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Walker's Hidden Landmarks IF YOU'RE looking for the quietest place on earth—where you'll jump when a pine cone drops, you'll find it along Lynx Creek at Walker, the site of the first mining camp in the north-central part of Yavapai County, Arizona. Discovered in 1863 by a party of California goldseekers led by mountaineer Joseph Reddeford Walker, whose name is also perpetuated in Walker Pass in the Sierra Nevadas and in Walker River in Nevada, news of the bonanza produced an immediate boom in the area. Temporary shelters sprang up every 100 feet along the creek. Prospectors worked with pans, spoons, shovels and rockers; later sluice boxes and dry washers. Lode mining followed and mills were erected. Then came quiet years on the creek. The struggle for survival in such remote country was too much for even hardy prospectors and miners. In late 1879, however, the entire district looked brighter. The Arizona Miner reported: "About $100 in gold was paid by placerers each day last week for supplies and not a fa:.r amount of water there." In the late 1880s, a dam was made for water storage and in the early 1890s hydraulic mining was done on a large scale. A community called Walker developed in the heart of the gold discoveries and businesses flourished until the area grew exhausted of minerals that could be profitably mined. A lull came then, lasting until Phoenix folks discovered it was an ideal place for cool summer homes. Today, as you pass through Walker, there is no indication of its importance to the state's economy in the early days. However, if you take time to look, you will find landmarks. Thence comes the urge to dig, literally, for the truth about this place. The road itself follows the old route in many places; it formerly followed the creek more closely, having started as a burro trail. Later it became a wagon road for the stage and ore hauling. The Seven-Mile Place, approximately two miles from Black Canyon Highway in a south-easterly direction, was a stage stop and overnight place. Six miles be- 48 / Desert Magazine / August-September, 1966 yond this the present road crosses the creek. A cement bridge was built there by the W.P.A. It crosses the creek again at a wooden bridge about a mile farther. The Walker area begins at the 2nd U.S. Geological Survey mark on top of Smelter Hill, 61/2 miles in from the highway. If you stop at the altitude sign (6,225 feet) take time to walk toward the creek and see the old Howells Smelter. Part of the rock walls still stand and the house nearby, still occupied, was the company office. The community called Howells which sprang up around the smelter was not considered part of Walker, farther up the creek. The Howells graveyard, about 300-feet to the right of the present road, had 15 burials within its white-fenced enclosure, none of which is evident today. The C.C.C. camp of the '30s was located beyond the Stone House. A large slab remaining near the creek is still a favorite camping area. Crumbling remnants of a stone house, erected by German immigrant Nick Slumberger in 1905 is down the road. Better constructed than most, its frame portion was added by a Above: The old log cabin as it is today. Beloiv: Charcoal kiln built by Jack and Joe Carmichael in 1880.
a coat quiet frtace later tenant who boarded workers at the Black Diamond mine. Go on down the road, cross the cement bridge, and continue to the Walker Store on the left side of the road. Then walk a quarter of a mile up the gulch. Here stands a beehive-shaped structure of stone built about 1880. Charcoal was made from burning oak standing on end in this kiln. Smouldering heat reduced the wood to a coke-like fuel which was used to operate the smelter. A few other charcoal kilns dotted the area but only this one remains, a spectacular reminder of its builders, Jake and Joe Carmichael. The Henderson Orchard, near the cement bridge, is the landmark nearest the center of Walker. Across the creek on the original Walker road stood a row of business establishments. The George G. Hendersons operated the freight depot with related industries such as blacksmithing and stables. The building with the store front was the freight house. What is now known as Sawmill Flat, beyond the orchard, is the fill made by excavation of the Walker end of the Poland-Walker tunnel, built at the turn of the century. The top was leveled and a sawmill later located there. The Mud Hole mine dump is prominently situated high above the road, an identifying landmark for the center of Walker in its heyday. The hospital was close to it, as well as a boarding house and bunkhouse. The Stukey store was on the same side of the road. Across the creek, approaches to the small-gauge railroad trestle mark the location of the Dixie ore mill. This railroad bed leads to the Poland tunnel entrance below the present roadbed. The entrance, now locked up for safety, can be seen by walking on the lower road from the flat. At the right of the wooden bridge stand the remains of the Filtering Plant built in connection with the Sheldon mine. The concentrates were processed there before being sent to the smelter. Evidence of the Sheldon mine (probably named for James C. Sheldon) can be seen about a mile up Rich Gulch which runs into the creek a little to the right of the wooden bridge. It was the deepest mine, which accounts for its huge dump. The present Sheldon up this gulch is a new road. About 200 feet from the original Sheldon was the Shelton (belonging to Christopher Y. Shelton) on the road which follows the creek. Rivalling the "Beehive" in importance, and actually preceding it historically, is the log cabin on the old Shelton road leading to Hassayampa Lake. People who were here in the '80s remember it as being one of the five cabins when they came and believed it to be one built by the Walker party or an early prospector. The first gold was found here, although the exact spot has not been determined. Knapp Gulch runs into the creek at this point. A little farther up the road on the To MY MAp, EXACT T \AJH5fZ& IT'S BUK/eD/" right are colorful tailings from the Sheldon mill, pumped here through large wooden pipes. I hope you will go on up the road past the aspen and fir trees to the Potato Patch, a particularly pretty place on a level once called Davis Flat. Later, potatoes were raised on it, hence its plebeian name. Although it is on the Hassayampa Creek immediately before the Senator mine, many of us are convinced, since reading Joseph Reddeford Walker and The Arizona Adventure by Daniel Ellis Conner, that the Walker party first made camp here. The old mining camp of Walker and its gold digging days are gone, but if you explore this country high above Prescott National Forest, you'll find its landmarks still have stories to tell. • August-September, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 49
Page 1 and 2: AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1966 double issue
Page 3 and 4: Volume 29 CONTENTS August/September
Page 5 and 6: people, Cushing describes wondrous
Page 7 and 8: and then it became this . . . but c
Page 9 and 10: y Roger K. Mitchell where Jeffery,
Page 11 and 12: to return the next day. However, he
Page 13 and 14: ? v' i by Jack Delaney EY CAP, look
Page 15 and 16: separating the gold from the pulver
Page 17 and 18: • All-steel construction • "No-
Page 19 and 20: po Expo '67, Place Ville-Mane, Mont
Page 21 and 22: tered California, so the Captain sa
Page 23 and 24: We who enjoy eastern Sierra resorts
Page 25 and 26: Part Three of a Six-Part Series Exc
Page 27 and 28: August-September, 1966 / Desert Mag
Page 29 and 30: was stationed far enough from shore
Page 31 and 32: Dig That Bottle by Grace Kendrick T
Page 33 and 34: I'iW vm
Page 35 and 36: Old Capistrano Town by Joan Weiss f
Page 37 and 38: y Eugene McAllister BEAR FACTS PERH
Page 39 and 40: For a real summer adventure Outpost
Page 41 and 42: Old mission wall still stands. this
Page 43 and 44: location of these mines. When the '
Page 45 and 46: package. He took it to his camp and
Page 47: out holes for grinding acorns on fl
Page 51 and 52: NEW KINGMAN ADDITION - Kingman, Ari
Page 53 and 54: vague in reference to the San Xavie
Page 55 and 56: Hawaii-on-the-Snake Y OU'D HAVE to
Page 57 and 58: horses, neither of which had been r
Page 59 and 60: INDIAN ARROWHEADS hold a fascinatio
Page 61 and 62: • MAPS TREASURE FINDERS WESTERN G
Page 63 and 64: Letters requesting answers must inc

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1 9 6 6 double issue - Desert Magazine of ...

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