b'THE OLD STORYTELLERJohn J. FraserPioneer Cowboy of the Superstition MountainsBy Hank Sheffer,The Old StorytellerO ne of the most overlookedRight: Fraser Ranchelements in the developmentBelow: The front of this great country of ours isporch, where young that of the American Cowboy. WithCharlie Dobbie was murdered. No motive all the wannabe country Cowboywas ever found for singers, rodeo heroes buzzingthis heinous crime.around the countryside in helicopters and Hollywoods romanticized white hat, black hat shoot em ups, the true mettle of the men and women of the Old West gets lost in the visions of imagination with more fantasy than reality. These early pioneers were people who could respond to any adversity that might be thrown their way, and do it with the resilience to succeed. That statement can stand no truer than it does for the first cattlemen to appear on the Arizona horizon. Ironically, Jack Fraser served as the appraiser for probate of the Reavis estate and as such When talking about the development of Arizona theimmediately filed a Squatters Claim on the name Elisha Marcus Reavis must always be taken intoproperty. After that, it became known as the consideration. In 1874, it was Reavis who was the firstwhere he knew he needed to be. He journeyed to the SilverUpper Fraser Ranch. He hired a young man named to settle in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness andKing Mine area in 1877 and worked the mine until 1881. William G. Billie Knight as foremanBillie served in that although he was a gardener, rather than a cattleman, he hadSo far weve seen that Jack Fraser has led, if nothing else, ancapacity for the next 20 years. The ranches held their own, said many times that the grass was as high as the belly of ainteresting bit of living already. As his life goes on we arebut the cattle business wasnt building Jacks wealth the way horse in the high country near his place. That is the kind ofgoing to see that what we have seen so far has only been thehe wanted. He would not see that wealth grow with any thing any cattle rancher likes to hear. tip of the iceberg, as they say. significance until another opportunity knocked on his door in 1898. Now heres the way that happened.The first cattle drovers arrived here in Arizona from NewIn keeping with that, it was at the Silver King Hotel, one of Mexico and Texas shortly after the discovery of rich miningthe old legends holds, where he got his start in the cattleJack Fraser and Pinal County Sheriff William C. Truman, a claims in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona Territory.business while living in Silver King. It seems Jack wonformer lead carpenter at the Silver King Mine and a fellow Copper and silver were first discovered around Globehimself a herd of cattle during a poker game. Fraser and amember of the Mesa Masonic Lodge, decided to grubstake in 1869; shortly thereafter the first cattle herds arrivedfriend drove the newly acquired herd of cattle to an areaa friend, a Mr. Jack Smith, who was headed for the 1898 sometime around 1871 in the area. But it wasnt until thenorthwest of Silver King near the Southeastern boundaryKlondike Gold Rush. Considering the list of provisions discovery of Silver King Mine in 1875 that the Superstitionof the Superstition Wilderness area. There, in 1891, herequired for just getting to the goldfields, this grubstake was Wilderness area was opened up to full-scale cattle raising. established what was to become the famous JF Ranch. Wea rather formidable sum. Never-the-less, the investment was said his life had been interesting up till now, but it wasmade by the two men. However, it wasnt until 1901 when Most of the early cattlemen came to reap the profitsabout to go from interesting to, well, really interesting! they finally received word that they had become rich. Jacks providing beef for the early mining camps that dotted theshare alone was valued at $1.2 million (approximately $36 landscape. The mines purchased tons of beef. As the miningIn the first year of the JF Ranch much had been done tomillion in todays money) and he wisely invested his money industry grew, so did the cattle industry. Along with thecreate the ranch headquarters, dig a well, and secure otherin irrigated farmland in Mesa and Florence.mild climate, good grazing, and built-in market, many ofthings needed to run a cattle operation. To that end, a the cattlemen decided to stay on permanently. It didnt takeyoung Cowboy named Charlie Dobbie was hired to keep anFraser now focused his operation around the ranch until long before Cowboys were a common sight in the isolatedeye on things there at the headquarters house. Everything1909 when he sold the operation to William J. Clemans. The canyons of the Superstition Wilderness region. seemed to be going along just fine until May of 1892. Thatssale included the original JF Ranch and the Upper Fraser when somebody up and murdered Charlie. It was truly aRanch (Reavis Ranch). He had also been watching with One of those early ranchers-to-be was a man by name of Johnheinous affair with Charlie murdered, the house furnishingsgreat interest what the future economic growth of the region J. (Jack) Fraser. While he wasnt the very first rancher to makeall torn up and, on top of all else, one of Jack Fraserswould be with the building of Roosevelt Dam and Apache a go of the cattle business in the Superstitions, he was rightfavorite horses stolen. Trail. A large number of freighters first showed the need there in the midst of its early development . . . and make nofor a stop station. Then the increased numbers of private mistake, there was a whole lot more to this Jack Fraser thanSome folks believed that it was the handy work of renegadetourists on the Apache Trail, including stagecoach traffic, just some ole run-of-the-mill hard-bark Cowboy. Indians lurking around, while others claimed that it mustsoon presented a need for lodging of some sort. That stop be the notorious local outlaw, Apache Kid, but nothingstation soon became the Fish Creek Hotel/Lodge. The hotel John J. Fraser or Jack as he was called was born in Nova Scotiaever came of either of those scenarios. Charlies remainsoperated successfully from 1905 until 1909 at which time in 1855. Many references say he was a Canadian, but that isntwere removed from the ranch and interred at the SilverFraser sold it at the same time he sold the cattle ranches. By true. It was not until July 1867, when Nova Scotia, along withKing Cemetery. They are still there under his stone.1910 he had transferred his entire personal operation to the New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec became the DominionUnfortunately, no one has ever been called to task for theirrigated desert near Florence and from this point he turned of Canada. However, at the age of six years old, he movedcowardly deednor has anyone ever come up with a reasonhis focus and exploits toward political interests.onto the Canadian mainland. He wasnt there long becausefor killing Charlie, a thirteen-year-old boy.four years later he was in Nevada working at the ComstockFor the next 18 years, Jack kept himself busy in civic matters Mine. For those of you doing the math as we go along, yes, heAfter the killing at the ranch, everything pretty muchuntil 1828. In his travels he happened to meet (perhaps not was only 10 years old. At that time it was not uncommon toreturned to business-as-usual. However, after a few years,so by chancewell never know) Herbert Hoover. Beside find boys as young as eight years old working in and aroundanother opportunity presented itself that Jack just couldntHoovers aspirations of becoming president, which he would the mines. He remained in Nevada for 12 years. let get away. do very shortly, he was also a mining engineer who just happened to like searching for mineral outcrops. Turns out, Now rumblings from Arizona Territory spoke of richElisha Reavis died in 1896, the man who had raised largehe and Jack became hard-and-fast friends and, because he deposits of copper ore found at Globe in 1869, and thatquantities of produce on his homestead. His propertyknew the terrain so well, Jack invited Herbert on excursions the Silver King Mine was rapidly on its way to becoming acontained, as he had said deep meadows of grass in hisinto the Superstition Mountain high country where they boomtown since the discovery of silver in 1875. valley, not to mention the permanent water supply that wassearched for those outcroppings together.available all year round. In todays market, we would call To the young entrepreneur, Jack Fraser, now 22 years old,that prime real estate. I have never found any evidence that they found minerals this is where the money was being made and that wasto speak of, but I do know that John J. Fraser did attend the 8 September 2020'