State Route 89, a Historic Byway

STATE 89 ROUTE SCENIC TRAIL OF PIONEERS

I'M DRIVING ALONG STATE ROUTE 89, A HISTORIC 101-MILE STRETCH FROM Wickenburg north to Ash Fork known at different times as the Hassayampa Trail, the Sunset Trail, and the White Spar Road. It's one of the prettiest, curviest roads in the state. It's also one of Arizona's "proto" roads - a route defined by the earliest travelers in the Southwest - and a lot of history was laid down along and across its path. Following the route out from Wickenburg, I realize that it is a corridor of time, a wellworn path traveled by people from prehistoric to modern cultures. From Sinaguans to Americans, people have struggled, fought, and died to control this land, putting down their roots where there was water and settling into encampments that sometimes grew into towns and villages, some of which - like Prescott, Yarnell, and Wickenburg - survived.

Like many of Arizona's highways, State 89 parallels an Indian trade route, this one up the Hassayampa River, a trail kept secret from Europeans and Americans until 1863. Spanish conquistadores and missionaries followed these ancient trails in their quests for legendary cities of riches or for souls to save. However, there is no evidence that any Europeans or Americans traveled this route until a Mojave Indian guide helped lead the Joseph Walker Party up the Hassayampa to the goldfields near Prescott in 1863.

The first Americans in the Bradshaw Mountains were trappers and prospectors, tougher than wet cowhide, mountain men like Bill Williams, Paulino Weaver, and James Local folklore suggests a drink of the Hassayampa's waters will turn you into a lifelong liar.

Ohio Pattie. Some of them later guided military expeditions over the same routes. The military men surveyed the trails, smoothing the rough edges off the terrain for subsequent wagon roads and railroads. Many years later, after the arrival of the automobile, the route was moved from its original path up the Hassayampa to its current roadbed.

Before driving north, I had stopped in Wickenburg for a sandwich. That is an old community, established in 1863 and named for Henry Wickenburg, who discovered a rich lode of hard-rock gold nearby, which became the famous Vulture Mine. It's a pleasant town, spread out along the banks of the Hassayampa, a name probably derived from a Mojave word meaning "gliding water"

Following the skirmish, the bodies of 35 Indians were left to bleach in the sun. For years travelers passed by the skeletons of the dead.

There from a fight between Yavapai and Maricopa Indians in the 1850s. They were, the story goes, discovered in 1864 by a troop of soldiers escorting the governor to Tucson. The other explanation is that the area became known as Skull Valley in August, 1864, after a battle pitting soldiers and civilians against Tonto and Yavapai Apaches. Following the skirmish, the bodies of 35 Indians were left to bleach in the sun. For years travelers passed by the skeletons of the dead. The Santa Fe, Phoenix & Prescott Railroad once stopped in Skull Valley on its way to Prescott. Today the railroad avoids the tough grades of the Sierra Prieta and bypasses Prescott to haul freight north to Ash Fork. The old railway depot now is part of the Skull Valley Museum.

No matter where I travel in Arizona, it seems, I cross the path of Sharlot Hall. A Prescottonian, Hall was a doughty traveler. As official historian of Arizona Territory, she traveled extensively by horsedrawn vehicle in the early 1900s, when many Arizona roads were still only wagon ruts. Without her firsthand knowledge of the terrain and untiring efforts as a lobbyist, the Arizona Strip, north of the Grand Canyon, might now be part of Utah. I like best the story of how she almost singlehandedly assured that mountain man Paulino Weaver would be remembered. Collecting pennies from Arizona

schoolchildren, she saved enough money to remove Weaver's remains from California and bring them to a grave on the grounds of the old Governor's Mansion in Prescott at what is now the Sharlot Hall Museum. There, a bronze plaque celebrates Weaver as the area's first settler.

You can get a pretty good capsule version of Arizona history from State 89's roadside markers. A sign announces "Historical Road Marker Ahead," so I brake and pull to the side of the road where State 89, the 35th parallel, and the Hell Canyon Gorge converge north of Chino Valley. Past legions traveled this route: Indians, missionaries, trappers, and Army troops. In 1851 Capt. Lorenzo Sitgreaves led an Army survey team through here; that same year, Lt. Amiel W. Whipple commanded another party searching for a railroad route to the Pacific.

The marker's last notation captures my fancy: in 1857-'59, I learn, Lt. Edward F. Beale scouted for a wagon road along the 35th parallel, using camels as beasts of burden. I try hard to picture camels here. His men disliked the beasts, but in his journal Beale praised their endurance, unfussy eating habits, and drought hardiness. His expedition was dubbed "the camel corps."

Then I head on toward Ash Fork where State 89 dead-ends. The grade of the Santa Fe Railroad parallels the highway, and at 55 mph I easily pass a long line of freight cars lumbering uphill to Ash Fork.

A stage line between Prescott and Ash Fork also operated along this route, and Del Rio Springs out in Chino Valley was a stage stop. But Del Rio Springs was more than that. For five months, early in 1864, the offices of Arizona's territorial government were run out of tents and log cabins right there at the original site of Fort Whipple before it was moved to a spot just outside Prescott.

On the town's outskirts, a sign proudly announces: "Ash Fork... Flagstone Capital of U.S.A." I drive past the yards of the Dunbar and Western States Stone Companies, where pallets are piled high with Coconino and Kaibab flagstones mined from the Blue Bird Quarry north of town. "If It's Stone We Have It," a sign says.

In its heyday, Ash Fork was on the main line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, and an opulent Harvey House hotel and restaurant near the depot here catered to rail passengers. Today Main Street is pretty quiet. But the 66 Cafe and a few other older businesses recall a time when Ash Fork was a bustling way station for motorists heading west along old Route 66.

I drive west along Main Street and loop back past the post office, the busiest place in town, on Lewis Avenue. Back on State 89, heading south to Prescott, I cruise beneath an overpass carrying cars speeding along Interstate 40. Nowadays Ash Fork is merely a blip on the landscape. Roads change, inevitably, and with them the fortunes of people who live along their paths.

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WHEN YOU GO

For more information about the attractions along State Route 89, call chambers of commerce in Wickenburg, (520) 684-5479, and Prescott, (520) 445-2000.