Most of the men in this group were relatively wealthy; Gillette for example states on the census that he owned real estate to the value of $10,000, and that he had personal wealth of the same amount. Johns gives figurewer’ss of $10,000 and $12,000 respectively. All were Southerners, hailing from Virginia,Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina with the exception of Meyer who came from Pennsylvania. All of them except Meyer – an assayer – gave mining as their occupation.
Before going on to the last of M.L. Power’s letters from Ralston , we deviate slightly in order to examine the roles of this group of men in events at Ralston, and their relationship to Harpending and Roberts. Again we will refer to letters, written by two members of this group – Curtis and McGoodwin – which are also included among Asbury Harpending’s business correspondences.
The first letter was written by John Curtis and is dated “New San Diego, May 10, 1869”; it is addressed to “Messrs. Roberts and Harpending.” The date is undoubtedly an error and should read May 10, 1870; this error is confirmed by the second of these letters, and by the information obtained from the 1870 Federal Census.
Curtis writes that he and his party had arrived at San Diego the previous day, and were unable to continue on their way for the time being. They have discovered that the stage coach, which they had originally intended to take, only went as far east as Yuma. Curtis had therefore consulted with the rest of the party, and they had agreed that a wagon should be purchased, some of the party to ride on it together with the necessary provisions, the rest of the party accompanying on horseback. He says that he thinks that they can make Fort Yuma in six days, and that they expect to leave San Diego the following day, May 11.
The second of the two letters was written by Al McGoodwin and is dated May 10, 1870. In it he gives much the same information as that given by Curtis, supporting the conclusion that Curtis’ letter is wrongly dated.
McGoodwin says that, upon the party’s arrival at San Diego, they found that “Messrs. Lord & Jellette” had made arrangements for their accommodation. He gives more information on the problems they had encountered with the stage to Yuma; it, he writes, left San Diego every Tuesday night for Fort Yuma, and was capable of carrying only five passengers. After Fort Yuma, the only means of transport available was buckboard. Apparently, Mr. Lord had supplied them with the wrong information regarding transportation as McGoodwin writes “I suppose Mr. Lord was mistaken and didn’t know what every man in San Francisco would have known …”
He goes on to report that he and Captain Curtis had just returned from purchasing “four mules (good ones) for $462.50.” Provisions and supplies had also been purchased, and Curtis was at the time in the process of purchasing a wagon and horses. McGoodwin says that he was writing this letter at the request of Curtis so that it might be finished in time to catch the steamer, which again indicates that Curtis’ letter was misdated.
An item which appeared in the San Diego Union of May 12, 1870, further confirms that both of these letters should have been dated 1870, and also provides information on the ultimate destination of the Curtis/McGoodwin party:
The Silver Mines – Prospectors For Arizona. – On Tuesday evening last, Mr.[W.D.] Brown, the original discoverer (more than two years ago) of the now famous silver mines in the Burro District, Arizona, [sic] left by the Fort Yuma stage for the mines. Mr. Brown arrived here by the steamer on Monday, and goes down to take charge of all the mining property of Harpending & Company, of San Francisco.
By Monday’s steamer also arrived a party of eight prospectors, (fitted out by Mr. Harpending) who left for Arizona on Wednesday morning. Their point of destination is not known, but it is supposed that they intend to push into the White Mountains, where, if “Johnny Apache” does not gobble them, they will be apt to strike some rich mines.
We are also informed that a party of four are now fitting out here with a view of entering upon an extended tour of exploration in the Territory.
Letters just received from the Burro District state that miners continue to flock in from all quarters. Several hundred persons are now prospecting and sinking shafts. The Tucson paper says that specimens of rock have been sent in containing four-fifths of virgin silver. The excitement there increases.³⁷
We can safely assume that the party of eight referred to above was part of the Curtis/McGoodwin party. Whether or not the White Mountains of Arizona were indeed their destination we cannot be certain; it is more probable that it was Ralston. We do know that, whatever their true destination was, they certainly did not achieve it, not on this attempt. Their presence at Ralston- as reported in Power’s letter of August 23rd – must have been the result of a second attempt.
On June 25th, after having journeyed as far as Florence, Arizona, the party was attacked and was indeed almost was gobbled up by the Apaches. The attack was reported in the Weekly Arizonan of July 2, 1870, which states that on Friday, June 24, a party of prospectors, by now 10 in number, intending to “examine the country in and around the Pinal Mountains” was attacked by a 200 strong band of Apaches. They were attacked “within one mile of Cottonwood Springs and sixteen miles from Camp Grant”, to where the party was headed on the next stage of their journey. Curtis was badly wounded in the shoulder, and Charles Meyer and W. N. Johns slightly wounded. After an hour of heavy fighting the party retreated to Florence, “the Apaches having complete command of the road leading to [Camp] Grant.” They arrived back at Florence that same day, with the loss of their wagon, blankets, and cooking utensils. The item concludes with the names of those who comprised the party: John A. Curtis, Allen Dickinson, Charles A. Meyer, Jock Ballentine, Al. McGoodwin, W. N. Johns, Ben Harpending, R. W. James, J. N. Mason, and M. G. Gillette.*
From the census we know that nine of these, Ballentine excluded, remained in Florence at least until August 1st, and, from Power’s letter, that they had arrived in Ralston, again with the exception of Ballentine, by mid-August. Whether this was their first visit to Ralston is yet one more unknown. The only other evidence we have is found in the Grant County mining records, from which we learn that Ben Harpending, McGoodwin, Curtis and James had mining claims at Ralston, many of them on those first lodes located there.³⁸
The attack on the Curtis/McGoodwin party was also the subject of a letter written by Ben Harpending to his uncle Asbury, dated Florence, June 26, 1870.³⁹ Ben gives a first- hand account of the incident which is very similar in wording to that which appeared in the Weekly Arizonan. He writes that the Apaches were “under their celebrated leader Ca Cheis [Cochise]”, and that Meyer and Johns both received a foot wound. He also provides more details on the party’s return journey to Florence, writing that they all suffered very badly as they “had to go about forty miles on one canteen half full of water.” About eight miles away from Florence some of them were suffering so badly that Curtis and Ben went ahead and arranged for a relief party to go back to aid the others. Ben says that they plan to carry on from Florence to Tucson, and remembers that his uncle had once told him that “whenever I thought I was going to make nothing in this country to come back.” He says that he now has “good reasons for thinking so. In the first place our party is too small for exploring the country for the Indians emboldened by their late successes are worse than they have ever been known before.” Apparently something, or someone, had caused Ben to have a change of mind by August.
*Berndt Kühn’s book “Chronicles Of War “(2014) has the following entry (pages 167/168) for this incident:
3 civilians wounded: John A.Curtis, W.N.Johns, and Charles Meyers; horses captured. 18 Indians killed/wounded. Attack by 60 Western Apaches on 9 civilian prospectors (incl. Allen Dickinson, Al McGoodwin, C.Ben Harpending, R.W. James, J.M. Mayson, M.G. Gillette, and Jock Ballantine), under John A.Curtis, with 1 wagon, lasting 1 hour. Wagon plundered. 1 mile west of Cottonwood Springs, 15 miles west of Camp Grant . (AZ).
The Weekly Arizonan figure of a 200 strong war band is more than likely an exaggeration. The number of warriors cited for such attacks was often overstated in newspaper reports in order to emphasize and impress upon readers the heroic efforts of those being attacked .
©2007-2024 Jim & Erica Parson
REFERENCES FOR THIS INSTALLMENT
³⁷Copy of newspaper article courtesy of the late Mr. Douglas (DOUG) J. Hamilton.
³⁸Mining Locations, Notices And Deeds. 1 (1870). Pages 325, 353, 363 and 408. (NMSRCA).
³⁹Copy of C. Ben Harpending’s letter courtesy of Mr. Douglas J. Hamilton.
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