SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by cubfan64 »

Tom, you're right that I can certainly see how difficult it becomes to organize the history of area place names out there - especially if you dig as deep as what names old dutch hunters had for different spots.

For my personally, at least at this point I'm mostly just curious about the history of a lot of the "big name" places - eventually I'll get more curious about the obscure ones :).

A couple other names I'm curious about...

1) Black Cross Butte - one is located directly west of Horse Mesa and overlooks the Salt River, the other is located south of Hwy 88 and east of Fish Creek Canyon. Any origin for those names, and why 2 of them in the same general area?

2) Queen Valley - where did the "queen" part come from?

3) Tim's Saddle - who was Tim?

4) Monument Canyon - I've heard that at one time there was a statue/monument of a German Soldier in that canyon - was it REALLY a statue/monument, or was it just a rock formation that had that appearance?

Thanks Tom - and please, just because I'm asking lots of questions, I'm not looking for quick answers. Take all the time you want.

Paul
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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by LDMGOLD »

Guz:

Some people have done before. Other just make up names used among themselves to explain the terrain or a locations. It is fun trying to sort out all of the place names, their origin, and date.

Tom K.
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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by LDMGOLD »

PAUL:

I am going to take these one reply at a time. First let's look at Queen Valley. Queen Valley was name about 1956 by a gentleman who had a dream about building a golf course in the desert. One problem was the flooding of Queen Creek each year or during heavy rains. Once the Corps of Army Engineers built Whitlow Dam, just above the old Hart Ranch, this problem of flooding was solved. There was a good source of water on site and this lead to the development of Queen Valley named after Queen Creek which dated back to the 1880's. Larry Hedrick worked for the guy who built Queen Valley around 1958. I will look up his name in my documents. The name slips my memory.


I hope this helps. Wife and I are going dancing at the VFW tonight so therefore I have no more time to write.

Tom K.
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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by cubfan64 »

LDMGOLD wrote:PAUL:

I am going to take these one reply at a time. First let's look at Queen Valley. Queen Valley was name about 1956 by a gentleman who had a dream about building a golf course in the desert. One problem was the flooding of Queen Creek each year or during heavy rains. Once the Corps of Army Engineers built Whitlow Dam, just above the old Hart Ranch, this problem of flooding was solved. There was a good source of water on site and this lead to the development of Queen Valley named after Queen Creek which dated back to the 1880's. Larry Hedrick worked for the guy who built Queen Valley around 1958. I will look up his name in my documents. The name slips my memory.


I hope this helps. Wife and I are going dancing at the VFW tonight so therefore I have no more time to write.

Tom K.
Thanks Tom - I appreciate your taking the time to answer these questions :) Any clue how Queen Creek got it's name then? It seems it would have to be related to some "queen" somewhere - just wondering who and why? Curiosity more than anything
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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by LDMGOLD »

The "Queen" in Queen Creek probably came from a group of mining claims staked in the late 1860's by a an old Englishman in the Oak Flats area. Of course that is no guarantee of the names origin. I have also me told it was named after a guide whose last name was Queen. That also makes sense.

Tim's Saddle was named after "Rattlesnake" Tim O'Grady a prospector who searched the Superstition for the Dutchman's Lost Mine in the 1950's and 1960's. O'Grady Canyon is also named after him. The story goes something like this. A USGS map crew was working in the area around Parker Pass in the early 1950's and came across this old white bearded prospector. They ask him about several landmarks in the area and their names. He pointed to a saddle and said that is Tim's Saddle and the canyon on the right is O'Grady Canyon. They talked for awhile about other landmarks and finally ask the old prospector for his name. He looked at them politely and said he was Tim O'Grady. The last I ever heard of "Rattlesnake" Tim O'Grady was he moved to Washington. He was 87 at the time. There was a newspaper story about Tim living in Washington with a concubine of women. He was so the authorities never bothered him or his female friends. He became a "guru" of some kind and was more or less worshipped by the young women in his concubine. They took care of his every need and most of them had jobs that supported their life style.

Paul, this is a very true story....

Take care, Tom K.
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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by cubfan64 »

LDMGOLD wrote:The "Queen" in Queen Creek probably came from a group of mining claims staked in the late 1860's by a an old Englishman in the Oak Flats area. Of course that is no guarantee of the names origin. I have also me told it was named after a guide whose last name was Queen. That also makes sense.

Tim's Saddle was named after "Rattlesnake" Tim O'Grady a prospector who searched the Superstition for the Dutchman's Lost Mine in the 1950's and 1960's. O'Grady Canyon is also named after him. The story goes something like this. A USGS map crew was working in the area around Parker Pass in the early 1950's and came across this old white bearded prospector. They ask him about several landmarks in the area and their names. He pointed to a saddle and said that is Tim's Saddle and the canyon on the right is O'Grady Canyon. They talked for awhile about other landmarks and finally ask the old prospector for his name. He looked at them politely and said he was Tim O'Grady. The last I ever heard of "Rattlesnake" Tim O'Grady was he moved to Washington. He was 87 at the time. There was a newspaper story about Tim living in Washington with a concubine of women. He was so the authorities never bothered him or his female friends. He became a "guru" of some kind and was more or less worshipped by the young women in his concubine. They took care of his every need and most of them had jobs that supported their life style.

Paul, this is a very true story....

Take care, Tom K.
Both of the Tim O'Grady stories were pretty funny :) Hey, I'm not gonna knock a guy who at 87 years old can convince a bunch of young women to "take care of all his needs!" He must have had something going for him to get that done, but I'm not gonna go there :)

Thanks again Tom
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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by somehiker »

Whatever his mojo,he musta found it out there somewhere......I'm gonna keep looking.

Regards:Wayne
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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by LDMGOLD »

I was told Tim O'Grady prospected the area for about twenty-five years before moving to Washington. He was a well known character around Apache Junction from about 1945 - 1980. There are other interesting stories about Tim. I visited with him several times on the old First Water - Charlebois Trail in the late 1950's and early 1960's when I worked for the Barkley Cattle Company.

Tom K.
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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by LDMGOLD »

Paul: A quick note.....Hart Mullins lived in a stone cabin along Queen Creek below the site of the Whitlow Dam prior to its construction by the Corps of Army Engineers in 1959. He dreamed about developing the area after the dam was constructed. I believe Larry Hedrick worked for Mullins, if not he worked for the guy who purchased the land. I believe Larry said he worked there in 1957 or 1959. He worked there about the time I worked at the Quarter Circle U Ranch for Barkley.

Tom K.
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Re: SUPERSTITION WILDERNESS AREA PLACE NAMES & LANDMARKS

Post by rede2rock »

Tom K:

You are doing a great job and we all sincerely appreciate the effort on your part. My question would be how much info do you have from the earlier settlers names say prior to 1900. You have obviously done extensive research if you know about the name forgery in the archives. Just curious if you were still working backwards in time or have you done all that and just expanding.

Thom
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