b'THE PIONEERS OF WALNUT GROVEPART 2 By Bill Roberts Reprinted from The TravelerMary Came By Wagon TrainMary Pierce was 12 years old in April of 1859 when her family joined a wagon caravan from Arkansas for California. She liked to tell of this experience in the train of 32 big covered wagons drawn by teams of oxen. Marys baby sister was three months old when the trip started and she said the baby stood the trip very well. Marys uncle, John Meadows, had been selected as the leader of the train for he had been over the trail before. Years later John Meadows and one of his sons, William Henry, were killed by Indians near Payson, Arizona territory. Another son, John Valentine, escaped and later became sheriff of Imperial County, California, where a statue ofhim was erected in the courtyard at El Centro in honor of his years of service. It still stands.The train John Meadows led was a large one and hostileWilliam Charles was both a rancher and miner, as were Indians, though often encountered on the trip, did notmost of his peers in the Walnut Grove area. It was reported attack it. Mary related that smaller trains before and after thein April 1880 that he had returned from a three-week Meadows train were massacred. In Oklahoma Territory theprospecting trip into the Hac-a-va mountains carrying train encountered heavy rains, bogging down any progressback some very good ore containing copper and silver. and making camping unpleasant. At the Texas border, theUncle Billy also made the Arizona Miner in December of train ran across a group of Texas Rangers with three Indians1880 following a copper and silver strike at Date Creek. He as prisoners. The Rangers told Meadows that the Indiansand George Burton made that discovery.had gone on the warpath, and then they took the prisoners a short distance away and shot them. Families MergeThe arrival of William Charles and his family at Walnut On down the trail, the train met a group of U.S. troopsGrove placed a large number of Pierces in the area where accompanied by a large group of Indians all armed. TheT.B Carter had settled his family. It was perhaps inevitable soldiers explained that their Indian companions were beingthat the two families would be linked by a marriage. It was taken to a government fort to be civilized. Meadows toldabout 1900 that Henry Edward Pierce, a son of William the soldiers about the Texas Rangers and what happened toWalnut Grove School Charles, married Clara Adell Della Carter. It was a short their three captives. Upon hearing this the soldiers turnedand tragic marriage. Della died in childbirth in 1901. Della the Indians they were taking to the fort loose and rode offthe train. The messenger made the more than 300 milesand her infant are buried in the Walnut Grove cemetery. in search of the Rangers. That night the train was tense. Allto Yuma without incident but was told the troops couldHenry later married Addie Waterman. Sylvester and Fanny expected the freed Indians to return and kill them but thenot leave immediately. Assured that the troops would beWaterman were her parents. Eli P. Waterman and his wife Indians did not bother the train. dispatched within a few days the messenger returned toAmanda were early pioneers of Walnut Grove. Tucson and the wagon train. The troops never came.Mary said the trip was not all hardship. At night theJim Carter, one of members of the train entertained themselves in numerousMary said that while waiting at Tucson Pueblo for the troopsT.B.s sons, married ways, holding concerts, staging mock trials, giving speeches,to arrive, William Kirkland was there. He met a girl namedClara Ann Pierce, holding religious services, and often just playing violinMissouri Ann Bacon who, according to Mary, had been inanother daughter music. Many stops along the trail were necessary so thatthe Meadows train. The couple married and had a baby girl,of William Charles, the stock might recuperate. It was late May when the trainElizabeth Kirkland, a year later on February 28, 1861. Hereabout a year or so reached the Texas plains and made ready to attempt to crossthe dates get somewhat confusing. Kirkland and Missourilater on April 5, them. Water was scarce on the plains and there was no signAnn were married on May 26, 1860, but according to Pierce1892. Their youngest of rain. The only water available was in muddy ponds leftfamily records, Mary Bursey and her family left Tucson withdaughter Clay Dean from past rains and it had to be strained to get the insectsthe wagon train for Yuma in August 1859. Apparently, MaryCarter Potter was out. Camping after dark one night near a pond the trainlearned of the Kirkland marriage after arriving in California. a long time school replenished its water. The next morning it was discovered ateacher in Walnut dead animal was in the pond. Mary described how, when receiving word the Indians onGrove, starting in the trail ahead had ceased hostilities, they set out along the1927 at the first The stock endured long distances without water until the trainGila River toward Yuma in the intense heat of August. NearWalnut Grove School. reached the Pecos River. When the stock finally scented waterGila Bend, they reached a place where Indians and a partyShe then moved to theCortland Arden Carterthey broke into a run and plunged into the river at a spotof white miners had waged a battle. The Indians had killednew Walnut Grove where the water was very deep. Some drowned in their rushall of the miners but one and he was seriously wounded.School when it opened in 1928. Jim and Clara Ann Carter to quench their thirst. The quality of the water in the PecosThis incident brought a party of soldiers from Yuma, who inoperated the Neck Tie ranch in Walnut Grove for many was bad and Mary recalled it made many on the train sick.turn escorted the wagon train safely to Yuma from the sceneyears. It was formed when William Pierce Sr. bought the Her great grandfather, Henry H. Enlow, died and was buriedof the attack. From Yuma, they traveled to Warner Hotold Pauline Weaver and Ed Peck homesteads in 1881. Jim on the Texas plains during the trip. Springs where they found food for their stock. They hadbought the ranch from his father-in-law. Jim ranged cattle made it to California nearly a year after leaving Arkansas. from the head of Weaver Creek above Rich Hill high into The train was filled with tired, tattered, and worried settlersthe Bradshaws. His son operated the same ranch and it when at last it reached Tucson Pueblo in what wouldMarys account of her childhood trip is one of the fewwas then passed on to his grandson Cortland Arden Carter become Arizona Territory. Tucson did little to relieve theiraccounts passed down in the Pierce family about pioneerPierce and his son Trip. The Neck Tie ranch has been in the worries. At the old pueblo, they learned that Indians hadWilliam Charles Pierce and his family. It is known thatPierce-Carter family for more than six generations.recently attacked a group of travelers near there and killedWilliam and Mary Caroline Bursey were married in Tulare, all but one.The survivor was a woman the Indians hadCalifornia on July 2, 1865. They moved with their tenThe Condronsscalped and left for dead. She managed to drag herself intochildren about 20 years later to Walnut Grove, ArizonaSteve Condron was born in Canada. He arrived in the Tucson and tell her story. Mary said the train decided toTerritory, where William Pierce Sr. or Uncle Billy hadArizona Territory in the early 1860s and he camped send a messenger to Yuma to seek federal troops to escortestablished his ranch a few years earlier. along the Salt River. He then took up prospecting on the 20 June 2020'