Mormon Settlement in Arizona: A Record of Peaceful Conquest of the DesertMcClintock, James H.
History
Mormon Settlement in Arizona: A Record of Peaceful Conquest of the Desert
McClintock, James H.
Arizona -- History -- To 1950; Latter Day Saints -- Arizona -- History
Moccasin Springs, a few miles south of the Utah line and eighteen miles
by road southwest of Kanab, has had no large population at any time, save
that about 100 Indians were in the vicinity in 1900. The place got its
name from moccasin tracks in the sand. The site was occupied some time
before 1864 by Wm. B. Maxwell, but was vacated in 1866 on account of
Indian troubles. In the spring of 1870, Levi Stewart and others stopped
there for a while, with a considerable company, breaking land, but moved
on to found Kanab, north of the line. This same company also made some
improvements around Pipe Springs. About a year later, a company under
Lewis Allen, mainly from the Muddy, located temporarily at Pipe Springs
and Moccasin. To some extent there was a claim upon the two localities
by the United Order or certain of its members. The place for years was
mainly a missionary settlement, but it was told that "even when the
brethren would plow and plant for them, the Indians were actually too
lazy to attend to the growing crops."
That the climate of Moccasin favors growth of sturdy manhood is indicated
by the history of one of its families, that of Jonathan Heaton. At hand
is a photograph taken in 1905, of Heaton and his fifteen sons. Two of the
sons died in accidents within the past two years, but the others all grew
to manhood, and all were registered for the draft in the late war. With
the photograph is a record that, of the whole family, not one individual
has tasted tea, coffee, tobacco or liquor of any kind.
Arizona's First Telegraph Station
Pipe Springs is situate three miles south of Moccasin Springs and eight
miles south of the Utah line. It was settled as early as 1863 by Dr. Jas.
M. Whitmore, who owned the place when he was killed by the Indians
January 8, 1866. President Brigham Young purchased the claims of the
Whitmore estate and in 1870 there established headquarters of a Church
herd, in charge of Anson P. Winsor. Later was organized the Winsor Castle
Stock Growing Company, in which the Church and President Young held
controlling interest. It is notable that one of the directors was
Alexander F. Macdonald, later President of Maricopa Stake. At the spring,
late in 1870, was erected a sizable stone building, usually known as
Winsor Castle, a safe refuge from savages, or others, with portholes in
the walls. In 1879 the company had consolidation with the Canaan
Cooperative Stock Company. The name, Pipe Springs, had its origin,
according to A.W. Ivins, in a halt made there by Jacob Hamblin and
others. William Hamblin claimed he could shoot the bottom out of Dudley
Leavitt's pipe at 25 yards, without breaking the bowl. This he proceeded
to do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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