By David Stephen

Yavapai County Road 68 is a 46-mile unpaved back-country route that originates near Bagdad and comes to an end at Williamson Valley Road north of Prescott. Also known as Camp Wood Road, it carries a compelling legacy that interweaves Native American history and prehistory, forestry, homesteading, military campaigns, mining, ranching and tourism.

Traveling the road heading west, away from Williamson Valley, the road traverses stretches of grassy flats, low ridges and shallow drainages, gradually ascending through stands of pinon and juniper trees. After cresting a steeper climb through scrub chaparral vegetation, the road descends into a basin populated with fir and pine trees. A sign proclaiming "Camp Wood Area" is located where Camp Wood Road intersects with Forest Road 95 that comes in from the north.

Modern maps place Camp Wood there, where I remember a small store, schoolhouse and sawmill were located in the1960s. However, early 20th-century surveyor maps and records actually place the original military encampment of Camp Wood about six miles further to the west, close to the homesteads that were established in the late 19th century. From there, the map shows the road leading to the Hillside Mine near Bagdad.

Maps of an area have the potential to be an interesting and often obscure source of historical information. Maps depict information from many sources, each of which can provide a window into the history, families, traditions and livelihood of an area. A good example can be taken from the earliest maps of the Camp Wood area.

A prominent geographic feature on many maps near Camp Wood is the Baca Float No. 5 (now the ORO Ranch). That property has remained largely intact since its transfer to private ownership. Because it is private property, only the boundary of the Float was mapped by federal surveyors. The boundary is shown on the early maps of the General Land Office (the precursor to the Bureau of Land Management). From the southeast corner of the Float on the 1906 maps, the Camp Wood area is shown to the south. Depicted on the maps are nearby ranches including the properties of Clarence Denny, Paul Wright and Platt Wilder. These were early homesteads that eventually became the modern 7-Up, Triangle HC and Yolo Ranches, respectively.

On the 1906 General Land Office map, close to the Clarence Denny ranch, is a road labeled "Cooksie Road." Although I recall hearing the name Cooksie during my stays at Camp Wood in the 1960s, it did not link to historical documents in the Sharlot Hall Museum or other archival records. However, the 1900 federal census for Camp Wood lists a William (age 50) and Mary Cooksey (42) and referenced a family member not living with them. I searched the Sharlot Hall online archives for "Cooksey," finding pictures of Mary, William and Clare Cooksey. Another picture shows William and Mary Cooksey and an unidentified woman at a house constructed in a style common to homesteads. Sadly, the search also revealed a gravestone listing for Clare Cooksey. Born in late 1880, she passed away at the age of 4 and was buried at Prescott in 1885.

Based on the Sharlot Hall Museum photos and other pictures, the Cookseys most certainly lived at Camp Wood. However, there are no homestead records for either William or Mary Cooksey at Camp Wood or elsewhere in Arizona. Because they do not appear on the next census, they seem to have moved on from Camp Wood before 1910. A search outside of Arizona revealed that in 1913 William Cooksey was deeded a homestead in northern California. I located an obituary listing for William, who passed away there in 1914. Mary Cooksey lived in the area until she passed on in 1920. Having determined that Mary was born in Oregon, I found a record that they were married at Grant, Oregon, in 1875. After nearly 20 years of living in Camp Wood, they moved to California, likely as part of a local population decline caused by a change in the regional economy and the jobs that Camp Wood could support.

It is certainly interesting what can be learned from a misspelled road name on a nearly 110-year-old map.

"Days Past" is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are available at www.sharlothallmuseum.org/library-archives/days-past. The public is encouraged to submit ideas for articles to dayspastprescott@gmail.com.