They Wore No Man’s Collar
Memories of an Arizona Pioneer
By John Allen Ware
Want to know what the real west was really like in June of 1898 then take this trip with John Allen Ware, a four-year-old, as he rode with his uncle John H. Ware on the train to Kingman Arizona, Arizona Territory. John’s parents had been sent to a drier climate after his mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis after John’s birth in Pennsylvania. John and his uncle boarded a Concord stage for the final fifty-five miles to White Hills and to his parents. John had been left in the loving hands of his grandparents while his mother recovered and now he would finally see his parents who would at first seem like strangers. Thirteen years later a brother Ed, was born into the family. Allen E. Ware was John and Ed’s father. I didn’t find his mother’s given name.
John received his degree from the University of Southern California and after he got out of the Air Service as a flier of WWI and went to work for his father’s company and there spent his work life.
John tells of the general store and you are there for he calls all the brand names available shelf by shelf. You learn what is on the left and what is on the right and yes, Coca Cola was mentioned as “not in supply” Sarsaparilla was the only soft drink in bottles but whiskey was never in short supply. Some of the brands remembered included Star & Horseshoe Plug chewing tobacco, Bull Durham, Duke’s Mixture, Seal of North Carolina and Union Leader Smoking tobacco. Then shelves of canned good, Quail and Iris brands – tomatoes, corn, beans, fruit, honey, pickles, catsup, hams and bacons hanging, a wheel of cheese; Arbuckle’s and Folger’s coffee, a large coffee grinder on the counter and wooden tubs of butter in a dessert cooler, canned milk, tea, and a bin of sugar. Back shelves were the drugs, Castoria, Lydia Pinkham’s Compound, Cuticura ointment and soap, Sloan’s Liniment, Swamproot Tonic, Blisses Native Herbs, laudanum, Packer’s tar Soap, Pear’s, Ivory, and bars of Fels Naptha soap and continuing on to clothing, candy etc. There is even a journal entry pictured with eggs at .30c, lb. coffee .25
Mining towns receive the same treatment and you learn of muleskinners, ferries and blacksmiths, the barber, the doctor and the funerals and cemetery. He takes you into the mining tunnels and the hillsides, into the dangers and techniques, rewards and disappointments of mining and dreams of making it big in mining.
Only large cities, in close in areas, had electric lights and John also walks you thru the town so you know what is on each side of the street and what you see as you enter each building.
Native American tribes are in his story, Hualapai and Piute and of course the ever present cowboys, ranches, sheriffs and deputies.
If you ever wanted to know what the jerk line method is John says “if you didn’t see it, you wouldn’t believe it” so he explains it simply. The teamster, or mule skinner, rode the near wheeler so that horse had a saddle on it. And wit5h its mate off wheeler was hitched to the wagon proper by double tree and a single tree and chains. From the tongue extended a chain running up to the head team, the leaders. Also from the chain was the single tree and branch chains for each team, except the team immediately ahead of the wheelers. These were called the swing team and were attached to the tongue by a separate chain so they could at times jump the main chain on command and pull like hell, to right or left on the wagon tongue, while the rest of the teams were pulling around the curve. This was necessary for the wagon to negotiate the curves, and it really was something to watch. All of John’s descriptions are this vivid.
There are many pictures of the early days and in the chapter Early Days in Kingman, you will feel as though you have been there. There is a picture of the Tarr, McComb and Ware store dressed for the Fourth of July around 1908, the place where John was schooled until the 9th grade, and a jerk line hauling oil to Oatman, a picture of his mother ironing and many others.
Chinese Charley Wing’s Café was a popular place, Mike Santa Cruz, the mine blacksmith and his wife Sarah are mentioned, Jack Porter drove the domestic water wagon, Si Childers – his horses and mules, Joe Dolen the kindly Irish saloon keeper, Pie Falder – the barber, Joe Brown, the mine superintendent. John’s playmates John and Belle McKesson and the Alger children. Joh treats all of the persons and families he ever encountered with kindly consideration and loving memories.
There was mining after World War I and the story continues to World War II, in 1963 White Hill was considered a ghost town.
John finishes his book with the following which seems in this time in our country is still very appropriate, he states:
“It is our duty to take a more active part in our government as citizens, writing our congressmen, letting them know what we think. That’s the way to preserve our democracy. Our representatives in Washington pay attention to these letters. It is public opinion and they recognize public opinion. Also, the religious should work very hard toward raising the moral; and spiritual values of our country which were given to us as a heritage but which are floundering. I think this is very important. It is our duty and we must do it for the sake of our future generations.”
Book Review by Cloe Holden
