Two Soldiers Time Frame

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Two Soldiers Time Frame

Post by count »

One of the stories that has intrigued this Dutch Hunter has been the oft repeated tale of the "Two Soldiers" <br>from Fort McDowell that stumbled upon <br>an old trail in the northern Superstitions that took them over some rugged country and eventually lead them <br>to an area where there was considerable <br>evidence of mining. <br> <br>I have gone so far as to attempt to find the alleged grave of one of the soldiers in the Barkely Basin and am satisfied that I have located if not the grave itself, then a marker for its location....in exactly <br>a place as described in the legend. The only comment I will make about its locality is that the Hikers Guide by Carlson has the locale of the site off kilter by a good distance. <br> <br>While I have drawn my own conclusions as to where the soldiers cut the trail and where this eventually lead them, I am also interested in the history of this event, collecting whatever data I could get my hands on. <br> <br>Anyone care to share their own personal theories as to the timeframe of this event? (Not where they wound up!) <br> <br>My own research places them in the mountains sometime between October 1883 and May 1884. I lean strongly to the <br>March/April 1884 timeframe due to some research on my part into the Ft McDowell <br>enlistment rolls and certain dates that local newspapers were missing (the Bark/Ely coverup?). This also coincides with the remarks from Joe Deering who dated them finding the mine "about a year ago" when he spoke about them in the late summer/early autumn of 1885. <br> <br>In any event thought I would throw this out there for all you "Soldiers" buffs to ponder. It wont help anyone find the mine, but might fill in a little gap in the history of the LDM.
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Post by count »

Interesting that you bring up this story. I have just done some research on the soldiers, after reading Ron's book. He has the date as 1877. I thought a little early, However, looking further into what he had to say ,I found out that in fact Aaron Mason, who the soldiers showed their ore to, was involved in the staking of claims called the Sky Blue , 1877. I personally saw copys of the claim papers,and I do believe the sky blue is in the right area.
count
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Post by count »

I believe the 1877 date is a tad early for the Soldiers story. <br> <br>Heres my reasoning: <br> <br> The Silver ledge <br>(that was to become the Silver King Mine...the Silver King, of course was where the Soldiers were headed) was discovered in late March of 1875. Because there was not much water in the vicinity of the mine itself, the milling and smelting operations took place some distance south of the mine location, where water was plentiful. Named Picket Post,the town that sprang up was later named Pinal, earning a stage stop and a post office in the Spring of 1878. <br> <br>Several historical personages involved in the tale (Aaron Mason, Jack Fraser, Col. AJ Doran)do not show up on the scene until 1879 at the earliest. Research has shown that the three mentioned above were known to be at the Silver King at the same time in the fall and winter of 1883, no earlier. <br> <br>What does this prove? Nothing, of course. But reason dictates that the three principles in the story (besides the soldiers) should have been at the Silver King simultaneously. <br> <br>Barry Storm places the Soldiers tale in 1875 (before Pinal or the Silver King exisited !) <br> <br>Bark and Ely placed it in 1880. <br> <br>Due to the fact that there are several missing newspaper editions of area papers in the 1883/84 timeframe (most notably the July 5th editions of 1884), <br>I am wondering if the papers did not carry something of the Soldiers story in that time frame and later searchers/researchers (and remember Sims Ely was a NEWSPAPERMAN)were able to <br>spirit away whatever copies were kept on file relating to the story. Folks seemed to want to keep things "secret" back then too ! lol <br> <br>And of course, the testimony of Joe Deering still rings down through the years: <br> <br>"...you heard of that mine those soldier boys found LAST YEAR?" <br>---Joe Deering, September 1885 <br> <br>Its difficult to equate that with anything earlier than 1883. Unless, of course, it has come down to us wrong... <br>maybe he said " a couple of years ago" or "a few years ago
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