CHARLESTON MERCHANT W.B. SCOTT, THE MILLVILLE/CHARLESTON TEMPERANCE DEBATE, AND RICAHRD GIRD VS. AREA RANCHERS,
By John D. Rose
Charleston Merchant W.B. Scott purchased the primitive store started at Millville by J.B. Allen, later moving it to Charleston so that he could take advantage of the local thirst for alcohol, which only fueled the boomtown’s penchant for indiscriminate lawlessness. He would later aid Mining and Milling magnate Richard Gird in a tense negotiation with area ranchers.
Charleston’s boom was on display for all to see. The Arizona Citizen reported that “…sixteen mule teams haul away from forty to fifty thousand pounds of ore daily…” But with that sudden wealth came a myriad of competing interests, values, and objectives, both personal professional.
J.B. Allen, for whom Allen Street in Tombstone would be named, told of start issues that Gird and his enterprises encountered. “They had their ditch pretty near built, and the mill pretty near up, and there were ranchers who threatened to get an injunction that they should not take the water from the stream…There was a contract made with the Mormons to put in the dam, and the material was to be furnished by a stated day, and they did not get the saw mill running…Then there was contracts made with large teams for hauling lumber from the sawmill to the mill site, and to the dam, and the teams came and there was no lumber for them to haul…” Such difficulties were ironed out as the project moved forward.
But a problem of a different nature would arise over liquor. One of Gird’s key investors, John Vosburg, advocated for the corporate prohibition of liquor, and was dead against any drinking. To the average worker at Millville, that may have been bad enough, but when he tried to forbid workers from leaving the company property and crossing the river to drink in Charleston, that was a bridge too far.
“I recollect there was some good deal of dissatisfaction with Mr. Vosburg. He was Superintendent of the laboring men on the ditch, and the outside work at Charleston in connection with constructing the mill, and he had some ideas of propriety which the men did not approve of. 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.
J.B. Allen, for whom Allen Street in Tombstone would be named, told of start issues that Gird and his enterprises encountered. “They had their ditch pretty near built, and the mill pretty near up, and there were ranchers who threatened to get an injunction that they should not take the water from the stream…There was a contract made with the Mormons to put in the dam, and the material was to be furnished by a stated day, and they did not get the saw mill running…Then there was contracts made with large teams for hauling lumber from the sawmill to the mill site, and to the dam, and the teams came and there was no lumber for them to haul…” Such difficulties were ironed out as the project moved forward.
But a problem of a different nature would arise over liquor. One of Gird’s key investors, John Vosburg, advocated for the corporate prohibition of liquor, and was dead against any drinking. To the average worker at Millville, that may have been bad enough, but when he tried to forbid workers from leaving the company property and crossing the river to drink in Charleston, that was a bridge too far.
“I recollect there was some good deal of dissatisfaction with Mr. Vosburg. He was Superintendent of the laboring men on the ditch, and the outside work at Charleston in connection with constructing the mill, and he had some ideas of propriety which the men did not approve of. 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.
“There was so much dissatisfaction that it became necessary to remove Mr. Vosburg…it was a very delicate matter to manage it without any difficulty with Vosburg, he being a large owner in the property....” While operating his store at Millville, Allen recalled two of his local celebrities who occasioned his establishment: “The Scheiffelins would come there to my store, there was no other place for them to go to, and they would sit there with Bidwell, and then there were others in there, more than one, and they would spend their leisure time there, to a great extent.”
That Allen had located at Millville in the first place was at the request of Gird, so the fact the Ed and Al Schieffelin frequented it just kept things in the close-knit circle that Gird was establishing for himself and his partners. “I put a store down at Charleston [Millville] at the request of Mr. Gird, which I afterwards sold out to Mr. [Walter B.] Scott, with the consent of Mr. Gird. I requested Mr. Bidwell to get permission of Mr. Gird to do so. I took Mr. Scott up and introduced him to Mr. Gird, and stated Mr. Scott agreed to carry out his wishes as I had done, and not sell liquor.” Allen had sold to Scott with the blessing of Gird as the store was located on T.M. & M. Co. property, with the understanding that Scott would abide with Gird’s rule of not selling liquor to those who wished to imbibe. Of the sale, J.B. Scott said the following: “I resided in Charleston, Arizona, in 1879. I purchased the business and store of J.B. Allen in Millville in March, 1879. Millville was on the side of the river where the mills of the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company are.” Scott soon decided that the canvas store purchased from Allen was in need of an upgrade. “After I commenced business myself I found it was necessary to put up a permanent building…And I went to Mr. Gird and asked him if I could get a lease to sufficient ground there to erect a building on, and he said he supposed that I could but stated, however, that it would be necessary for me to comply with the regulations of the company. He said the company would own the ground, and if at any time it was found necessary for me to move I would have to do so…”
Such stipulations are normal on property owned by mining companies in general, and Gird stood fast to the stipulation that he “should not sell any liquor on the ground.” Perhaps Scott, considering the higher investment of a permanent structure, desired the guarantee to remain in one place and sell whatever goods he saw fit to compete in the marketplace. “I built a house [place of business] on the other side of the river at Charleston.” The sale of liquor would continue to be concentrated at Charleston, rather than Millville, due to this understandable policy, which would only add excitement to the booming village.
Of Gird’s constant stream of enterprising ideas for Millville, Scott added that “At one time I remember I heard them discussing the propriety of planting a field of alfalfa there in front of the mill, and where the road should run, and where the bridge should be put across the river, and general discussion of that character.”
Gird would come to ask Scott for his assistance with the fight over the effects of his dam on ranchers along the San Pedro. This was a difficult position for Scott to be placed in, as Gird and his mill were major buyers in the area, but the ranchers were also, and the T.M. & M. Co was seen as more of a distant and faceless corporation than friends and neighbors. Gird sought to put his own persona on that of the corporation, thereby giving Scott reason to help. “The mill company claimed all the water in the river there, and some ranchers who had taken up some claims above the mill claimed that they had rights which should be respected, and it was to adjust damages, to effect a settlement between the ranchers and the mill company that myself and two or three others were called upon to act as arbitrators.”
At Girds’ behest, Thomas Bidwell approached Scott and “stated that such an arbitration was to be had and asked me if I would serve as one of the arbitrators. I objected, stating as a reason that I was in the mercantile business there and doing all I could to retain the good will of the public at large, and that if I went on that arbitration, I would very likely offend the mill company or the ranchers, and I did not care to do either, and after some argument on his part that I should feel it my duty to settle such things, he left without my consenting to become an arbitrator.” Learning that Bidwell’s attempt to engage Scott had failed, Gird decided to handle it with personal diplomacy.
“In the afternoon of the same day I met him [Bidwell] and Gird together and they renewed the conversation and still insisted that I should act as an arbitrator in the matter, and I refused on the ground that I knew those ranchers personally and was friendly to them, and the mill company was an eastern company of which I knew nothing. Although they are both customers of mine; yet of the two I had the best feeling for the ranchers and I did not care to do anything which would offend them, as I was fearful, knowing them to be ignorant and hard headed men, that they would be offended at any result that was had, and Mr. Gird said: ‘Here you should not let any feeling which you have for them influence you in the matter, because the Judge and myself are equally friends of yours, and although we are not the company we are interested in the company, and as a personal matter for us, as between these other parties with whom you are friendly, you should do all in your power as a citizen to prevent any difficulty or any legal proceedings between us.’ And after thinking the matter over I agreed to act as arbitrator in the matter.”
Gird’s argument of civic responsibility had an impact, as Scott, along with “Judge Bidwell went up to represent the mill company, and the ranchers were there to represent themselves. We fixed the amount to be paid to settle the thing. We assessed the damages and the mill company settled with them, I think.”
Scott had played offered bridge between the local ranching community and the corporate interests of Richard Gird and his partners. And he was also in Charleston early enough to enjoy its fleeting riches before the town went bust.
That Allen had located at Millville in the first place was at the request of Gird, so the fact the Ed and Al Schieffelin frequented it just kept things in the close-knit circle that Gird was establishing for himself and his partners. “I put a store down at Charleston [Millville] at the request of Mr. Gird, which I afterwards sold out to Mr. [Walter B.] Scott, with the consent of Mr. Gird. I requested Mr. Bidwell to get permission of Mr. Gird to do so. I took Mr. Scott up and introduced him to Mr. Gird, and stated Mr. Scott agreed to carry out his wishes as I had done, and not sell liquor.” Allen had sold to Scott with the blessing of Gird as the store was located on T.M. & M. Co. property, with the understanding that Scott would abide with Gird’s rule of not selling liquor to those who wished to imbibe. Of the sale, J.B. Scott said the following: “I resided in Charleston, Arizona, in 1879. I purchased the business and store of J.B. Allen in Millville in March, 1879. Millville was on the side of the river where the mills of the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company are.” Scott soon decided that the canvas store purchased from Allen was in need of an upgrade. “After I commenced business myself I found it was necessary to put up a permanent building…And I went to Mr. Gird and asked him if I could get a lease to sufficient ground there to erect a building on, and he said he supposed that I could but stated, however, that it would be necessary for me to comply with the regulations of the company. He said the company would own the ground, and if at any time it was found necessary for me to move I would have to do so…”
Such stipulations are normal on property owned by mining companies in general, and Gird stood fast to the stipulation that he “should not sell any liquor on the ground.” Perhaps Scott, considering the higher investment of a permanent structure, desired the guarantee to remain in one place and sell whatever goods he saw fit to compete in the marketplace. “I built a house [place of business] on the other side of the river at Charleston.” The sale of liquor would continue to be concentrated at Charleston, rather than Millville, due to this understandable policy, which would only add excitement to the booming village.
Of Gird’s constant stream of enterprising ideas for Millville, Scott added that “At one time I remember I heard them discussing the propriety of planting a field of alfalfa there in front of the mill, and where the road should run, and where the bridge should be put across the river, and general discussion of that character.”
Gird would come to ask Scott for his assistance with the fight over the effects of his dam on ranchers along the San Pedro. This was a difficult position for Scott to be placed in, as Gird and his mill were major buyers in the area, but the ranchers were also, and the T.M. & M. Co was seen as more of a distant and faceless corporation than friends and neighbors. Gird sought to put his own persona on that of the corporation, thereby giving Scott reason to help. “The mill company claimed all the water in the river there, and some ranchers who had taken up some claims above the mill claimed that they had rights which should be respected, and it was to adjust damages, to effect a settlement between the ranchers and the mill company that myself and two or three others were called upon to act as arbitrators.”
At Girds’ behest, Thomas Bidwell approached Scott and “stated that such an arbitration was to be had and asked me if I would serve as one of the arbitrators. I objected, stating as a reason that I was in the mercantile business there and doing all I could to retain the good will of the public at large, and that if I went on that arbitration, I would very likely offend the mill company or the ranchers, and I did not care to do either, and after some argument on his part that I should feel it my duty to settle such things, he left without my consenting to become an arbitrator.” Learning that Bidwell’s attempt to engage Scott had failed, Gird decided to handle it with personal diplomacy.
“In the afternoon of the same day I met him [Bidwell] and Gird together and they renewed the conversation and still insisted that I should act as an arbitrator in the matter, and I refused on the ground that I knew those ranchers personally and was friendly to them, and the mill company was an eastern company of which I knew nothing. Although they are both customers of mine; yet of the two I had the best feeling for the ranchers and I did not care to do anything which would offend them, as I was fearful, knowing them to be ignorant and hard headed men, that they would be offended at any result that was had, and Mr. Gird said: ‘Here you should not let any feeling which you have for them influence you in the matter, because the Judge and myself are equally friends of yours, and although we are not the company we are interested in the company, and as a personal matter for us, as between these other parties with whom you are friendly, you should do all in your power as a citizen to prevent any difficulty or any legal proceedings between us.’ And after thinking the matter over I agreed to act as arbitrator in the matter.”
Gird’s argument of civic responsibility had an impact, as Scott, along with “Judge Bidwell went up to represent the mill company, and the ranchers were there to represent themselves. We fixed the amount to be paid to settle the thing. We assessed the damages and the mill company settled with them, I think.”
Scott had played offered bridge between the local ranching community and the corporate interests of Richard Gird and his partners. And he was also in Charleston early enough to enjoy its fleeting riches before the town went bust.
The above information is in part excerpted from Charleston & Millville A.T. Hell on the San Pedro, by John D. Rose. This is the first and only book ever published on Charleston, released in 2012. For more on this remarkable story and other research breakthroughs, this book is available at https://www.createspace.com/3758160. It can also be purchased on Amazon.com.
Copyright John D. Rose, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. All rights reserved.