Edge

I don't think you'd see Bernie fighting in a militia

Yeah I considered that too. The cemetery he's buried in.has been on the news. Isn't that 13Ave and Jefferson?

Accounts of birth places, deaths, years not too reliable back then. Just like Wickenburg being in the Walker Party. Some accounts have him there, others do not. I've found accounts of Garfias born anywhere from 1847-51 and MEX or CA.

Terrible pic but I think Tony has it

Jonas Brighton

http://www.apcrp.org/CULLINGS_WELL/Lighthouse_In_The_Desert.htm

I was born in England, 1825 but my family soon migrated to the USA, settling in KS. I landed in Arizona City during the Civil War and was one of Henry Wickenburgs first employees at the Vulture Mine. But soon I was in the desert some 45 miles west of Wickenburg with two Mexican employees digging for water where the road junctioned heading to Arizona City or to La Paz on the Colorado R. After a couple failures I finally hit water at 200' and immediately began building a station and alerting the army and freight lines that I was in business. .50 cents would buy thirsty beasts and travelers a barrel of water. Business boomed and I ran stock in the area. Once while out gathering steers I came across the body of a young man whom had perished in the desert just short of my well. I was so upset that from that point on I hoisted a lantern up on a tall pole each night so people could find my station. Even after my death, my widow carried on this tradition for as long as there were travelers on the road. Who am I and what was my station referred to ?

Yes and the station was called...?

Correct valley

No and no

Ok, just got one from somebody else...

Negatory. No town here.

Yes. When the bridge opened in 1927, it was Arizona's longest. The projects were funded by Frank Gillispie whom made a fortune as an OK wildcat. But son Bernard, fresh out of college was put in charge of the projects.

In 1854 my skull was cracked and I was shot in the back, carrying the pistol ball in me a quarter century until I died. I drank heavily and became addicted to morphine to mask the pain. I migrated to AZ long before the Civil War and kept incredibly busy in my short life. I fought as the Confederate commander in the wars westernmost action but within months would be on the Unions payroll. I fought Apaches from Pinos Altos to the Bradshaw Mtns, but adopted and raised two orphaned Apache children. While on a prospecting trip with Henry Wickenburg and others, I refused to leave the trail and investigate a quartz outcropping near the Hassayampa River. Henry left our party behind and that outcropping became the Vulture Mine. I discovered Rich Hill and the Potato Patch helping to create the AZ Gold Rush. Two gold nuggets I gave to General James Carelton, he would later place in the hands of President Abraham Lincoln. I died 1878, in miserable conditions, incarcerated for a crime I did not commit, dying just days before being exonerated.

This was an easy Who am I. Next one not so much.

Haha thanks for the smile. Was never counter culture, I suppose it was weed and acid but never saw either till your generation came along.

Did you come across my uncle's name, Bernard Gillespie? He was responsible for bringing ditch water to Gila Bend and beyond in the 1920's.

I had that account cited on my phone which crashed. It's available online thru UA History of the SW archives. When I find it I'll pm you a link if you'd like. Great stuff in there.

The Walker party included Swilling and Wickenburg. They left the Black Canyon area to investigate rumors of a rich gold vein in the Harquahala Mtns. From the account I read, I believe Joseph Walker's Diary, they were enroute to the Harquahala's while traveling just west of the Hassayampa R. Wickenburg saw the outcropping from the trail but couldn't convince the others to divert some and investigate. On their way back from the Harquahalas, again Wickenburg urged the men to head the short distance to the quartz location but Swilling and Walker declined saying they were only interested in getting back to the Bradshaws where they knew gold was in abundance. Wickenburg then left Walker and Swilling.

Just the founder of Phoenix, AZ, thank you.

I operated a flour mill with Charles Hayden in Tucson before we both settled in what is now Maricopa County. I used money from my Rich Hill gold finds to start a sprawling farm in the atea where Sky Harbor exists today, yet I appear to be totally forgotten!!! Remains of my ranch house in the area of Gillete, Black Canyon City can still be seen today.

His and Weavers life were often interwoven.

Azkilla More books, fewer bongs

Jim Roberts