because of the low humidity. Sharp winter nights are softened by sunny days, which average 292 annually.

The Hassayampa River runs through the town. A dry, sandy ribbon most of the year, it is called the river that disappears except when torrential rains and melting snows in the mountains send their swirling waters down. The river's name was derived from an Indian word meaning "Sparkling Waters." Orick Jackson, intrigued by an early-day legend, composed his version in rhyme: You've heard about the wondrous stream They call the Hassayamp. They say it turns a truthful guy Into a lying scamp.

A variation of the legend says, "If you turn upstream to drink, you'll always be truthful. If you drink downstream, you're a "Hassayamp!"

Wickenburg calls itself the "Dude Ranch Capital of the World." Its famous guest ranches cover hundreds of picturesque acres. Their beautiful buildings and guest cottages are unsurpassed. Each winter season guests from all over the United States and numerous foreign countries enjoy their scenic trail rides, picnic cookouts, jeep trips, overnight camps, square dances, dinner parties, planned children's activities, and numerous others. Remuda Ranch and Rancho de las Caballeros have air strips where flying clubs or individual planes are met and guests are transported to the ranches by automobiles or horseback. Each one of the ranches has an annual guest list that reads like a repeat of Who's Who in America. Flying E also has an airstrip for guests.

Remuda is the oldest family-owned guest ranch in Arizona. Named for its first string of horses, it dates back to 1925. It maintains the only ranch school, which is attended by children from all the ranches during the winter season. The ranch is owned by a family corpora-tion, headed by Mrs. Sophie Burden. The other members are her sons, John and Dana, her brother, Pete Fletcher, Maureen, John's wife, and Billie, Pete's wife.

J. B. Priestley, noted British author, wrote Midnight on the Desert at Remuda, in a secluded little "hut" which he had them build for him there. It is now called "Priestley's Mansion." "Here he composed his striking descriptions of Arizona.

Monte Vista (meaning View of the Hills) was established in 1927. It was purchased over a year ago by Mr. and Mrs. Warren Pleister, of Clyde, Ohio. "This is a place where people come for a friendly, home atmosphere," says the Pleisters. "Our guests may participate in the activities, or just enjoy the tranquility of the desert." An old-fashioned surrey of early-day vintage is one of the ranch's unique attractions. The Pleisters are among Wickenburg's most hospitable hosts.

Diamond P Ranch, owned by Harold and Gladys Park, is a combination guest and cattle ranch. Nestled among huge mesquites and pretty canyons, its homey atmosphere draws a full house of repeat guests each year. "The guests do our only advertising," says Harold.

Rancho de las Caballeros (Gentlemen on Horseback) was built in 1948. Dallas and Edie Gant, the owners, have made it an elegant ranch resort where guests live as they do at home, yet enjoy all the attractions of the desert. Here guests can ride the famous Tennessee walking horses.

Flying E Ranch is owned by George and Vi Wellik. Historic Vulture Mountain can be seen across its picturesque patio and pool. The Welliks own an old Concord stage coach, 115 years old, that came from Virginia City. The coach plays an important part in Wickenburg's celebrations.

Lazy Fox Ranch, owned by Jim and Denise Condren, is the only one on the Country Club golf course.

HASSAYAMPA LEGEND

THERE'S A LEGEND CENTURIES OLD BY THE EARLY SPANIARDS TOLD OF A SPARKLING STREAM THAT "LIES" UNDER ARIZONA SKIES HASSAYAMPA IS ITS NAME AND THE TITLE TO ITS FAME IS A WONDROUS QUAHTY KNOWN TODAY FROM SEA TO SEA THOSE WHO DRINK ITS WATERS BRIGHT RED MAN, WHITE MAN, BOOR OR KNIGHT GIRLS OR WOMEN, BOYS OR MEN NEVER TELL THE TRUTH AGAIN Its pretty guest cottages all have Indian names. Slash Bar K is Wickenburg's only guest ranch open the year round, and the only one that breeds and raises horses. Owned by Mrs. Toni Schultz, the ranch maintains a cabin cruiser and takes guests on campouts and cruiser trips to lakes on the Colorado. The ranch also has a famous old stage coach stop.

The Desert Sun Ranchers' Association holds interranch activities throughout the year. The 1963-64 program lists two big social events of the season; the allranch Hat Dance at Rancho de las Caballeros, and the Cattle Rustler's Ball at Bowman's Barn.

Desert Cypress Trailer Ranch, owned by Herb and Faye Cameron, caters only to people on wheels. Around eighty mobile homes with pretty yards are nestled among its trees. The four-star court is the oldest of its kind in Wickenburg. Its antique post office came from Aguila and dates back to 1897. Faye is one of Wickenburg's artists. Herb, a former Wickenburg mayor, served on the three-man committee that headed Wickenburg's centennial celebrations year, Oct. '63 to Oct. 164.

Highlights of the 1963 centennial celebrations were the torchlight service at Henry Wickenburg's grave, the famous Gold Rush Days, a jeep trek to the Vulture Mine, a street dance, and an arts and crafts show.

FOLLOWING PANEL

"AIR VIEW OF WICKENBURG" BY DON KELLER. This aerial photo was taken one thousand feet above the terrain and from the southwest side of Wickenburg. From the right U. S. 60 crosses the Hassayampa River. The road to the north is U. S. 89 which leads to Yarnell Hill and to Prescott, sixty miles away. Wickenburg, fifty-three miles from Phoenix, is a tourist and traveler center and also the trading center for a vast surrounding area. Wickenburg's guest ranches serve winter guests from all over the world. The community, nestling in desert hills, has an ideal winter climate. The photographer, Don Keller, is a specialist in aerial photography. He contends the new Agfachrome-CT-18 color film is the finest he has used in the many years he has been taking photographs from the air. The film, made in Germany, gives him better color definition and minimizes the blue haze that often shows in the distant areas of many aerial photo studies. Home-made 8x10 camera; Agfachrome-CT-18 film; f.8 at 1/400th sec.; Super Angulon 61/4" lens; late October; cloudy day; 13 on Elwood Meter; ASA rating 64.

The first torchlight service at Henry Wickenburg's grave, in the little hilltop memorial park, was conducted in January 1963 by Reverends James Wilson, Robert Jenkins and Dan Gerrard. A procession of townspeople, and the Senior and Junior Saddle Clubs were led by Mayor Bob Wentworth and Ray Coxwell, owner of Rancho Grande Motel. The service will be an annual event conducted by Wickenburg's ministerial association.

Gold Rush Days was originated in 1951 by members of the Round-up Club. It's an annual three-day celebration held early in February. Dates for the 1964 celebration are February 7, 8, 9. The 1963 observance drew over 12,000 "pie-pan prospectors." Gold panning, whiskerodeo, pony express race, a stage revue, buckaroo roundup, and a gala ball are some of the annual events.

Wickenburg has twelve churches and a little chapel. Their ministers are doing outstanding work. One of Wickenburg's well-known ministers, Dr. Charles S. Poling, with the aid of the Kiwanis Club, founded the town's "Easter Sunrise Service on Horseback" in 1951. A cross on a hill overlooks a natural amphitheatre where today hundreds come on horseback, by automobile and even stage coach to attend the annual services. The services are sponsored by the Wickenburg Jaycees and conducted by the ministerial association.

H. K. MacLennan, superintendent of Wickenburg's schools for thirty years, has witnessed many changes. "The little red schoolhouse, opened in 1905, was the direct descendant of the first adobe school," he says. "From that has grown our elementary school and high school." A new, modern addition to the elementary school is now known as the MacLennan School. Plans for a new $315,000 high school complex have been approved by the school board. As Wickenburg has the only high school in the area, pupils come from numerous other surrounding school districts.

MacLennan is president of the Desert Caballero's Western Museum, in process of organization. One of the museum's relics will be the old patent certificate deeding 160 acres to Henry Wickenburg in 1879. It was signed by R. B. Hayes. The 160 acres covered most of what today is the town of Wickenburg.

Seventeen or more fine, modern motels are located on either side of the highway through Wickenburg. Bill and Lenore Bass, owners of the La Siesta Motel, entertain guests from all the motels, as well as local citizens, with their shows. Of Bill's thirty color shows, presented free each evening in their Cliff Room Auditorium, "Grand Canyon" and "Enchantments of the Desert" are among his best. The latter is a color movie of wild flowers. At the close, when his "Joyce Kilmer's 'Trees'" program is shown with musical background, there are few dry eyes. Bill is a noted nature photographer, poet, contributor to ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, and son of a famous father, W. W. Bass, who was one of the first to explore and pioneer the Grand Canyon.

John and Berniece McCarroll celebrated their twentieth anniversary in January as publishers of the Wickenburg Sun. This popular weekly is a tabloid. "It's the only newspaper in the world you can read standing on your head," says John. Awhile back the McCarrolls decided to give their newspaper a more picturesque name. They were deluged with letters from forty-seven states. Their readers wanted the Sun back.

Recently Wickenburg's 21-year-old library incorporated to establish a building fund. It has outgrown its present quarters in the City Hall, where it takes care of 4,832 card patrons, and aids all the town's schoolchildren. "A special reading hour for children, under the recreational program, is held in the summer," says Mrs. Dorothy Coon, librarian.

The Community Hospital, supported by the town, has recently completed plans for a $20,000 improvement program. The hospital not only cares for Wickenburg patients, but for several thousand visitors and travelers each year.

Wickenburg has eight or more service clubs, in addition to the Round-up Club. The Kellis-Draper Post of the American Legion, headed by Commander Harold Jensen, sponsors Little League, and the eighth grade Safety Patrol. It furnishes the patrol youngsters' uniforms and takes them to the State Fair each year and to one exhibition ball game between two major teams. Qualifications for belonging to the patrol are courtesy, dependability, interest in job, physical fitness, attitude toward others and scholastic standing. Among other children's organizations are an active Boy Scout troop, Girl Scout troop and 4-H Club.

Around 175 youngsters register for the summer recreational program, now going into its thirteenth year.

The program includes crafts, games, swimming and first aid, and is under the leadership of Delbert Kirby.

Wickenburg's Civil Defense organization, founded eight years ago, is an active one. It was established and is maintained by the citizens, and is headed by James Byrd of the Arizona Highway Department. They do rescue work by jeep, truck, horseback and airplane, with the cooperation of ranches, airplane owners, and others. A portable hospital, headed by Dr. Floyd Bralliar, is ready to be set up outdoors in any great emergency.

The Desert Caballeros, an organization of men that go on five-day rides annually, established the first event of its kind in Arizona. On April 13 to 17, 1964, they will chalk up their eighteenth annual ride. About 200 riders attend, from as many as twenty-seven states. They cover remote and historical places over eighty-five miles of trail.

Las Damas is their sister organization. The women take their annual ride the last week in April. It is said that four wranglers lurk in the background to take care of the horses and scare the bobcats away.

A $12,000 improvement program is underway for Wickenburg's Country Club's golf course. Membership is around 135 with an additional twenty to thirty in the winter season.

Adding an exciting touch to the Round-up Club is one of its auxiliaries, the Gold Shirt Gang. They are active in Gold Rush Days and ride in state parades. One of their special functions is to welcome guests when they arrive in town. To make sure the guests feel at home, they meet them with a volley of empty cartridges, and then take them for coffee. But one misty morning at five o'clock, they blazed away a roaring welcome at the depot — and had forgotten to tell the police department! The Valley National Bank houses the town's equivalent of gold dust. Richard Hight, its busy manager, keeps an art display of local talent in the lobby. The bank's contribution to keeping Wickenburg western are its hitching posts, knotty pine interior and ox yoke chandeliers. And it even has a brass cuspidor.

Speaking of banks our thoughts wander to Police Chief Dick Savage, Deputy Sheriff Dave Carter, and Highway Patrolman, Sergeant W. O. Dollar. These three men and their efficient staffs form a formidable array against would-be criminals. Each department works in close cooperation with the others covering a vast and sometimes desolate area.

Wickenburg has no major juvenile delinquency problems. Vandalism is traced down quickly and punished. Most adult crime comes from off the highway. Sergeant Dollar's patrolmen travel 3,500 miles a month, twenty-four hours a day. Over holidays they join the state-wide coffee "brakes" in an effort to cut down accidents on the highway.

Lewis Bramcamp, justice of the peace and town magistrate, presides over both city and county courts.

Wickenburg's Jail Tree, an old veteran mesquite, is one of the town's curiosities. In the early days criminals were chained to the tree. None ever got away. Today an equally adequate but modern jail serves both city and county.

Both city and rural fire departments are volunteer, from Chester Davis, city fire chief and Bob Dyer, rural fire chief, down the line.

Retired navy captain Jim Hesson and his wife, Hilda, a retired navy nurse lieutenant, own the Westerner store. Brayton's dates back to early days when it sold everything from "diapers to dynamite." William Schuyler (Sky) Thurber and his wife, Elizabeth, bought it in 1950. "The old gold dust scale here," says Sky, "was in use up to two years ago."

The Saddle Shop is owned by the Ray Bybees and Ginger. Ginger, a Laborador retriever, likes to go visiting, but she can't tell time, and often overstays her visits. It takes some maneuvering to get her on the telephone where Ray reminds her to come on home.

Frontier Market, owned by Ray and Faye Shannon, displays two realistic paintings of early-day Wickenburg. The artist is Mrs. Hildred Goodwine. One painting is of Hyder's old livery stable that used to stand near the corner of Apache and Tegner Streets. The Goodwines, Hildred and Jim, own the Wagon Box working ranch and raise appaloosa horses. Betsy Walbridge owns Wickenburg's other appaloosa ranch, the Slash Lazy T.

The displays in Wickenburg's four Indian stores, Ogg's Hogan, Mecca, Fricks and Many Feathers, are authentic. For example, Charlie and Millie Ogg, who have operated The Hogan for twelve years, buy from over twenty American Indian tribes.

Al Baum's "village blacksmith shop," a part of Chester Davis' Mine Supply, is a combination of Old West and New. "We do the same kind of work they did in the old days," says Al, "and in addition we make trailer hitches and other modern articles of metal."

Radio Station KAKA provides western music with its programs, and five minute devotionals three times a day in which the ministers of the ministerial association take turns.

Some of the finest and most noted eating places in the state are found in Wickenburg, where numerous out-of-town people come for Sunday and holiday dinners. Wickenburg people today are hobby-minded. Their hobbies range from coin collecting to the arts. For example, Sergeant W. O. Dollar strums a guitar and composes songs during spare time. Some of his most popular songs have been recorded. "A Hundred Years Ago" was composed for the Wickenburg Centennial. Sergeant Dollar is known among his friends as "Peso" Dollar. Members of his small stringed orchestra are called "The Counterfeit Bills."

Jack Peterson is Wickenburg's famous wood carver. His realistic birds and animals are known throughout the Southwest. Dr. Fred Shannon, whose hobby is herpetology, is an internationally known authority on the subject. He is one of Wickenburg's practicing physicians and surgeons.

A committee has recently been appointed by Mayor Bob Wentworth to formulate a long-range planning program for Wickenburg. Several private enterprises are engaged in expansion plans: the Wickenburg West subdivision; Las Casitas San Juan (Little Houses of St. John), a seven acre building site developed by Mr. and Mrs. Jack Curnow; the building of a new mobile home park west of Wickenburg; Country Club Acres subdivision of residential lots; and developments of the White Land and Investment Company.

Two noteworthy events are scheduled for 1964: the new divided highway between Wickenburg and Morristown, and the completion of the new sections of U. S. 93 to Kingman. The latter will be attended by a special ceremony in which first day covers will be carried to the site, where one of the town's stage coaches will carry them across the line and back to Wickenburg to be mailed. And out across the hills are still little placer claims operated as in the old days, where modest amounts of gold are still found.

In 1961 Dr. George Mangum, a research chemist from New York, bought the Old Vulture Mine. While opening the mine to tourists, he has been doing core drilling. Mangum predicts new uses for non-monetary gold, as in space ships and other vehicles and equipment. And of course somewhere in the hidden depth of the Vulture is the lost vein of rich ore. Will it someday be discovered again? There are few who dare to scoff. The wealth of the old Vulture must be given due credit for the founding of the first cities in the Valley of the Sun. A century ago there were those who scoffed at Henry Wickenburg's find, and called it fool's gold!