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    Williamson Valley Road
    Williamson Valley Road
    Williamson Valley Road
    Ebook227 pages1 hour

    Williamson Valley Road

    By Kathy Lopez and Morgan Ranch Park Association Inc.

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    About this ebook

    Centuries ago, Williamson Valley Road began as a game trail for native inhabitants. In the 1400s, ancestors of the Yavapai and Hualapai hunted along ancient footpaths. Later explorers widened these paths for horses. The 1800s brought military wagons transporting supplies between the Rawlins, Hualapai/Tollgate, and Fort Whipple camps while traders and settlers followed in stagecoaches. The fertile lands of Mint Valley, Williamson Valley, and Walnut Creek were ideal for raising stock and produce. Farmers sailed from Europe and up the Colorado River before traversing the Hardyville Toll Road. Ranchers imported the fittest stock and exported the finest meat with the expertise of Mexican ranch hands. Camp Wood timbermen met the demand for lumber. Eastern store owners set up shop as railroaders laid far-reaching plans but short-reaching rails. Residents in the early 1900s arrived at rodeos, camp meetings, concerts, and dances in their Model Ts using this road. Present-day suburbanites, schoolchildren, and contractors commute on Williamson Valley Road, which was designated as a Scenic and Historic Route in 2010.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateNov 21, 2011
    ISBN9781439650042
    Williamson Valley Road
    Author

    Kathy Lopez

    Author Kathy Lopez is the park founder and president of the Morgan Ranch Park Association, Inc., and contributing board members Pat Briody, Donna Parra, and Keith Rosewitz live in the Williamson Valley area. Proceeds go to Yavapai County�s Morgan Ranch Nature Park, whose mission is to maintain the park and preserve the area�s history.

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      Book preview

      Williamson Valley Road - Kathy Lopez

      Association.

      INTRODUCTION

      Williamson Valley Road is a prominent part of Arizona’s rich heritage. Follow along as this book tells the story of those who travelled on it and into the history of Arizona.

      The Territory of Arizona was created when Pres. Abraham Lincoln signed the Organic Act into law on February 24, 1863. In 1864, the first territorial legislature convened in Prescott, and Arizona’s four original counties—Yuma, Yavapai, Pima, and Mohave—were established. At that time, the white population of Yavapai County was 581, and at 65,000 square miles in size, it was possibly the largest county ever created in the United States. Yavapai was known as the Mother of Counties because Apache, Coconino, Gila, Maricopa, and Navajo Counties were created from it. On February 14, 1912, Pres. William Howard Taft signed a proclamation declaring Arizona to be the 48th state in the Union. During the late 1800s, pioneers, miners, explorers, and military personnel traveled throughout Arizona and sometimes settled in the Williamson Valley area.

      Williamson Valley Road is not just about the paths, trails, wagon ruts, rails, and roads that developed into one of the major routes of the Arizona Territory, it is also about the people who use them—and what a feisty bunch of people they were and continue to be! If you want to start a debate, ask, Where is Williamson Valley? You will get as many answers as there are people in the room. Therefore, it is appropriate to begin this book by attempting to answer that question.

      Valleys do not have defined boundaries, so geographical descriptions are sometimes determined by the needs and knowledge of travelers, residents, or cartographers. One 1868 map shows Williamson Valley opening up seven miles to the northwest of Prescott and just east of Granite Mountain, with Mint Wash following the valley north. Those taking a geographical viewpoint follow the Williamson Valley Wash from south of the Santa Maria Mountains and east into the Chino Valley Basin, west of Del Rio. Debaters using Williamson Valley Road as a guide argue that the southern edge begins where Mint Wash crosses the road near Long Meadow Ranch and flows north to where the flatlands end, near Camp Wood Road.

      Old-timers say you live in Williamson Valley only if you reside in the actual valley. Newcomers generally say they live in Williamson Valley if they live anywhere near the road. Those playing it safe say they live in the Williamson Valley area. We do not debate to win. We debate because we like kicking up the dust, just like the folks who came before us.

      As you travel with the prehistoric people, Native Americans, and pioneers, imagine the tenacity it took to not only survive, but to thrive in the wild and wooly west. Today’s residents may not face the same life-threatening challenges, but they continue to make history with their individual or collective acts. Some concerns have not changed, including road construction, who should govern, weather damage, range management, or the big issue—where to have the next neighborhood barbecue. The history of the Williamson Valley area has been written for thousands of years, whether on rocks, in books, or floating around the Internet. It will continue to be written. What makes this book unique is that it is the only attempt to bring that collective history together.

      Chapter One, Game Trails, is about the area surrounding Williamson Valley Road when prehistoric peoples were crisscrossing the land, from approximately 600–1499 AD. Due to the area’s rich contributions to the understanding of the Prescott Culture, there are wagonloads of information—some consistent, some conflicting, but always changing. A sliver of that history has been included to help the reader get a sense that man has always had the desire to move and connect.

      Chapter Two, Foot Paths, tells of the Yavapai tribal people, who tread where pioneers would later roll their wagons. They were hunters and gatherers and generally ranged from the Prescott area to the present-day end of Williamson Valley Road. The people of the Yavapai-Prescott Indian tribe still reside in the area. Even though there may have been some overlap of land and culture, the Yavapai tribe is separate from the Hualapai tribe that roamed north of Williamson Valley to their tribal lands of the Grand Canyon.

      Chapter Three, Ruts, Roads, Rails, begins with the tale of the Ehrenburg and Hardyville toll roads used by pioneers and the military to access the settlements and military camps that sprang up in the Arizona Territory in the 1800s. Beginning in the late 1800s, those who wanted faster means of travel could make use of the several rail lines running through the area. By the early 1900s, travelers were trading wagon wheels for steering wheels. The 66-mile dirt road, Simmons Highway, was constructed from Prescott to Seligman, which is located on the old US Route 66. In 1995, the 20-mile-long, paved southern portion of Simmons Highway—from Prescott to Campwood Road—was renamed Williamson Valley Road.

      Chapter Four, Walnut Creek, focuses on one of the most populated areas in the Arizona Territory in the 1800s. Up to 300 people lived in various communities in this gateway to Williamson Valley. Travelers on the Hardyville Road hunting for a homestead found that this fertile valley met their needs.

      Chapter Five, Williamson Valley, officially ends just little north of where Williamson Valley Wash converges with Mint Wash. In the 1800s, the military needed food and hay; immigrants followed the Army encamped at Prescott and Walnut Creek to this spring-fed valley. Over the next century, pioneers discovered the appealing valley as they traveled between the Colorado River, Prescott, Walnut Creek, Seligman, Paulden, Chino Valley, and beyond. Many settled in Williamson Valley and built ranches. In later years, others bought homes on those subdivided ranches.

      Chapter Six, Mint Valley, is full of stories, including one about a ranch that was traded for a six-gun, and the tale of a family of sixth-generation ranchers who continue to run cattle in the shadow of Granite Mountain. When your journey of discovery has ended with the closing of this book, we hope you will agree that Williamson Valley Road has greatly contributed to the history of Arizona. If you do, you will not be alone in your assessment.

      February 14, 2012, is the Arizona statehood centennial. This book has been designated as an official 2012 Arizona Centennial Legacy Project by the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission, which operates under the auspices of the Arizona legislature. The Yavapai County Centennial Committee has recognized it as an official Centennial Project. These designations were awarded because this book, the result of the collaborative effort of a great number of individuals and

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