b"THE PIONEERS OF WALNUT GROVEPART 1 By Bill Roberts Reprinted from The TravelerS everal of the first pioneers to enter thengsWalnut Grove CemetaryArizona Territory in 1873 had gold diggior lived at The Grove, including Pauline Weaver, Charles Genung, Bill Kirkland, Timothy Lambertson, John White, and others.One of the earliest settlers of Walnut Grove washoldings. The surveyor was C. Burtonmountain man Pauline Weaver. He filed a claim onFoster. The plat map shows the main street land along the heavily-wooded Hassayampa where80 feet wide with cross streets 75 feet wide. he lived and placer mined in 1863. George JacksonSome two dozen lots were mapped out 125 feet wideof Manuel Loterio. Not so with Ed Keyes. He was came to Walnut Grove the next year. A short timeby 250 feet deep. A half dozen additional lots of thisindicted and convicted of voluntary manslaughter later he homesteaded, married and began raising asize were divided into small parcels 25 feet wide andin Loterios death. Judge James Knight sentenced family. His wife had a son by a previous marriage125 feet deep, apparently for miners cabins. Therehim to seven years in Yuma Territorial Prison on named George Oswald, who later donated propertyis no record on file with Yavapai County of this platJune 25, 1889.for the community cemetery and a schoolhouse.map ever being recorded and there is no record of The next decade saw several men, mostly miners,any of the individual lots ever being sold. It appearsEd Peck also had holdings in Walnut Grove in the homestead land in the Walnut Grove area. that Keyes' dream of a Walnut Grove town site never1870s. He had discovered the silver lode at Alexandra went any farther than that survey.and was part owner of the Peck Mine that Early Settlers Miners Alexandra, a town of 500, built up around. Calvin Keyes was one. C. H. Pine another. BillAnother landowner in Walnut Grove thatThe mine and the town were located in the Kirkland, William Pierce, T.B. Carter, the Condrons,year was A.W. Grizzly Callen. Callen,Crown King area of the Bradshaws. Lambersons, McNarys, Moores, Wattermans,who went on to found and promote the Campbells, Calkins, Goodwins, all lived there atmining town of Placerita on ArrastraTwo of Walnut Groves better-known one time or another in the 1870s, 80s, and 90s.Creek, a few miles from Walnut Grove,pioneers, William Pierce and T.B. Some did not stay long. The descendants of othersheld a plot of land than ran 466 feetCarter, came into the area in the still live there, most notably the Carters and thefrom the banks of the Hassayampa to1880s. Pierce bought his land from Pierces. Many lived and died there and are buriedthe front of Keyes main street. CallensEd Peck in 1881. He also bought the in the historic cemetery at The Grove as it isproperty would have given him a 575- holdings of Pauline Weaver along the affectionately called. Others passed through briefly,foot frontage if the town and its mainHassayampa that the old miner and mostly miners filing claims, working them for a timestreet had ever been developed. Georgemountain man had recorded May 26, and then moving on, their names lost to time. T. Hogle owned the land south of Keyes1865. In 1882 Pierce added to his Walnut proposed town and Callens holdings. Timothy Lamberson Grove holdings by buying the homestead Contender for Capital Hogle sold out his Walnut Grove holdings and water rights of Ann Lamberson. One who passed through briefly did so in 1864. Hein 1883 to Callen. He paid $1000 for the 160-acre parcel. Timothy was the first territorial Governor, John Goodwin.Lamberson had received U.S. title on his homestead Goodwin was on a scouting mission from hisA Killing from President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878. temporary quarters at Del Rios early that year inCalvin Keyes was still around Walnut Grove in 1889, search of a place to locate the capital. He was seekingas was his son, Edward. Court records show EdwardCarter bought his land from A.W. Grizzly Callen an area with lots of water and lots of timber forW. Keyes was involved in the killing of Manuelin 1887 and picked up 160 acres of government land building a town. In his view, Del Rios and the nearbyLoterio, a Mexican, in Walnut Grove early that year.as well. The land purchases by Carter and Pierce in Black Hills did not have a sufficient supply of either.Larkin Pierce, William Charles Pierces youngestthe 1880s brought two families into Walnut Grove Due to the number of miners along the Hassayampabrother, was with Keyes and Loterio when the killingwhose descendants still live and ranch in the area.and in the Walnut Grove area, he visited the areatook place. Lark, as he was called, testified that after scouting Prescott. He then went on as far asKeyes and Loterio were both very drunk. He saidThe Carter FamilyTucson in search of the best place for the capital,they got into an argument that broke into a fight asT.B. Carter was born in Iowa in 1846. He met deciding on Prescott upon his return to Del Rios. they were walking along the river. Keyes and LoterioElizabeth King in Kansas after she had moved with plunged down the bank and into the water duringher family from Lancaster, N.Y. where she was born Calvin Keyes was 45 when he first appeared on thethe fight. Keyes held Loterios head underwaterin 1849. Thomas and Elizabeth were later married in record books in Walnut Grove in 1876. Keyes cameintending to drown him until Lark convinced him toJefferson County, Kansas. They had three sons James from Tennessee to Arizona Territory to seek hislet the man go. Keyes let Loterio up from the water,Oliver, Grant and Charlie. The family then decided fortune and homesteaded several sections of land indrew his gun and fired three shots into the man.to move west to Arizona Territory and traveled by Walnut Grove. Keyes was a miner and is on recordLoterio fell back into the water, dead. covered wagon through Winslow, down to Stonemans as having sold several claims in the Bradshaws in theLake and Camp Verde, then to Fort Whipple, where 1870s but he also was one of Yavapai Countys firstLark and Pierce then got on their horses and rodethey arrived just before Christmas, 1873. They were developers or he at least dreamed of being one. from the scene. They decided to return a fewout of supplies and money when they arrived at Fort minutes later and pulled the dead man from theWhipple, but the personnel at the fort managed to A Town Never Built water. There was a hearing held before Judge Flouryraise enough essentials for the family to arrange to rent In October of 1876, Keyes had parts of hisin which charging Lark Pierce with accessory toRogers ranch on Walnut Creek near Chino. homesteads surveyed into a Walnut Grove townsite.murder in the case was sought by District Attorney The plat map bordered the land of C. H. Pine andH.D. Ross. Apparently, no charge was made. ThereT.B. Carter first appears in Yavapai County, Arizona spanned the line between Sections 4 and 9 of Keyesis no record of Pierce being indicted for the murderTerritory records at age 28 in Walnut Creek in 1874. 20 May 2020"