By John P. Langellier, Ph.D.

Prescott, named after the author of the epic Conquest of Mexico, can trace more than street names of Cortez, Montezuma and Marina to its storied past.  In fact, the Spanish also came north from Mexico.

For instance, on February 23, 1540, Captain-General Francisco Vásquez de Coronado commanded an expedition of that trekked northward from what had come to be called New Spain in search of the famed City of Cibola and its reported vast riches. They crossed the Gila River, and through many parts of today’s Arizona including the Colorado Plateau. After two years, the beleaguered survivors returned without discovering the fabled kingdom.

 Gold, glory and God brought Spanish explorers to the American West including Arizona. Artist Fredric Remington depicted these bold conquistadors in one of his many heroic illustrations (Photo Courtesy of author).

Four decades later, during early 1583, Antonio de Espejo took up Coronado’s mantel. Espejo boldly led nine fellow Spaniards and upwards of 150 Zunis into Arizona. They pressed on as far as today’s Jerome where they found precious minerals.  After a brief stay, they returned to New Mexico with samples of silver ore. Despite the promise of what might be a bonanza waiting for the taking, years passed before another group followed in Espejo’s footsteps.

During October 1598, Captain Marcos Farfán sought a salt spring in present day Arizona. He succeeded in this assignment, then moved westward with eight of his men looking for potential mining sites. His route remains a source of speculation, but like Espejo’s group, it is known that he located silver ore in what is now Yavapai County.  Yet once more the Spanish made no serious effort to establish mining operations in the area.

Farfán’s return, however, did prompt his superior, Juan de Oñate, to set out from New Mexico across northern Arizona. In 1604, he and his followers reached the fork of the Bill Williams River. Then they continued to where it joined the Colorado River, which they named Rio de Buena Esperanza (River of Good Hope). Afterwards they headed to the mouth of the Gila then onward to the Gulf of California before a difficult return eastward, which brought them home empty handed.

Although evidence of at least the existence of silver resulted from several of these outings by conquistadors, the far flung Spanish empire failed to exploit of the mineral resources in future Yavapai County.  The same lack of follow up continued for centuries.   Indeed, efforts by U.S. Army officers to explore, map, and record information about the geography, geology, and natural history of the Southwest during the 1840s and 1850s, ironically did little to further interest in what was destined to become the “Copper State” which was seen by many during this period as an obstacle to be surmounted in order to travel overland to California’s diggings.

That was not to be the case with Joseph R. Walker a noted trapper, explorer and guide now leading a band of hopeful prospectors on his final adventure. In 1863, about five miles south of Prescott, their persistence paid dividends.  Some of the men struck pay dirt including one of their number who took some $350 worth of gold from a single pan during a period when gold ranged from around $25 to $30 an ounce!

Capt. Joseph Reddeford Walker, date unknown (Photo courtesy of the California History Room, California State Library, Sacramento, California – Neg. #959).

Soon gold fever spread to others beyond Walker’s troop. Local Union military commander Major General of Volunteers James H. Carleton believed there were “vast gold fields” for the taking.  During September 1863, he sent samples Arizona gold to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, who in turn forwarded the news of a possible new source to sustain the North’s martial efforts against the South to President Abraham Lincoln.  This was encouraging news for the president, who on February 24, 1863 had signed a bill that established the Arizona as a territory separate from its former inclusion as part of New Mexico. Later that year members of the territory’s civilian government backed by troops were about to reach Arizona and establish a capital at a yet undetermined location.

In the meantime, another frontiersman, Paulino Weaver, was on his way from California to the Prescott area at the head of another company of gold seekers. Not far from the place where members of Walker’s entourage succeeded in finding color, some of the Weaver party followed suit.  A.H. Peebles may have been the most fortunate when digging only with a knife during one day he scratched some $1,800 gold from the ground.  Such finds eventually helped Prescott to be selection as the seat of government.

(Days Past is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners, International. The public is encouraged to submit articles for Days Past consideration. Please contact Assistant Archivist, Scott Anderson, at SHM Archives 928-445-3122 or via email at archivesrequest@sharlot.com for information.)