Book Review: Kingman History: 50 Stories of Kingman

Kingman History: 50 Stories of Kingman by Loren B. Wilson, publisher not given, 2007.  I found it at Kingman library.

Loren Wilson was a teacher in Kingman for 40 years, and a long term volunteer at the Mohave County Museum.  As such he tells many stories from Kingman and Mohave County.  These stories include 7000 planes at Kingman Airport at the end of WWII, the original airport in Kingman which extended form Airway and Banks to the current fairgrounds.  A story of two graves found in the Black Mountains which turned out being a Chinese woman and her mother.  The woman was traveling with her new African American husband to Nevada after celebrating her marriage in Cerbat.  They were traveling by wagon and their water barrel leaked.  The horses could not go further so the husband walked out to get help.  He returned too late and the the women had died.

The author tells many biographical sketches from early Kingman pioneers.  He talks of a plane crash on the railroad tracks in the early days of Kingman.  He also tells the story of an Amtrak derailment outside of town and of course the Doxol Fire which killed eleven volunteer firemen, and a few others, and injured many more.  

He has piqued my interest with archeological sites and other historical sites in the area.  This includes Native American items found in several spots, Petroglyphs, and the sites at Ft. Beale.  

He tells of Andy Devine, Edward Beale, the connection of Louis L' Amour to the area, Roy Purcell and many others.  He also tells of stories of several old buildings including the old hospital, the Red School and the Grammar School and Hotel Beale.  He also recounts Route 66.

I recommend this book for those interested in local history.

Book Review: Ghosts of the Arizona Coast

 

Ghosts of the Arizona Coast by Paul R Taylor, Laughlin/Bullhead City Visitor, 1989.  I encountered the book at the Kingman library.

This is the most fascinating book about life on the Colorado River and places close to it.  When I read the title I thought it might be ghost stories and akin to the ocean front property in Arizona song.  But it was much better than that.  It is a history of the towns along the Colorado River.  This includes Kingman, Mineral Park, Chloride and Oatman.  It is mostly about the river communities and the river boats which thrived before the coming of the railroad.  River boating up and own the Colorado was no easy thing, but at one time supplies were delivered to many ports, including past current Hoover Dam.  This meant going through the Back Canyon rapids.  Big ring bolts were placed in the canyon wall, and with these the boats would literally pull themselves through the rapids.  

Many cities grew up along the river, and most are no longer there.  57 different communities have lined the river.  The river marked the division between Arizona and California.  However until 1866 legally, and 1871 in fact, Nevada did not extend this far south and Arizona reached to California.  Yuma was the first town as one travelled up the Colorado from Sea of Cortez.  

I enjoyed the story of how Kingman became the county seat of Mohave County,  There was quite a rialry between Mineral Park and Kingman.  Mineral Park was the fourth county seat following Mohave City, Hardyville and Cerbat.  It was quite the town, based on the mining industry.  When a new railroad town started to grow the editor of the newspaper Miner said it would never last.  However a special election was help and Kingman was approved as the county seat.  Mineral Park was not satisfied and appealed to the state legislature.  When they lost the appeal they were still slow in transferring the county seat.  Finally some citizens from Kingman, went at night to the courthouse in Mineral Park, broke in and took all the county records and transported them to Kingman.  Kingman continued to grow, and even the MIner moved from Mineral Park to Kingman.  

Another important contribution in this book is a listing of all the 57 river towns and a brief history of each.  Several cities are now under Lake Mead, including the two county seats of Pah Ute county, St Thomas and Callville--both Mormon towns along the river.  

The history of the Oatman family is also included, as well as a brief history of Oatman and how the town has survived after the mining rush.  Sara Oatman was kidnapped by Indians, and sold to the Mohave tribe until she was ransomed five years later.  Oatman did not exist at the time but the city was named for her.  

Another chapter of particular note was that of Fort Mohave, which was the least desirable of all army posts because of the excessive heat.  

Book Review: Grand Canyon's North Rim and Beyond: A Guide to the North Rim and the Arizona Strip

 This is a book to take with you when traveling, rather than a read book which I did as I found it at the Kingman Library.   It gives a good description of the history and current status of the North Rim.  This includes Grand canyon Lodge, build to look like the local cliffs.   I talks of the Kaibab trail to the river.  There are also roads to several other points with views of the canyon, Point Royal and Point Imperial.   

I more fascinated with information about the Arizona Strip.  I am fascinated with the old Mormon community at Organ Pipes which is now a Nation Monument on the Kaibab Paiute reservation.  I also look forward to traveling highway 67 from Jacob Lake to the North Rim.  According to the book there is plentiful wildlife here including deer and wild turkey, and a localized squirrel. I like the idea of visiting Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, but it is only accessible via dirt roads.  I want to study this more to make sure we can get there safely in our van.  There are Native American petroglyphs at Nampaweap, as well as canyon views.  There is an old sawmill site where the wood for the St. George Temple was harvested and sent 80 miles over rough roads to the temple.  

This section also includes mention of the three members of the Powell Party who separated and marched out of the canyon to never be heard from again.  Speculation in the book has it they were murdered either by Native Americans (who said they were responsible thinking they had killed a woman in a neighboring band) or by Mormons wary of outsiders.  

Lee's Ferry and Navajo Bridge also appear to be nice spots to visit, which are more tot he east.  The Navajo Bridge shortened the route from north rim to south rim from 600 miles to 200 miles.  

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.

Book Review: Arizona Myths and Legends

 Arizona Myths and Legends: The True Stories Behind History's Mysteries, second edition, by Sam Lowe, A Two Dot Book, Phoenix, AZ, 2016.

I picked this book up at the Kingman Library.  This book has many excellent stories.  It tells the story of Ira Hayes, the Native American WWII hero.  It has left in me a desire to visit the Ira Hayes memorial south of Phoenix.  It has a very good chapter about the Baron of Arizona, James Addison Reavis, who lived the millionaire lifestyle by forging historical documents which claimed he owned much of Arizona. It also explained how his stack of cards eventually came crashing down.  It had a section on the town of Wilcox with five or six stories, including that of singing cowboy Rex Allen.  There was the story of a Spanish War hero who died in Cuba.  He served as a captain and died why out in front of his men.  An interesting chapter is about the deaths in the Grand Canyon.  Most of the deaths in the grand canyon have been due to aircraft accidents, planes and helicopters.  The largest death toll was from a collision of two jet liners above the canyon.  Murders, suicides and drownings also contributed significantly to the death toll.  There are two incidents which remain mysterious as the bodies have never been found.  Very early three members of the John Wesley Powell expedition left the company and decided to walk out of the canyon, thinking the journey was too dangerous.  They were never seen or heard of again.  Powell and the party finished their journey successfully.  The area was later called Separation Rapids and has since been covered by the eastern point of Lake Mead. The second mysterious death was that of a honeymooning couple who were floating the river without life jackets in the early 1928.  Glen and Bessie Hyde disappeared mysteriously.   Their raft was discovered, upright and with supplies still on board.  Bessie's journal was discovered with the last entry November 30.

This book does a good job of telling the stories it tells, but neglects the Kingman area of Arizona.  The Andy Divine story would have been more intriguing than the Rex Allen story.  There are also many more stories from Kingman that would have made more focus in the area a pleasant addition.  

Book Review: Uncle Sam's Camels

Uncle Sam's Camels: The Journal of May Humphreys Stacey Supplemented by the Report of Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1857-1858), Edited by Lewis Burt Lesley, forward by Paul Andrew Hutton, Harvard University Press, 1929, reprint: Huntington Library Press, 2006.

I was first introduced to the idea of camels in North America when I visited the museum in Benicia which is housed in an old camel barn, which is next to another camel barn preserved as a camel barn.  Some of the camels which came across with Beale ended up in Benicia as documented in this book.

The book starts out with an introductory section which was very useful.  It presents the history of Edward Beale before the camel excursion.  He was with Commodore Stockton when he entered San Francisco Bay and ended for all practical purposes the Mexican American War in northern California.   For the first time the American flag flew over Yerba Buena which became San Francisco.  He served in both the U.S. Army and Navy and also worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the agent in California.  He had crossed the plains no less than four times between 1847-1849.  He had taken both northern and southern routes.  He was charged with taking word of the gold discovery to Texas on one of these trips.  He had many important connections in Washington and was appointed to lead the expedition of camels to find a southern route other than the Santa Fe route.  

This book presents the story of traveling Fort Defiance to the Colorado River.  The journal of Stacey documents his trip, mostly by river boat to get to Fort Defiance where he would meet up with Captain Beale and the camel company.  he trek also included horses but the camels were used to haul most of their equipment and food and water.  Throughout the history Beale's praise of the camels and their usefulness is included.  The first part of the trek is somewhat unremarkable, but after arriving at the Arizona desert the were hindered by the lack of water, often having to go backwards to a previous spring.  At one point the kidnapped a Native American and forced him to show them where the next spring might be.  Beal is credited with finding Beale Spring near Kingman; however I do not think they found the spring on this trip but a later journey.  Of course the Native Americans knew of many springs.  They eventually arrived in California, and Beale housed the camel on his ranch.  He offered to buy them but the government eventually sold the camel; some to mining operations and some for display purposes.  The camel did fine but other animals and even humans were wary of them and this lead to problems, such as burros stampeding.  The camel showed great promise, but with the Civil War the government lost interest in the project.  Beale returned east and served as an officer for the Union in the Civil War.

Book Review: Weird Arizona

 Weird Arizona: Your Travel Guide to Arizona's Local Legends, and Best Ket Secrets by Wesley Treat, Mark Sceurman, and Mark Moran executive editors, Sterling, New York, 2007.

After reading this book which I found at the library, I am convinced I am in need of a copy.  It has turned me onto many local stories, and Arizona stories.  In this book I learned of Slaughter House Canyon in Kingman, a place by Grand Canyon with Flintstone memorabilia.  Along Highway 40 there is a stretch of several different dinosaur displays, and in Quartzite there is a yacht club.  There is a significant history of murders in Arizona, with the Wild West theme.  This includes Tombstone.  As a result there are many ghosts.  Arizona also has significant extraterrestrial history, including the Phoenix lights.  I was disappointed there was nothing about the ET crash close to Kingman; but a different crash farther south.  

Another ghost story is that of the ghost bus of Highway 93.  This is based on a more recent story of a bus traveling from Phoenix to the gambling halls in Laughlin Nevada.  First the heater on the bus broke, and it was a warm July day.  The driver suggested turning around, but the gamblers were anxious to continue on.  Later the truck began to lose power and the driver finally said he could go no further.  The passengers then put the driver off the bus, pushed it to the top of Union pass, and then decided to coast down the other side.  It was last seen going behind a hill, and then disappearing.  No one ever found an accident or the remains of the bus, but three years later, people started to see a ghost bus on Highway 93 between Phoenix and Laughlin.  

There are many more stories, strange buildings, castles, domes etc.  The book includes a section on Route 66; a section on strange animals, which includes the chupacabras, skinwalkers and Oatman burros.