Do You Know How To Get To Bells Canyon Meme

Originally the wagon trail going through Bell's Coulee was meant as an alternate route from Kirkland to Date Creek. Yet, the topography of rock outcroppings and the need to go slowly over the extremely rough route fabricated it the perfect place for angry Indians to ambush weary whites.

Indeed the expanse would become and then notorious and so avoided that the anglos eventually allowed it to melt back into the wilderness. Today there are no roads going to Bell'south Canyon.

Described one time every bit "a place that volition forever remain a rough spot in the memory of Arizona pioneers; the road (to Bell's Coulee went) right through ane of the roughest granite mountains on earth." (*1)

The condition of the route through the canyon was always poor. The Arizona Miner once complained: "It is a narrow gorge through a rough granite mount. The route for several miles, is crude and unsafe; more wagons accept been wrecked in information technology than any other canyon in the Territory, and when we knew that one quarter of the money that has been expended in repairing said wagons would make a good road through it." (*2)

Bong's Canyon was named after the first white man killed in that location, Richard Bong. He was traveling through the canyon with Cornelius Sage and Charles Cunningham when on May 3, 1865, they were surprised and killed by Indians. (*3)

They were the first, just they would hardly exist the last. The Miner described Bell's Canyon "as that detested place where at various times, Indians take murdered ten or 12 men, beside having attacked and wounded more than a score of others." (*4)

The account of the Kakaka, the paranormal, Indian Trivial People who live in the mountains of Yavapai canton.

The almost infamous incident at Bell'southward canyon happened on November 10, 1866. (*v)

It involved a man named George W. Leihy, successor to Charles Poston as Superintendent of Indian Diplomacy, his clerk WH Evarts, and two Native Americans. (*iii)

Leihy was a controversial human in his day. He believed that peace should be made with the Indians and that the government should provide for them on reservations. This was highly unpopular among nigh of the local citizens, particularly those who knew someone or had suffered depredations themselves. They felt strongly that Indians could non be trusted under any circumstance and "the merely good Indian was a dead Indian."

This feeling was exasperated in office by a consummate misunderstanding of ancient American history by the anglos at that fourth dimension. It was widely believed then that the impressive Indian ruins that were plant in this surface area were fabricated by the "industrious and civilized Aztecs" and that the "cruel Apaches," along with other equally savage local tribes, were responsible for overrunning and destroying the corking Aztec civilisation here. Back then anglos considered the Apaches and their cohorts to be the enemies of civilized being itself!

This was the position authored by William H Prescott, for whom the town is named and the reason why all of Prescott's get-go (downtown) streets were given names involving Aztec civilization. This conspicuously indicates the widespread popularity that was held for this misguided theory back then.

The intriguing biography of Viola Jimulla, the first woman chief in America. She lead the Prescott Yavapai Tribe through one of their lowest times by relying on her Christian faith.

As Leihy, Evarts and the 2 Native Americans readied for the trip to Date Creek through Bong's Canyon, his inclusion of one La Paz Indian was considered peculiarly foolhardy past locals. This brave was just taken from the battlefield fighting the whites in Skull Valley when Leihy freed him and brought him along!

The four men set out from Skull Valley; Leihy and the two Indians were in a drawn buggy while Evarts followed on mule back. (*6)

"About an hr after their divergence the mule returned...with several arrows sticking in him. The settlers there immediately sent word to the army camp at Skull Valley and, with a squad of soldiers that hurried to join them, went out upon the road to Date Creek until they came to Bell'south Coulee, where they showtime plant the body of Mr. Evarts beheaded and filled with arrows. Nigh at hand (was) the body of Mr. Leihy, dreadfully mutilated. The head had been mashed with stones until it had been literally flattened. The arms and legs had been cleaved in many places and the heart (was removed with) a pair of bullet molds being left in its place." (*half dozen)

"The buggy had been burned, saving a wheel or two--one of the horses had been cooked and partially eaten. Of the other horse and the two Indians (who were with Leihy) zip could exist institute. It is believed that they went off with the attacking party, which, from the signs, is supposed to have consisted of from twoscore to 70 savages" (*6)

Behavior aside, it is unknown whether the ii Indians joined the attacking party; were captured by it; or were simply set free.

The paper reflected what most townspeople thought: "The Miner, although at variance with Mr. Leihy, honestly assertive his policy to take been wrong, deeply regrets that he should have fallen a victim to information technology, and extends its warmest sympathy to his bereaved family (of a wife and child.) The expiry of whatever human being at the hands of savages is to be mourned." (*6)

When those responsible for the terrible killing were caught, their given motive for the killing revealed another great gulf in the ii colliding cultures. For many Indian tribes, when the Main was killed, the battle was lost and survivors withdrew.

Unfortunately, the Indians who killed Leihy thought the whites would react the same style--that they would pick up and leave the surface area!

A captured Apache woman later gave the details of Leihy's death which were "believed by the officers at Ft. McDowell to be entirely correct:"

"A band of Apaches...had been visiting the Colorado River Indians and were on their return with passes given them upon the river." (These "passes" (italics original) were meant to show that the Indian in possession of it was considered "friendly.") (*7)

As Leihy's party approached the canyon, one of the Indians recognized him and Evarts "and announced to the band who they were. Information technology was and then concluded to kill Mr. Leihy, the neat chief of the whites, as they thought him to be, would alarm the whole white population and soon restore the country to the peaceable possession of the Indians. Acting at once upon this idea, they brutally murdered the Superintendent and Mr. Evarts, and to brand the work more shocking to the whites, the bodies were mutilated..." (*7)

Leihy's federal position made his murder national news. From and then on, not a local, not a stranger, not a tourist was ignorant of the dangers of Bell's Coulee and the route became abandoned.

Today information technology requires a long hike to become into Bong'due south Coulee (on the extreme lower left on this map.)

Nearby Bell'due south Spring was likewise named for Robert Bell. (*iii)

Tourist Tips:

Visit the Fort Whipple Museum located on the VA Medical Center grounds off 89, just north of the 69 junction.

If yous are an historic house enthusiast, yous will enjoy touring the first and 2d flooring rooms for their architectural interest alone. If you want to learn the history of Fort Whipple from its beginning in 1864 to the modern-day hospital, information technology is all at that place in riveting exhibits with crisp text, historic photographs and compelling artifacts. Friendly, knowledgeable docents will give you a tour of the exhibits and answer any questions you might have.

Did You Know... that #PrescottAZHistory publishes a new commodity four times a calendar month on Sundays? Follow the blog in one of the following social media to exist certain yous get the latest article!

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SOURCES:
(*1) Weekly Miner iv/16/1875 Pg. 2 Col. 2
(*2) Arizona Miner 10/14/1871 Pg. 3 Col. 1
(*3) Arizona'due south Names: X Marks the Identify, by Byrd Howell Granger; 1983; Falconer Publishing Co. ISBN# 0-91-8080-18-v
(*4) Weekly Arizona Miner, 5/24/1873 Pg. 1 Col. 1
(*5) Arizona Place Names by Will C. Barnes. University of Arizona Press, 1988. ISBN # 0-8165-1074-1
(*6) Arizona Miner 11/thirty/1866 Pg. 2, Col. iii
(*7) Arizona Miner half dozen/29/1867 Pg. 2 Col. ii (Notation: using this link, go to page iv)

Source: https://prescottazhistory.blogspot.com/2017/08/lost-bells-canyon-was-infamous.html

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