On we moved again and all was well. And now we reached Prescott, Arizona. As we had planned to locate somewhere in this part of the country we tried to make somewhat comfortable camps. Sister Susan and her husband had a tent, and here in this little canvas home, the stork again made his appearance and Susan's first child, Anna was born.
One night the man on guard tied his horse to a tree and then sat down and leaned against the same tree and fell asleep. The Indians took advantage of this chance and stole his horse from right at his head and drove off several head of cattle. These were later recovered with the exception of one they killed. I do not remember how long we stayed at Prescott, but it was until they located the camp at Fort Rock (two large rocks that had been named “Fort Rock”) where we expected to make our future home. Not far from Fort Rock, the government had men stationed building roads. The Indians didn't want these roads built and were rather hostile because of this progress being made by the White Man. Father expected this to be our home and he wanted a good house, so he made it of rock. He built it with holes way up near the ceiling so it would be a good fort in case of an attack by the Indian's, While the house was being built, we were camped between the two big rocks, one old Indian used to catch mice and bring them in to our camp fire and cook and eat them there. He liked his mice, but we were so hungry for sweets! I remember while we were in camp, mother kept her sugar on a flat rock and we used to climb out of bed and go and steal some of it.
Here is where the Wallapi tribe of Indians hung around a lot. One big fellow, (I don't know if he was a chief or not), but he used to go out and talk and talk to the other Indians about the White Man taking their land and game. We always had to be watching for there were some Indians that would steal the cattle and horses, but the Indian chief said they were “bad Indians” and if one of them was killed when stealing cattle, they were just left where they fell. He wouldn't claim them as his tribe.
Our source of supplies was at Prescott, but father would go to the Navaho camp sometimes for flour. One time he had trouble with the Indians and one old Indian saved his life . The Indians were making smoke signals and old Indian, Snort, who was with father, knew from the signals that they intended to kill him. They were angry because he was the first white man to cross the new road. Snort went back and forth between the Indians, arguing with them until finally they agreed to let father go, if he would go back the way he came and not cross the new road. I was always the nurse girl, and one day I went up where father was building our new house and was taking care of two of the babies. We were playing around the new house when the old Indian, who used to cook his mice at our camp, drew his bow and arrow at me. I remember how frightened I was. I took the littlest child in my arms and the other by the hand and ran back to camp' I don't know if he meant any harm or was just trying to scare me, but after that he never came back to cook any more mice. The men built a good corral to keep the cattle in at night. There was timber close by and they cut down small trees and dug a trench and stood the trees up endways close together to make the corral. The men never went outdoors without a pistol on them. Father used to say the last thing he took off at night was his pistol and the first thing he put on in the morning was his pistol. It was always by his bed during the night. (Cont)
The Fort Rock Fight
"In the year 1866, Fort Rock, on the old road between Prescott and Hardyville, was the scene of one of the most bitterly fought battles between the pioneers and Indians of early days."
"Fort Rock took its name from the rock house built upon an elevation and used as a station in 1864 and 1865..."
Read the rest of the Arizona Highways articles below.