Charleston Arizona Ghost Town
By John D. Rose
“Charleston...acquired unenviable notoriety for diversified viciousness.”
-C.W. Goodale
Nearing the Charleston/Millville area. Photo by John D. Rose
As a kid growing up during the early stages of Sierra Vista, the San Pedro River was not a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property back then, and so riding motorcycles up and down the river was commonplace, and something friends and I would do at times. On one of these outings, I noticed an area of land high on a mesa above the river, shrouded with large trees that flowed toward a hill to the
north that I found intriguing. As I headed through this area, I suddenly found myself riding down a street with crumbling adobe buildings to my
right and left. What was this place?
I’ve never forgotten the compelling feeling of mystery and discovery that I felt at that moment. That same sensation has compelled me to follow the remarkable history of the San Pedro River Valley to this very day. I would later learn that this place I had found, purely by accident, was Charleston, and that it came into being because of Tombstone, and that Tombstone was part of the dynamic Arizona Territory, and that the Arizona Territory played its role in shaping the American West, and that the West forever reshaped America. What Charleston encapsulates so well are the contradictions of a westward expanding American populace in the late 19thCentury, a populace full of hard working laborers in the mills at Millville, respectable men and women who helped build Charleston, some of the nation’s best and brightest, along with those of lower character and ill repute--purveyors of all forms of criminality and wickedness, and intermittent merciless killers. Some individuals in Charleston had aspects of each of these characteristics within their own personalities.
These realities all exist together in harmony, and disharmony. Mary E. Wood, the wife of a mining executive, knew a very different Charleston than did Sam Aaron, who fell into the saloon and gambling fraternity, though his father was a Charleston merchant. But Aaron himself strode the differing worlds that Charleston could offer, learning the industrial side of Charleston just across the river working in a mill at Millville, as well as its seedy underbelly in the gambling halls. Both Mary Wood and Sam Aaron were representative of converging class structures that settlers brought with them just as they brought wagons laden with their worldly possessions.
The story of Charleston starts with Millville…the story of Millville starts with the rich ores that Ed Schieffelin discovered, and his partnership with his brother Al and Dick Gird. With Schieffelin’s early discoveries in Tombstone proving viable, a milling operation now had to be constructed to turn raw silver ore into the currency of silver bullion. Gird would choose the San Pedro River as the location for his mill, and the Corbin Mill would soon follow. Other mills would also locate along the San Pedro. Surface water south of Millville would be corralled by Gird’s dam, and during the peak of production, six mills would pound day and night from Millville all the way to and past Contention City. Only after water was discovered underneath Tombstone did these mills along the river begin to outlive their usefulness.
north that I found intriguing. As I headed through this area, I suddenly found myself riding down a street with crumbling adobe buildings to my
right and left. What was this place?
I’ve never forgotten the compelling feeling of mystery and discovery that I felt at that moment. That same sensation has compelled me to follow the remarkable history of the San Pedro River Valley to this very day. I would later learn that this place I had found, purely by accident, was Charleston, and that it came into being because of Tombstone, and that Tombstone was part of the dynamic Arizona Territory, and that the Arizona Territory played its role in shaping the American West, and that the West forever reshaped America. What Charleston encapsulates so well are the contradictions of a westward expanding American populace in the late 19thCentury, a populace full of hard working laborers in the mills at Millville, respectable men and women who helped build Charleston, some of the nation’s best and brightest, along with those of lower character and ill repute--purveyors of all forms of criminality and wickedness, and intermittent merciless killers. Some individuals in Charleston had aspects of each of these characteristics within their own personalities.
These realities all exist together in harmony, and disharmony. Mary E. Wood, the wife of a mining executive, knew a very different Charleston than did Sam Aaron, who fell into the saloon and gambling fraternity, though his father was a Charleston merchant. But Aaron himself strode the differing worlds that Charleston could offer, learning the industrial side of Charleston just across the river working in a mill at Millville, as well as its seedy underbelly in the gambling halls. Both Mary Wood and Sam Aaron were representative of converging class structures that settlers brought with them just as they brought wagons laden with their worldly possessions.
The story of Charleston starts with Millville…the story of Millville starts with the rich ores that Ed Schieffelin discovered, and his partnership with his brother Al and Dick Gird. With Schieffelin’s early discoveries in Tombstone proving viable, a milling operation now had to be constructed to turn raw silver ore into the currency of silver bullion. Gird would choose the San Pedro River as the location for his mill, and the Corbin Mill would soon follow. Other mills would also locate along the San Pedro. Surface water south of Millville would be corralled by Gird’s dam, and during the peak of production, six mills would pound day and night from Millville all the way to and past Contention City. Only after water was discovered underneath Tombstone did these mills along the river begin to outlive their usefulness.
Mr. Richard Gird
“Mr. Richard Gird returned from San Francisco last week and started immediately for the Tombstone mill-site. Mr. Gird and those interested with him are doing a good work for Arizona. They already have a saw-mill at work in the Huachuca mountains, a ten-stamp mill on the road from Yuma, and the Mormons on the San Pedro are building a ditch and flume for them, which will be seven miles in length, and work at the mill-site is being pushed ahead rapidly…”
The story of Charleston begins with Amos Stowe. Seeing that Millville would supply men with money to spend, a nearby town site was inevitable, and Stowe decided to be its founder. It started on October 28th, 1878 when Stowe recorded a claim for a relatively flat quarter section of land (160 acres) for grazing and agricultural pursuits, but it was no coincidence that the site was perfectly situated across the San Pedro from the beginnings of Millville.
Once Tombstone surveyor A. J. Mitchell completed his survey, Stowe busied himself in February of 1879 by offering lots free on a multi-year basis. (Mitchell Street in Charleston was named in the surveyor's honor). The condition attached was that the lessee had to make $100.00 of improvements to the lot within a time frame stipulated by Stowe. At the end of the contract the lessee was then required to pay Stowe the value of the lot, including improvents. Those building in Charleston could do so without an immediate budget for the land on which they were building.
For Stowe, a money-down policy may have been wiser to assist with other financial obligations; on August 14, 1879, less than seven months after the Charleston survey, Stowe had to surrender his Tombstone and Charleston properties to creditors. The story of Dick Gird’s enterprises just across the river was one of continued success, but not without its controversies.
Stamp milling required more water than the leisurely surface flow of the San Pedro River could provide. Gird decided to build a dam blocking the river so as to collect enough water to run his and Frank Corbin’s mills. The construction and its related controversies became extensive. It would fall to one of Gird’s partners, John S. Vosburg, to supervise the construction of the dam.
Of his involvement with the dam, Vosburg stated, “We made a contract with the Mormons from St. David (close by) to come with oxen and hard rocks (of which there were plenty) and dump loosly [sic] into the break up to the required height…Had to make about 1 ½ miles of ditch and flume to carry the 1000 plus water to penstock…After using the water it was returned, by short tunnel to [the] river again, still as wet as before.”
There was so much to be done and time was of the essence, as real capital was on the line. Vosburg described the exciting and chaotic nature of that time: “…we were leveling and working retaining walls for THE mill proper. Making roads to and into a canon of the Huacha[u]cas, nine or ten miles, up which about 2000 feet was a considerable flat on which were the aforementioned pine trees…” After Gird had shipped the saw mill equipment, from there “Ham Light was to take it on big wagons…and on to the Huachuca Mountains…” Though Vosburg was not a mining man, Gird’s shorthanded enterprise needed all the help it could get. “I was to superintend the planning, laying out and the work there of the foundation for the ten stamp mill...as yet there was ‘no dam by the mill site and no mill by a dam[n] sight.’”
The story of Charleston begins with Amos Stowe. Seeing that Millville would supply men with money to spend, a nearby town site was inevitable, and Stowe decided to be its founder. It started on October 28th, 1878 when Stowe recorded a claim for a relatively flat quarter section of land (160 acres) for grazing and agricultural pursuits, but it was no coincidence that the site was perfectly situated across the San Pedro from the beginnings of Millville.
Once Tombstone surveyor A. J. Mitchell completed his survey, Stowe busied himself in February of 1879 by offering lots free on a multi-year basis. (Mitchell Street in Charleston was named in the surveyor's honor). The condition attached was that the lessee had to make $100.00 of improvements to the lot within a time frame stipulated by Stowe. At the end of the contract the lessee was then required to pay Stowe the value of the lot, including improvents. Those building in Charleston could do so without an immediate budget for the land on which they were building.
For Stowe, a money-down policy may have been wiser to assist with other financial obligations; on August 14, 1879, less than seven months after the Charleston survey, Stowe had to surrender his Tombstone and Charleston properties to creditors. The story of Dick Gird’s enterprises just across the river was one of continued success, but not without its controversies.
Stamp milling required more water than the leisurely surface flow of the San Pedro River could provide. Gird decided to build a dam blocking the river so as to collect enough water to run his and Frank Corbin’s mills. The construction and its related controversies became extensive. It would fall to one of Gird’s partners, John S. Vosburg, to supervise the construction of the dam.
Of his involvement with the dam, Vosburg stated, “We made a contract with the Mormons from St. David (close by) to come with oxen and hard rocks (of which there were plenty) and dump loosly [sic] into the break up to the required height…Had to make about 1 ½ miles of ditch and flume to carry the 1000 plus water to penstock…After using the water it was returned, by short tunnel to [the] river again, still as wet as before.”
There was so much to be done and time was of the essence, as real capital was on the line. Vosburg described the exciting and chaotic nature of that time: “…we were leveling and working retaining walls for THE mill proper. Making roads to and into a canon of the Huacha[u]cas, nine or ten miles, up which about 2000 feet was a considerable flat on which were the aforementioned pine trees…” After Gird had shipped the saw mill equipment, from there “Ham Light was to take it on big wagons…and on to the Huachuca Mountains…” Though Vosburg was not a mining man, Gird’s shorthanded enterprise needed all the help it could get. “I was to superintend the planning, laying out and the work there of the foundation for the ten stamp mill...as yet there was ‘no dam by the mill site and no mill by a dam[n] sight.’”
Photo of Charleston Dam, taken by Carleton Watkins,1880
The exact location of Gird's Charleston Dam. Photo by John Rose
The Dam would be constructed, and its related controversies would plague Gird during his days at Millville, with ranchers and others contesting the amount of water from the San Pedro that the Gird and Corbin mills were allotted through arbitration.
When flood waters raged and ripped through Girds dam, the effects were at times of a very serious nature. “The breaking of the mill-dam at this place and the recent rains have made the San Pedro very high. A man who attempted to cross the river above here on the 28th had his horse drowned and barely escaped himself.”
Working in the Mills carried its own risks, as former Millman Sam Aaron recalled. “The furnace was a deadly place to work at... “One time there was a fight in the feed room between the feeder and the chargewheeler. The feeder hit the chargewheeler with a shovel, shoved his body into the furnace and his lunch can with him, leaving no evidence behind him. About eight months after this fight, this man took sick and held his secret until he knew he was going to die. He then confessed on his deathbed.”
When flood waters raged and ripped through Girds dam, the effects were at times of a very serious nature. “The breaking of the mill-dam at this place and the recent rains have made the San Pedro very high. A man who attempted to cross the river above here on the 28th had his horse drowned and barely escaped himself.”
Working in the Mills carried its own risks, as former Millman Sam Aaron recalled. “The furnace was a deadly place to work at... “One time there was a fight in the feed room between the feeder and the chargewheeler. The feeder hit the chargewheeler with a shovel, shoved his body into the furnace and his lunch can with him, leaving no evidence behind him. About eight months after this fight, this man took sick and held his secret until he knew he was going to die. He then confessed on his deathbed.”
Businesses on one of Charleston's streets
As Wm. N. Miller recalled, “Charleston was a fair sized town for those times[.] There were two Quartz Mills busy crushing the ores from the Lucky Cuss and the Toughnut Mines. Ham Light had I think 7-16 muleteams, hauling the ore. I was well acquainted with Mr. Light, as my father had been wagon boss for him in Pioche Nev. There were several stores, saloons 2 blacksmith shops besides Light’s shop. No regular livery stables but two or three corrals or feed yards. There were Riders there run[n]ing night herds. The Clantons run one and the Drew Brothers another besides a monthly day herd.” Gird and Schieffelins ran a “four mule Bullion wagon to Tucson, 75 miles away, also carried some Mail made two round trips a week…Whistling Dick drove the Bullion wagon.”
Although the immediate area around Millville would have made a likely choice for a new community, much of the land was claimed by the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company, and one of Gird’s key partners, John Vosburg, insisted on the prohibition of alcohol on this property. This would only add to the reason for Charleston’s boom. “I recollect there was some good deal of dissatisfaction with Mr. Vosburg.…He did not want no liquor brought on to the millsite, wouldn’t allow it, and he objected to the men going across the river and getting it."
Although the immediate area around Millville would have made a likely choice for a new community, much of the land was claimed by the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company, and one of Gird’s key partners, John Vosburg, insisted on the prohibition of alcohol on this property. This would only add to the reason for Charleston’s boom. “I recollect there was some good deal of dissatisfaction with Mr. Vosburg.…He did not want no liquor brought on to the millsite, wouldn’t allow it, and he objected to the men going across the river and getting it."
Corbin Mill
Once the Gird and later the Corbin Mill went into operation, the boom was on. “The Tombstone Company’s mill [referring to the Gird Mill] is now running through from fifteen to twenty tons of ore per day, and has already turned out over $90,000 worth of bullion…The Corbin Company’s mill is subjected to delay on account of the hardness of the rock into which their grade is being cut. The mill will actually stand one [sic] solid rock…”Working for Gird, Ham Light’s sixteen mule teams were hauling away an estimated forty to fifty thousand pounds of ore daily.
News of the growth and offering of Charleston would find its way into the Tucson newspapers. “A Citizen correspondent at Charleston reports: It is astonishing that this place, comparatively of recent growth, is visited daily by troops of strangers, some merely coming for the sake of the pleasant drives with which the vicinity abounds, but the majority making arrangements to locate themselves permanently, which is a noticeable fact, for new buildings are everyday commenced, and those already in progress are hurried toward completion.”
With the increased population and traffic, the crossing of the San Pedro was an issue for the settlement of Charleston and Millville. In spite of its light surface flow, crossing the river was a problem; there were reports of quicksand in some areas of the river, and summer monsoons only added to the problem. Nearly two years prior to the creation of Cochise County, Charleston remained part of Pima County, and its residents requested that a bridge be constructed by the county at Charleston for their safety and commerce.
Many in Charleston felt that Pima County, to which their taxes were paid, should fund
such a project, the bridging of the river.
“The San Pedro River, at Charleston, was so high that the Harshaw stage could not cross. The mail was floated over and brought up on a buck-board.” “Miss Maggie Gray, who has been seriously ill, since her narrow escape from drowning in the San Pedro, a few days since, we are pleased to learn is recovering.”
Pima County was in no hurry to invest in a bridge at Charleston. The economy that was the Tombstone mining juggernaut had already given rise to talk of a new county with Tombstone as its seat. Pima County was content to receive tribute from Charleston without sending much in return. It would later fall to the newly formed Board of Supervisors of Cochise County to pay for this, which they did.
News of the growth and offering of Charleston would find its way into the Tucson newspapers. “A Citizen correspondent at Charleston reports: It is astonishing that this place, comparatively of recent growth, is visited daily by troops of strangers, some merely coming for the sake of the pleasant drives with which the vicinity abounds, but the majority making arrangements to locate themselves permanently, which is a noticeable fact, for new buildings are everyday commenced, and those already in progress are hurried toward completion.”
With the increased population and traffic, the crossing of the San Pedro was an issue for the settlement of Charleston and Millville. In spite of its light surface flow, crossing the river was a problem; there were reports of quicksand in some areas of the river, and summer monsoons only added to the problem. Nearly two years prior to the creation of Cochise County, Charleston remained part of Pima County, and its residents requested that a bridge be constructed by the county at Charleston for their safety and commerce.
Many in Charleston felt that Pima County, to which their taxes were paid, should fund
such a project, the bridging of the river.
“The San Pedro River, at Charleston, was so high that the Harshaw stage could not cross. The mail was floated over and brought up on a buck-board.” “Miss Maggie Gray, who has been seriously ill, since her narrow escape from drowning in the San Pedro, a few days since, we are pleased to learn is recovering.”
Pima County was in no hurry to invest in a bridge at Charleston. The economy that was the Tombstone mining juggernaut had already given rise to talk of a new county with Tombstone as its seat. Pima County was content to receive tribute from Charleston without sending much in return. It would later fall to the newly formed Board of Supervisors of Cochise County to pay for this, which they did.
GPS coordinates of the location from which Carleton Watkins took this photo of Gird’s Mill. From the collections of John D. Rose.
CHARLESTON’S ONE CIVIC IMPROVEMENT
C.S. Fly copy photo of Charleston, from the collections of John D. Rose
Concerning the construction of the Charleston bridge, “The new bridge over the San Pedro at Charleston was begun yesterday. This will supply a want long felt, and a grateful public will bless our Board of Supervisors.” Mrs. Mary E. Wood, wife of S.W. Wood, the manager in charge of the mills at Millville, commented on the bridge: “A narrow foot bridge spanned the river until after the heavy rains of August 1881 when the dam was washed away and the stream was widened so that a real bridge was necessary. It was a matter of great pride as it was our first and only civic improvement.”
THE WHEAT AND THE TARES
C.W. Goodale ran with a powerful echelon of Tombstone society. As a member of the Tombstone club, he played baseball and rubbed shoulders at meetings with Judge Dibble, Sheriff John Behan and his partner John Dunbar, Doc Goodfellow, Archie McBride [part owner of the Grand Hotel] and E.B. Gage of the Grand Central mine, among others.
Just north of Charleston and Millville was the Boston Mill, where Goodale served as superintendent. His proximity to Charleston did not please him, and he was not sheltered in the way that the wife of a fellow mining executive such as Mary Wood may have been. This difference would shape a very different reaction to Charleston than that of Mrs. Wood. Note that Goodale does not discuss Contention City, whose population was comparable to that of Charleston, as a place having such problems. “Naturally small settlements sprang up in the vicinities of the several mills, located on the San Pedro River, 10 miles from Tombstone. Among them was Charleston, a community which soon acquired anunenviable notoriety for diversified viciousness. If anything good ever originated in Charleston it escaped the notice of those whose misfortune it was to be stationed in its vicinity. The two mills of the Tombstone Milling & Mining Co. were built across the San Pedro within pistol shot of Charleston and the officials of the company found life full of unwelcome distractions.”
Gird millworker James Wolf recalled his first visit to a Charleston saloon, and soon learned why Goodale would make such a statement. “On the second day of my arrival, I entered a saloon to get a drink. The faro dealer was having an argument with a customer concerning a bet. The customer went out. The faro dealer sat down at the end of the bar and began to read a newspaper. As I finished my drink, I heard someone outside approaching the doorway to enter. The faro dealer had tilted back his chair and raised his feet to the bar. Suddenly, though sitting in this awkward position, he reached into his belt with his right hand, pulled out a forty-five and dotted the newcomer exactly between the eyes just as that person arrived in front of the open doorway. The dead man was the argumentative customer of only a few minutes before. He had gone to his room for his gun.” As for the dealer who fired the fatal shot, it appeared to Wolf that “ The only thing that annoyed him was the smoke from his own gun barrel.”
A young man named Mose Drachman wrote memoirs of his brief time in Charleston, revealing the tension of those times and concern for his personal safety. “The only time in my life when I remember feeling cold sweat break out on my face from terror was when I was in Charleston. I slept in my uncle’s home which was across from the store. At that time, all [we] could hear was about this or that killing or shooting scrape andI lived in constant fear. In fact, I was afraid to cross the street after dark.”
Just north of Charleston and Millville was the Boston Mill, where Goodale served as superintendent. His proximity to Charleston did not please him, and he was not sheltered in the way that the wife of a fellow mining executive such as Mary Wood may have been. This difference would shape a very different reaction to Charleston than that of Mrs. Wood. Note that Goodale does not discuss Contention City, whose population was comparable to that of Charleston, as a place having such problems. “Naturally small settlements sprang up in the vicinities of the several mills, located on the San Pedro River, 10 miles from Tombstone. Among them was Charleston, a community which soon acquired anunenviable notoriety for diversified viciousness. If anything good ever originated in Charleston it escaped the notice of those whose misfortune it was to be stationed in its vicinity. The two mills of the Tombstone Milling & Mining Co. were built across the San Pedro within pistol shot of Charleston and the officials of the company found life full of unwelcome distractions.”
Gird millworker James Wolf recalled his first visit to a Charleston saloon, and soon learned why Goodale would make such a statement. “On the second day of my arrival, I entered a saloon to get a drink. The faro dealer was having an argument with a customer concerning a bet. The customer went out. The faro dealer sat down at the end of the bar and began to read a newspaper. As I finished my drink, I heard someone outside approaching the doorway to enter. The faro dealer had tilted back his chair and raised his feet to the bar. Suddenly, though sitting in this awkward position, he reached into his belt with his right hand, pulled out a forty-five and dotted the newcomer exactly between the eyes just as that person arrived in front of the open doorway. The dead man was the argumentative customer of only a few minutes before. He had gone to his room for his gun.” As for the dealer who fired the fatal shot, it appeared to Wolf that “ The only thing that annoyed him was the smoke from his own gun barrel.”
A young man named Mose Drachman wrote memoirs of his brief time in Charleston, revealing the tension of those times and concern for his personal safety. “The only time in my life when I remember feeling cold sweat break out on my face from terror was when I was in Charleston. I slept in my uncle’s home which was across from the store. At that time, all [we] could hear was about this or that killing or shooting scrape andI lived in constant fear. In fact, I was afraid to cross the street after dark.”
CHARLESTON ATTRACTED OUTLAWS
According to Wolf, whether or not a shooting victim was found with a gun was a key issue as justice was dispensed in Charleston. “…it was not an uncommon site to see one or more dead men lying in the street when going to work on [the] early morning shift. If a dead man had a gun on him and was shot from the front, no one bothered to look for the killer.” That being said, the idea that shootings happened with regularity in Charleston is clearly not the case.
Wolf continued…“ The richness of the [Tombstone] district had attracted gunmen, bandits and crooks from all over the west and even the entire world. It was here at Charleston, the crude ore was converted into shiny bars of rich metal.
Naturally, it [was] here, where the booty was greatest, the various gangs of hold-up artists came.”
Wolf continued…“ The richness of the [Tombstone] district had attracted gunmen, bandits and crooks from all over the west and even the entire world. It was here at Charleston, the crude ore was converted into shiny bars of rich metal.
Naturally, it [was] here, where the booty was greatest, the various gangs of hold-up artists came.”
ONE MEMORABLE NIGHT AT CHARLESTON’S CHURCH
Billy Breakenridge, author of Helldorado, said the following about a cold winter night in 1881: “The few law-abiding citizens in Charleston had a small adobe building which they used for a church. One Sunday evening when they were gathered there for their evening service, Curly Bill [Brocius] and a bunch of cowboys came to town, and some of them suggested that they attend church. They agreed, and, armed as usual, all trooped into the church. The good people, fearing trouble, began to leave, and soon the place was empty except for the gang. The preacher started to leave also, but he was told that they came to hear him preach and intended him no harm. So he remained, and preached them a sermon, hitting them as hard as possible. They asked him to line out a hymn, and they all sang. Then they asked him to pass the hat and take up a collection, and they filled his hat with Mexican dollars; it was the largest contribution ever taken up in that church!
“Next morning as Curly was dozing in front of a saloon, Justice Burnett came around the corner of the building with a shotgun in his hands and arrested Curly. He tried him right there on the spot, and fined him twenty-five dollars for disturbing the peace the night before at the church. Curly paid, but said no more church for him, it was too expensive.”
“Next morning as Curly was dozing in front of a saloon, Justice Burnett came around the corner of the building with a shotgun in his hands and arrested Curly. He tried him right there on the spot, and fined him twenty-five dollars for disturbing the peace the night before at the church. Curly paid, but said no more church for him, it was too expensive.”
Charleston ca. 1930s
CHARLESTON’S STUTTERING CONSTABLE
As Billy Breakenridge stated in Helldorado: “Charleston was a hangout for the riff-raff from Fort Huachuca, Bisbee, Tombstone, and other places where there were officers to see that they behaved themselves. In Charleston they were not molested [harassed]. The only officers there were Jim Burnett, the justice of the peace, and Jerry Barton, the constable, and they paid little attention to keeping law and order.”
According to James Wolf, “A Mexican stole a horse from Mr. Curry [possibly Enoch J. Curry, a Charleston laborer]…Some days later the Mex[ican] came into town with a train of wagons loaded with firewood and drawn by a long team or string of horses. Mr. Curry recognized his horse and proceeded to claim him. As he and the Mex[ican] argued, Judge Burnett happened along. 'Is this your horse? Here, take him.'” Burnett then that ruled that the nine cords of wood visible in the wagon train were to be delivered to Gird’s mill, but in Burnett’s own name, the proceeds going to himself.
Breakenridge adds to the list of Burnett’s infractions: “After Burnett had been justice of the peace for a couple of years, the board of supervisors of Pima County called on him for a settlement. He told them he kept no books, that he did a cash business in assessing fines, and that the county did not owe him anything, as his office was self-sustaining! This was the condition of things up to the time Cochise County was created.”
If Burnett as Justice of the Peace was a dubious office holder, his Constable Jerry Barton had his own issues. Breakenridge added, “Barton was a powerful man, and it was reported that he had killed several men with his fist; he was known as a man-killer, with many notches on his pistol handles. He stuttered badly, and at one time, when he was asked why he killed so many men, replied: ‘Why, m-my tri-tri-trigger fi-finger stut-stutters.’”
According to James Wolf, “A Mexican stole a horse from Mr. Curry [possibly Enoch J. Curry, a Charleston laborer]…Some days later the Mex[ican] came into town with a train of wagons loaded with firewood and drawn by a long team or string of horses. Mr. Curry recognized his horse and proceeded to claim him. As he and the Mex[ican] argued, Judge Burnett happened along. 'Is this your horse? Here, take him.'” Burnett then that ruled that the nine cords of wood visible in the wagon train were to be delivered to Gird’s mill, but in Burnett’s own name, the proceeds going to himself.
Breakenridge adds to the list of Burnett’s infractions: “After Burnett had been justice of the peace for a couple of years, the board of supervisors of Pima County called on him for a settlement. He told them he kept no books, that he did a cash business in assessing fines, and that the county did not owe him anything, as his office was self-sustaining! This was the condition of things up to the time Cochise County was created.”
If Burnett as Justice of the Peace was a dubious office holder, his Constable Jerry Barton had his own issues. Breakenridge added, “Barton was a powerful man, and it was reported that he had killed several men with his fist; he was known as a man-killer, with many notches on his pistol handles. He stuttered badly, and at one time, when he was asked why he killed so many men, replied: ‘Why, m-my tri-tri-trigger fi-finger stut-stutters.’”
WYATT EARP’S SIEGE OF CHARLESTON
Wyatt Earp
After the infamous gunfight near the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, tensions rapidly rose between the Earp faction who paid virtually no judicial price for their killings of the McClaury brothers and Billy Clanton, and the cowboys. This feud, characterized by intimidation and attempted murder, would soon spill over into Charleston. Wyatt, who was in pursuit of Virgil’s attackers, was in and out of Tombstone at this time, with a secret camp site on the outskirts of town, and safely approaching this heavily guarded camp meant knowing the password-“Monday.”
As darkness began to descend over the Earp camp, Wyatt’s attorney, William Herring, arrived with password and grain, and a volunteer posse of twenty five men, headed by John H. Jackson. Jackson brought hearsay that John Ringo, of the cowboy faction, awaited them with a large force of men on the west side of the Charleston bridge. Jackson’s posse was sent in that direction.
“Accordingly, yesterday morning about 4 o’clock a posse of eight, led by Mr. J. Jackson, left town with a warrant for his arrest. Arriving at Charleston at daybreak they put their horses in a corral to grainand after leaving their arms at a convenient place proceeded to the Occidental hotel to get their breakfast. Upon passing the threshold they were intercepted by Isaac [Ike] Clanton and another man with drawn weapons, while the barrels of other Winchesters suddenly gleamed over the adobe wall. Mr. Jackson stated his errand” and was later allowed by Clanton to leave Charleston.
Ben Maynard, an Earp adversary, would soon pay the price for this treatment of Jackson. In terms of general disruption, Charleston would pay a bit of that price as well. When the Earp posse traveled to Charleston, they meant business.
“Proceeding along the Charleston road, about four miles from town, they encountered Ben Maynard…He was promptly ‘stood up’ and relieved of his arms, and ordered to about face and accompany the party to Charleston, several revolvers at the same time being placed in unpleasant juxtaposition to his head. Arriving near Charleston skirmishers were deployed in the advance to ascertain the position of the enemy. After some time spent in this precautionary measure, the whole party entered the town.”
As darkness began to descend over the Earp camp, Wyatt’s attorney, William Herring, arrived with password and grain, and a volunteer posse of twenty five men, headed by John H. Jackson. Jackson brought hearsay that John Ringo, of the cowboy faction, awaited them with a large force of men on the west side of the Charleston bridge. Jackson’s posse was sent in that direction.
“Accordingly, yesterday morning about 4 o’clock a posse of eight, led by Mr. J. Jackson, left town with a warrant for his arrest. Arriving at Charleston at daybreak they put their horses in a corral to grainand after leaving their arms at a convenient place proceeded to the Occidental hotel to get their breakfast. Upon passing the threshold they were intercepted by Isaac [Ike] Clanton and another man with drawn weapons, while the barrels of other Winchesters suddenly gleamed over the adobe wall. Mr. Jackson stated his errand” and was later allowed by Clanton to leave Charleston.
Ben Maynard, an Earp adversary, would soon pay the price for this treatment of Jackson. In terms of general disruption, Charleston would pay a bit of that price as well. When the Earp posse traveled to Charleston, they meant business.
“Proceeding along the Charleston road, about four miles from town, they encountered Ben Maynard…He was promptly ‘stood up’ and relieved of his arms, and ordered to about face and accompany the party to Charleston, several revolvers at the same time being placed in unpleasant juxtaposition to his head. Arriving near Charleston skirmishers were deployed in the advance to ascertain the position of the enemy. After some time spent in this precautionary measure, the whole party entered the town.”
A SNOWBALL’S CHANCE IN CHARLESTON
“The services of Maynard were now called into requisition. He was forced, by the persuasive agency of sundry six shooters, to go about town knocking on the doors of all buildings which his captors thought might afford concealment or shelter for any of the cowboys. At the same time he was admonished that in case a shot was fired from any of the buildings he would‘not last as long as a SNOWBALL IN HELL.’ After arousing nearly the entire population from their slumbers, it was definitely ascertained that the birds had flown, and a close canvas of the town did not disclose the presence of a single cowboy. The services of Mr. Maynard being no longer needed, he was informed that he was at liberty to depart…”
George Parson would record the aftermath. On January 30th, 1882, he encountered the Earp party just after the festivities had ended. “Got off this A.M. about 9:30 leading my horse…Packed my horse at Charleston with grub. Met the Earp posse on outskirts of Charleston returning to town, their parties having surrendered at Tombstone. Charleston looked almost like a deserted village and as though having undergone a siege.”
George Parson would record the aftermath. On January 30th, 1882, he encountered the Earp party just after the festivities had ended. “Got off this A.M. about 9:30 leading my horse…Packed my horse at Charleston with grub. Met the Earp posse on outskirts of Charleston returning to town, their parties having surrendered at Tombstone. Charleston looked almost like a deserted village and as though having undergone a siege.”
HELL IS ONCE AGAIN IN SESSION
John Rose at M. R. Peel's Grave in Tombstone. Photo by Stephanie rose.
After Tombstone’s infamous gunfight and Charleston’s rising figures of violence, the spring of 1882 would see yet another tragic shooting, this time a Gird employee named Martin Ruter Peel, who was in a meeting with colleagues. As one of the survivors recalled “…there was a loud bang at the door, and Mr. Austin shouted ‘Come in,’ as Cheyney later recalled. “The door was thrown open and two masked men appeared; ---they…had leveled rifles in their hands. I can remember of no word being spoken, and almost instantly several shots were fired; they afterward discovered there were but two shots.”
Of the shooting Parsons wrote “Another murder and this time of a most startling nature. Poor Peel was shot and instantly killed by two masked men at the T.M. & M. Co’s office, Charleston [Millville], last evening between eight and nine o’clock. No reason whatever assigned for the cause.” A Gird Mill worker named, Dugan, who had witnessed the shooters fleeing the area said, “I never knew anyone speaking of Mr. Peel only with respect.”
Upon learning his son had been murdered, Judge Peel traveled from Tombstone to Millville to see for himself the scene where his son spent his last moments. The funeral was held at the Tough-Nut Office at Tombstone, and conducted by Rev. Endicott Peabody. “Many an eye, long unaccustomed to shedding tears was moistened when the aged father entered the room…” Judge Peel was overcome by
emotion as well. The tablet on his coffin told that Martin Ruter Peel was only 26 years old when he died, and a native of
Texas.
Of the shooting Parsons wrote “Another murder and this time of a most startling nature. Poor Peel was shot and instantly killed by two masked men at the T.M. & M. Co’s office, Charleston [Millville], last evening between eight and nine o’clock. No reason whatever assigned for the cause.” A Gird Mill worker named, Dugan, who had witnessed the shooters fleeing the area said, “I never knew anyone speaking of Mr. Peel only with respect.”
Upon learning his son had been murdered, Judge Peel traveled from Tombstone to Millville to see for himself the scene where his son spent his last moments. The funeral was held at the Tough-Nut Office at Tombstone, and conducted by Rev. Endicott Peabody. “Many an eye, long unaccustomed to shedding tears was moistened when the aged father entered the room…” Judge Peel was overcome by
emotion as well. The tablet on his coffin told that Martin Ruter Peel was only 26 years old when he died, and a native of
Texas.
CHATTO’S RAID AND THE GOD OF THE APACHES
Courtesy from the collections of John D. Rose.
“Jim, I have something I want you to do. Climb that pole and put the Indian skull on it…” –Sam Aaron
Alexander and Carrie Miles would begin their married life in Charleston, after being married at Brown’s Hotel in Tombstone by Judge
Wallace. “Aleck” as his wife called him, soon bought a ten mule team to expand into heavier forms of freighting, and it also allowed him to take real advantage of Charleston’s central location in the valley. He soon acquired a customer on the western side of the Huachuca Mountains, Clark’s coal camp, and became friendly enough with the crew working there that he told them he would bring his wife and newborn son Frederick with him to meet them on his next trip. But he would lose a full day from his schedule as his mules broke free while he was encamped on a return trip to Charleston. These breakaway mules saved the lives of the Miles Family.
What Miles could not have known was that Geronimo had just sent a war party under Chatto, to raid into Arizona for ammunition.
While Chatto and his warriors traveled at rapid pace toward Clark’s Coal Camp, Alexander Miles, with wife Carrie, son Frederick, and the owner of the camp, E.W. Clark, were slowly crossing the expanse of the valley between Charleston and Fort Huachuca, on their way to Evans’ camp first, and Clark’s second. Clark stated, “Yesterday, March the 22nd 1883 Mr. Miles and myself arrive[d] at Fort Huachuca about 10:30 a.m. I received a note from P.R. Childs stating…they had been ‘jumped’ by the Apache Indians at my coal camp about eight miles south west of Huachuca…Wm Armstrong was shot down by his side, that Wm Murray was also killed…that Geo. Owens and Jas Woolfolk were supposed to be killed…”
When word got back to Charleston, there was anger over the lost lives, but celebration that P.R. Childs not only survived, but was able to kill, Beneactiney, one of the attacking Apaches. Learning that his rifle, which had fired the fatal shot into Beneactiney was damaged, the town gathered a collection and bought him a new one as a gift.
For Charleston teenager Sam Aaron, the remains of Beneactiney were of particular interest. He recalled that Childs and one other had cut off the head of the slain Apache and brought it back to Charleston. “I took the Indian skull, burned off the flesh and hair, sandpapered it, and made a beautiful skull…In front of the saloon we had a flagpole about thirty-five feet high, tapered down, and five feet from the top was the hole for the flag rope. Stormy Jim was lying outside of the saloon one night, and in the morning when he awoke the first thing his eyes rested on was the ball on the flagpole. So he shot it off…I said ‘Jim, I have something I want you to do. Climb that pole and put the Indian skull on it
instead…He said, ‘I cannot climb the pole, Sam.’ I said, ‘I will get you a pair of climbers at the telegraph office.’ So I got the climbers. He asked for a drink to steady him up. He made eight trials and became so drunk that he could not place that skull on the pole.”
For followers of the Apache religion, Charleston’s treatment of this warriors remains would lead to a severe punishment. “To an Apache the mutilation of the body is much worse than death, because the body must go through eternity in the mutilated condition,” as Asa Daklugie, Geronimo’s nephew and son of Juh recalled. To an Apache, the damage brought by the May 3rd, 1887 earthquake to Charleston was the fulfillment of a long held prophecy, and no surprise. “Apaches believed that eventually Ussen [The Apache God- Apache for giver of life] would take vengeance upon our enemies. He would send some catastrophe of nature, such as an earthquake…”
On the afternoon of May 3rd, 1887, an earthquake whose epicenter was in Bavispe Mexico, rocked the San Pedro river valley, doing mild damage in Tombstone, but more so in Charleston, which was already well on its decline.
“G.W. Atkins, went down to Charleston yesterday, returning the same day. He says that burg is the most woe be-gone looking place he ever saw, there not being a single habitable house in the place, and the people are forced to take refuge wherever they can find it. None of the houses are thrown down, but they are so badly damaged as to render them dangerous…not a single residence in that village is habitable since Tuesday’s earthquake. Many of the houses are completely ruined, fortunately no one was hurt.”
Of the local reaction to the quake, Wolf added that “I do remember someone told me that attendance at the local churches noticeably increased the following Sunday.”
But long before the Earthquake, Charleston had begun a steady decline, as had Tombstone. The discovery of water 520 feet below Tombstone’s streets would number the days of Mills along the San Pedro which needed to draw from its
shallow surface waters, or from nearby wells, as was done north of Millville. And the payrolls of Millville would suffer a steady decline, payrolls that had created Charleston. In early 1882, the Girard Mill opened at Tombstone, using water from this substantial aquifer beneath Tombstone. Later, after a broken miners strike, portions of the mills would began to be disassembled at Charleston, some being moved to Tombstone in the 1885/1886 time frame. Tombstone would suffer from the declining quality of its remaining Ore, and saving the shipping costs by milling at Tombstone would only accelerate Charleston’s downward economic spiral, as Tombstone struggled to stay profitable.
By the time the 1887 Earthquake occurred, Charleston’s best days were far behind it. Though small operations at a smelter at Millville would continue into 1892, it was just a matter of picking through ore that with improved technology, would make a bit of a profit. Even after 1900 such dumps were again revisited, but the “Capital City of the San Pedro” was soon forgotten and abandoned. Today the drainage that was altered by the construction of the Arizona and Southeastern Railroad now threatens the remainder of the town, and returning it to its natural flow can help to save what is left. I hope that the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) will consider approaches to deal with this issue. –John Rose
Alexander and Carrie Miles would begin their married life in Charleston, after being married at Brown’s Hotel in Tombstone by Judge
Wallace. “Aleck” as his wife called him, soon bought a ten mule team to expand into heavier forms of freighting, and it also allowed him to take real advantage of Charleston’s central location in the valley. He soon acquired a customer on the western side of the Huachuca Mountains, Clark’s coal camp, and became friendly enough with the crew working there that he told them he would bring his wife and newborn son Frederick with him to meet them on his next trip. But he would lose a full day from his schedule as his mules broke free while he was encamped on a return trip to Charleston. These breakaway mules saved the lives of the Miles Family.
What Miles could not have known was that Geronimo had just sent a war party under Chatto, to raid into Arizona for ammunition.
While Chatto and his warriors traveled at rapid pace toward Clark’s Coal Camp, Alexander Miles, with wife Carrie, son Frederick, and the owner of the camp, E.W. Clark, were slowly crossing the expanse of the valley between Charleston and Fort Huachuca, on their way to Evans’ camp first, and Clark’s second. Clark stated, “Yesterday, March the 22nd 1883 Mr. Miles and myself arrive[d] at Fort Huachuca about 10:30 a.m. I received a note from P.R. Childs stating…they had been ‘jumped’ by the Apache Indians at my coal camp about eight miles south west of Huachuca…Wm Armstrong was shot down by his side, that Wm Murray was also killed…that Geo. Owens and Jas Woolfolk were supposed to be killed…”
When word got back to Charleston, there was anger over the lost lives, but celebration that P.R. Childs not only survived, but was able to kill, Beneactiney, one of the attacking Apaches. Learning that his rifle, which had fired the fatal shot into Beneactiney was damaged, the town gathered a collection and bought him a new one as a gift.
For Charleston teenager Sam Aaron, the remains of Beneactiney were of particular interest. He recalled that Childs and one other had cut off the head of the slain Apache and brought it back to Charleston. “I took the Indian skull, burned off the flesh and hair, sandpapered it, and made a beautiful skull…In front of the saloon we had a flagpole about thirty-five feet high, tapered down, and five feet from the top was the hole for the flag rope. Stormy Jim was lying outside of the saloon one night, and in the morning when he awoke the first thing his eyes rested on was the ball on the flagpole. So he shot it off…I said ‘Jim, I have something I want you to do. Climb that pole and put the Indian skull on it
instead…He said, ‘I cannot climb the pole, Sam.’ I said, ‘I will get you a pair of climbers at the telegraph office.’ So I got the climbers. He asked for a drink to steady him up. He made eight trials and became so drunk that he could not place that skull on the pole.”
For followers of the Apache religion, Charleston’s treatment of this warriors remains would lead to a severe punishment. “To an Apache the mutilation of the body is much worse than death, because the body must go through eternity in the mutilated condition,” as Asa Daklugie, Geronimo’s nephew and son of Juh recalled. To an Apache, the damage brought by the May 3rd, 1887 earthquake to Charleston was the fulfillment of a long held prophecy, and no surprise. “Apaches believed that eventually Ussen [The Apache God- Apache for giver of life] would take vengeance upon our enemies. He would send some catastrophe of nature, such as an earthquake…”
On the afternoon of May 3rd, 1887, an earthquake whose epicenter was in Bavispe Mexico, rocked the San Pedro river valley, doing mild damage in Tombstone, but more so in Charleston, which was already well on its decline.
“G.W. Atkins, went down to Charleston yesterday, returning the same day. He says that burg is the most woe be-gone looking place he ever saw, there not being a single habitable house in the place, and the people are forced to take refuge wherever they can find it. None of the houses are thrown down, but they are so badly damaged as to render them dangerous…not a single residence in that village is habitable since Tuesday’s earthquake. Many of the houses are completely ruined, fortunately no one was hurt.”
Of the local reaction to the quake, Wolf added that “I do remember someone told me that attendance at the local churches noticeably increased the following Sunday.”
But long before the Earthquake, Charleston had begun a steady decline, as had Tombstone. The discovery of water 520 feet below Tombstone’s streets would number the days of Mills along the San Pedro which needed to draw from its
shallow surface waters, or from nearby wells, as was done north of Millville. And the payrolls of Millville would suffer a steady decline, payrolls that had created Charleston. In early 1882, the Girard Mill opened at Tombstone, using water from this substantial aquifer beneath Tombstone. Later, after a broken miners strike, portions of the mills would began to be disassembled at Charleston, some being moved to Tombstone in the 1885/1886 time frame. Tombstone would suffer from the declining quality of its remaining Ore, and saving the shipping costs by milling at Tombstone would only accelerate Charleston’s downward economic spiral, as Tombstone struggled to stay profitable.
By the time the 1887 Earthquake occurred, Charleston’s best days were far behind it. Though small operations at a smelter at Millville would continue into 1892, it was just a matter of picking through ore that with improved technology, would make a bit of a profit. Even after 1900 such dumps were again revisited, but the “Capital City of the San Pedro” was soon forgotten and abandoned. Today the drainage that was altered by the construction of the Arizona and Southeastern Railroad now threatens the remainder of the town, and returning it to its natural flow can help to save what is left. I hope that the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) will consider approaches to deal with this issue. –John Rose
Dated just over four months after the murder of M.R. Peel, this letter is written on the same letterhead that was used in Gird’s own office, where Peel perished. Original letter from the collections of John D. Rose.
Are we there yet?
Copyright 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. John D. Rose all rights reserved.
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