Elden, is named after an early settler, John Elden. Elden arrived in Flagstaff in 1875, some 7 years before the town was founded. John had visited in 1872 from California and had decided it would be a good place to raise a family with his new bride.
And settle and raise a family they did, in a place now called Elden Springs on the southern slopes of Elden. They had 3 children: Helena, Eloise Felicia, and John Jr. They had a flock of 60 sheep and a few cattle. Evidence of their farm can still be just about made out.
In 1887 there was some disagreement between the family and a mule-herder called Bob Roberts. Apparently the dispute was about him using the spring to water his mules. Water has always been contentious in this part of the world and continues today! Accounts are vague as to whether or not John Snr was actually there, but was is clear is that Bob shot the 6-year old boy, John Jnr, whether by accident or on purpose it doesn't seem to be clear.
The child's grave is marked (the cross in the photo was placed there by locals in the 1960s):
A citizens' posse was formed to catch Roberts, who led them on a long hard chase to New Mexico and back again to Arizona. Roberts was mysteriously found dead in a wash (an ephemeral stream). Who actually killed him has never been determined. When Elden got back home, he moved his family to California.
I find this an interesting story because it highlights a few things that I sometimes forget:
1) Water is scarce here and is the reason for almost every major engineering work in Northern Arizona and southern Utah. Water is precious and argued about incessantly between various interest groups.
2) This is the wild west, the sort of place where individual settlers' stories, very ordinary people, are just a few generations old and known about in detail; and the sort of place where justice was, not too long ago, quite legally, meted out by gangs of revengeful men.
I will always be intrigued by this story and by Mount Elden, period. Growing up in Flagstaff, we would always take school field trips up there. Not only that, but me and my entire family would hike up to the mountain, spend the day there and have picnics. I remember the cross (there was still a little piece of the wooden cross that was there before it was replaced with the metal one by the boy scouts-or so i was told) and also a barely running creek, which may not even be running anymore. I also remember seeing all the burned trees and the story of the runaway who (accidently) started the forest fire, as well as the story of Smokey the Bear, if I remember correctly. At any rate, thinking about my trips to Mount Elden as a youth always gets me nostalgic.
ReplyDeleteI guess I was wrong about Smokey the Bear. I could've sworn my teachers told me something about it pertaining to Mount Elden. I guess my memory is a little rusty!
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