1873 Kingman/Canyon Station Stagecoach Robbery Questions

[Arizona Bob]

In 1873 there stood a stage station in the foothills of the Cerbat Mountains near Kingman, Arizona. Canyon Station, as it was called, was near the mouth of a narrow canyon that led to a road that twisted up the Cerbat Mountains before descending to Mineral Park.

Legend has it that in October of 1873 a man named Macallum, or perhaps it was McAllen, heard that the government was going to be shipping some $72,000 in gold coins from Prescott to Fort Mohave. Near Canyon Station, Macallum, along with an unknown partner stopped the stagecoach and relieved it of its strongbox before sending it on its way.

A posse was immediately dispatched. Anticipating this, the two bandits buried the heavy strongbox in order to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers. However, the posse soon caught up with the pair and when a gunfight ensued, Macallum’s partner was shot and killed in the melee. Macallum was arrested, convicted, and sent the Yuma Territorial Prison. Though questioned at length, the desperado refused to reveal the location of the buried loot.

However, while Macallum was serving his sentence he became very ill and upon his death bed, relayed the story to another inmate. When the prisoner was released he wasted no time in following up with the lead and headed to Canyon Station.

In researching this "treasure" story, I noticed some inconsistencies with dates. The crime occurred in 1873. Yuma Territorial Prison opened in 1875, and accepted it's first prisoner in July 1876. Assuming "frontier" justice was a little quicker than today's "justice", it doesn't make sense to me that Macallum languished for several years before being shipped off to Yuma.

Does this make sense to anyone else?

 

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[Gypsy Heart]

Here is a thought.....Macullum nor McAllen are listed on the Yuma Prisoner Registery nor on the Death list while in prison .....


register of prisoners
http://www.azcorrections.gov/Historical/100M.htm

death
http://www.interment.net/data/us/az/yuma/prison/prison.htm

 

[Arizona Bob]

I also noticed that the name was missing from the 112 inmates who died while serving out their sentence at Yuma Territorial Prison, gypsyheart. If you look closely, the legend does not specifically indicate where Macallum died. So, if he were transitioned to another prison facility, he could still die in prison.

Thanks for the additional info, mrs. oroblanco. I wonder if that "water source" is near Canyon Station?

Another thing that seems strange to me is the part of the legend that indicates Macallum received an indeterminate sentence. I realize that sentencing guidelines weren't a concept in 1873, but I sure think that robbery would generate a sentencing of X number of years... even in 1873!

 

[Arizona Bob]

From the History of Arizona: A Typical Stagecoach Robbery Pic Circa 1877.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Remember that Nellie Clack stated that she thought the bandits had hid in the Clacks Cave in Clacks Canyon....if this was true and the money was stashed there its probally blown to smithereens by now as J. Leonard and Grace Neal, prominent area ranchers , still owned land in Clack's Canyon just northwest of town in 1970's , Leonard offered to donate whatever was needed for I-40 to be put through. His offer was accepted and the proposed route was changed. Blasting through over half a dozen cliffs and hillsides would commence west of the hospital within a few years. I-40 with its heavy trucking and tourist traffic would snake through Kingman by the mid-1980s.

I think Nellie Clack was a school superintendant so its not likely she was making this up....

 

[Arizona Bob]

Here's a few facts:

1. Prescott established about 1864.

2. Fort Mohave established about 1859.

3. Both places were operating in 1873.

 

[Arizona Bob]

I have several maps of NW AZ (1873/74/75/80/83/85). Some show pretty good detail of the Ft. Mohave/Kingman areas. One area not on the maps is Canyon Station.

Whereabouts is/was Canyon Station? mrs.oroblanco? anyone?

If someone can help me pinpoint Canyon Station, I would be willing to go take pics and GPS coordinates, and post them here.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

35° 21' North : 114° 5' West
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal Degrees): 35.35 : -114.083333333

http://www.mindat.org/maps.php?id=36477

 

[Arizona Bob]

Thank you, gypseyheart.

I will head up to the Canyon Station area this weekend. I guess I don't need to provide GPS stuff, but pictures will be forthcoming.

Looks like any springs in the area originate from Lake Mead. From the map hybrid view, I don't think it will be easy to find the remains of the station building. But, I'll nose-around and try to locate it. If I find the building/remains, I'll take a GPS hack, too.

 

[Miner49er]

OK guys, here's the Canyon Station story. I lived in Kingman, in 1995, when we were about ready to open the Oro Fina placer mine in Chloride.. I was told the story by a local who knew Nellie Clacks' neice. She was still kicking around at the time. It seems that the caretaker of the station told Mrs. Clack that a man had been in the area looking for a landmark. When asked what the landmark was, the man did not answer, but said that the terrain seemed to have changed from what he had been told he would find.
I went there and found the station area where the horses were kept, and went up the old Mineral Park road to a windmill that is at the spring. There was quite a lot of debris(artifacts?) down at the station area.
If the robbers did not have a lot of time, I don't see any place they could have hidden that much loot. Anywhere near the station would have been in plain sight for quite a distance. They would not have gone back towards Kingman, but rather up the canyon towards the spring. If they could have made it up to or pass the spring, some concealment would have been available. After talking to Nellie Clacks' neice again, she finally admitted that as a young person, she had found a $20 gold piece in the wash below the spring.
BTW Mrs. Oroblanco, please tell Roy that Goldminer(Bill) says hello.

 

[Arizona Bob]

Howdy Miner49er. Thanks for your info. I don't plan to take anything (artifacts or otherwise).

I just plan to take some pics (maybe video, too). After more than 130 years, I'm sure the "scenery" has changed a little bit. If I can locate the current land owners, I'll try to talk to them as well.

Near as I can determine, IF a loaded stagecoach was moving from Prescott (Fort Whipple?) to Fort Mohave, it was
most likely carrying Army money (payroll?).

If the building, stables & windmill are going to sh!t, I think it would be nice to photographically document the remains for posterity.

 

[Arizona Bob]

I was able to get close to the Canyon Station today. The nice gate prohibited further travel by vehicle. I was unsuccessful in contacting the current landowner, but got plenty of info from several neighbors. Turns out that the landowner has recently passed away, neighbors think the son will become the new owner. Below is a picture of the gate, with no other identifying features- I want to respect the landowners right to privacy.

One neighbor showed me a dry-wash. He said if I followed it on foot, I would get closer to Canyon Station but that there was another fence & gate blocking the final entry to the area. We followed the wash, and found some very interesting stuff (pottery shards, a skull-shaped rock, etc). I didn't take anything but photos.

Another neighbor had some different info about the robbery that wasn't in the printed legend I've been reading. The neighbors told me about a different route to Canyon Station, which didn't involve having to deal with any landowners. Since it was early evening, we exchanged numbers, and I will meet with them in the near future to learn the details of the new route.

Neighbors have a slightly different spin on parts of the legend- but it's all good!

 

[Arizona Bob]

Pottery bits and pieces:

 

[Arizona Bob]

Skull-shaped rock:

 

[Arizona Bob]

Found a butt-load of Commanding Officers report's from both Fort Whipple and Fort Mohave. The original hand- written reports have been transcribed into type-written documents. I've only read less then 5% of the reports. Guess what? There are definately complaint letters to the General when the payroll was late. If the Fort Mohave payroll was late/missing from October 1873, I should be able to find a complaint letter. Below is an 1864 letter redesignating Fort Mohave to the Arizona Territory.

 

[Zephyr]

And if the payroll was subsequently recovered, that would probably be in the reports too....

 

[Arizona Bob]

I agree, Zephyr.

It appears we can consider Nellie Clack a real person:

 

[Arizona Bob]

Found a couple of grave markers at the Kingman cemetery:

Andy J. Goodwell Born: 1851 Died: 1935

Nellie E. Clack Born: 1885 Died: 1978



Now all I gotta do is locate that elusive Macallum or McAllen!

 

[Old Dog]

Good job on thr research Buddy!

 

[Arizona Bob]

Thank you Old Dog, I try.

I wonder exactly how much $72,000 in gold weighs?

My guestimate would be close to 250 pounds.

With two bandits and two horsies, that would split out to about 125 lbs of gold apiece.

With each bandit weighing about 150lbs, the horses would carry a total of 275 lbs each.

Maybe I shouldn't try to apply reality here....