Book Review: Arizona Legends and Lore

 Arizona Legends and Lore: Tales of Southwestern Pioneers by Dorothy Daniels Anderson, Golden West Publishers, Phoenix, AZ 1991.

Again I found this book at the Kingman Library.  It includes very many interesting stories, including a retelling of the Sarah Oatman story and the telling of the camel caravan across Arizona.  The part a liked most about this book is the telling of the history of gold in the superstition Mountains, including the Peralta and Lost Dutchman Mines.  The area is sacred to the Native Americans and they have long warned that it is an area to be left alone.  In the case of the Peralta Mine, the Apache attacked the minors as they were hauling fold from the site.  Consequently saddle bags filled with gold were found for some time as the burros hauling the gold were killed.  The Lost Dutchman, Jacob Walz, was actually German.  He was able to bring a significant amount of gold from the mine, and when he passed away there was gold under his bed.  However no one was able to find the mine after this.  

Yavapai Gold mine is another lost mine.  She also told the story of the Vulture Mine outside of Wickenburg.  

A very intriguing story is that of Slim Woman and the Navajo.  Louisa Wade Wetherill and her husband John ran a trading post in Kayenta.  She was accepted into the Navajo as she learned their language and understood their traditions.  She and her husband rediscovered Rainbow Bridge which is just over the border in Utah.  The Navajo legend story is incredible.  A young brave was trapped by raging water which continued to rise higher and higher.  He prayed and prayed for a rainbow to walk away on, and finally there was such a bridge.  He was able to escape over the torrent.  

Other interesting stories include and early Los Angeles to Phoenix desert car race, capturing a couple train robbers using an automobile and a ghost story where a woman and cat both continue to haunt a hotel in Prescott.