By Al Bates
Julius and Celia Sanders spent the first 35 years of their married life uneventfully, farming in Kentucky and Illinois. The next five years were spent on a trek that took them and most of their children to California and then to Arizona to become Prescott's first Anglo family.
Julius Sanders was 58 years old and just off a year of enforced idleness due to bad health when word came to Girard, Illinois, in early 1859 of the discovery of gold at Pikes Peak, Colorado. His bad health was quickly forgotten and, over the tearful objections of his wife, he quickly made preparations to begin their long journey west.
Five children, four sons and a daughter, ranging in age from 26 to six years old, made the trip west with their parents. Three married children--two of the daughters and one son--remained behind.
Mr. Sanders began preparations by buying three yoke (pairs) of oxen and two wagons into which the family placed all their worldly possessions, and on March 2, 1859, they were on their way west to an exciting but uncertain future.
Despite the many discouraging reports from returning travelers, they completed the journey to Golden, Colo., in June 1859. At Jackson Diggings, Mrs. Sanders started a business baking pies in a Dutch oven and selling them to the miners. Julius uncorked a ten gallon jug of whiskey purchased from one of those who turned back and began selling drinks to the miners at twenty-five cents a glass.
They spent the winter of 1859-60 in the foothills below South Park, Colo. In the spring of 1860, the family set up a farm near Denver, growing potatoes, corn and other produce. In the spring of 1861, after reports of a gold strike at Placerville, California, Julius Sanders again uprooted his tearful wife and their children and resumed the journey westward.
The summer of 1862 was spent farming southeast of Merced in California's central valley. After the fall harvest they moved on to Visalia where they heard of yet another gold strike, this one at the Owens River Valley, where they put in crops in the spring of 1863 near Lone Pine.
In the fall of 1863, much to the dismay of Mrs. Sanders, another rumor of gold came to Mr. Sanders attention. This time it was to be found in central Arizona, where the Joseph R. Walker party had found gold on the Hassayampa River and Lynx Creek.
It was quickly established that two of the sons, Robert and Tom, would go ahead of the rest of the family while the crop and ranch were being disposed of. They arrived at the Lynx Creek diggings in mid November 1863, where Indians soon stole their horses.
Meanwhile, in January 1864, while the two young men were working a placer claim on Lynx Creek, Mr. Sanders sold his ranch at Lone Pine and the rest of the family started to central Arizona. The first part of the journey was uneventful, but once on the Arizona side of the Colorado River the journey became slow and painful as the Sanders men had to build roads for their heavy wagons.
They went on to the Wallapai Mountains at Cottonwood Creek where one of the brothers nearly lost his life. While he was splitting wood, Irvin Sanders' six-shooter dropped out of its holster and discharged. The bullet entered his chest and came out near the top of his shoulder blade.
In the absence of any doctor it fell to Mrs. Sanders to try to save Irvin's life. She used a pulp made of prickly pears to make poultices to keep the inflammation down and keep the wound draining. After a month Irvin was well enough to mount a horse and they set out again. The weather was bad and they were forced to leave the wagon behind in the mud and their belongings had to be loaded on pack animals. Mrs. Sanders, daughter Mary, and Irvin rode while Mr. Sanders and son Peter walked. In this manner they arrived at Miller Valley in March 1864, five years after leaving their home in Illinois and a few months before Prescott was founded.
They quickly reunited with Robert and Tom, and the family began to explore their new prospects. They were short on supplies, but discovered that civilian employees at Fort Whipple, then located at Del Rio Springs, were given rations as well as pay. They moved closer to Whipple, so that Mrs. Sanders and Mary could work at the fort as laundresses. Tom hired on as a herder and Irvin entered the Fort's hospital for medical attention.
The persistent supply shortage provided a business opportunity for two original members of the Walker Party. Brothers Sam and Jake Miller for a time had the only pack train supplying the needs of the Prescott area, and when they were delayed on their trips, the local pioneers did without. Three weeks after the Sanders' arrival a much delayed Miller pack train arrived. When the Millers went on their next trip, two of the Sanders sons went with them, one as a packer for the Millers and the other leading four pack horses belonging to the Sanders family. After two trips to Hardyville with the Millers, the Sanders were confident that they had sufficient supplies for a year and returned to their original campsite in Miller Valley. They built a cabin, fenced their land and prepared to farm the next year. Soon the Ehle, Osborn, Alexander, Buckman, and Simmons families joined them as Miller Valley homesteaders. Despite his advanced years Mr. Sanders was undecided whether to remain or not. He proposed a move to Texas, but this time Mrs. Sanders and the children rebelled and they remained in Miller Valley. Mr. Sanders soon got over his disappointment and entered wholeheartedly into improving their homestead.
The final 28 years of the Sanders' 68-year marriage were spent near their Miller valley homestead. Julius Sanders died in 1892, at age 91. Celia Sanders survived her husband by less than two years and died at age 87.
Al Bates is an active member of the Westerners and has been researching the Sanders family
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (pb026a1p1). Reuse only by permission.
This is a view of Miller Valley from the southeast in about 1880. The Sanders had started in Illinois and bounced through Colorado and California before settling in this area in 1864, only a few months before the town of Prescott was founded.