December 2018 20 continued on page 22 The name Jack Swilling is one, when heard, that never fails to spark discussion of the early days of Arizona Territory. To some the name sent fear surging through their bodies. To others, it was the name of a man of great compassion and generosity, of a man whose word was as good as the gold he hunted, a name synonymous with honesty, integrity, and bravery. To all, it seemed the name describer an adventurer, a pioneer whose accomplishments were legendary and whose contributions to Arizona Territory and his life were ended by the wanton, self-serving treachery of federal and territorial officials. EARLY PIONEER - FALSELY ACCUSED - DIES IN YUMA PART 1 By Bill Roberts — Reprinted from The Traveler The Young Adventurer There already were seven children in the family of George Swilling and his wife, Margaret when John W. (Jack) Swilling came along on April first, 1830 in South Carolina. Jack made eight and two more were to follow. The family moved to Georgia some 10 years later when gold was discovered in the northern regions of that state. Some seven years later, Jack and his brother Barry left their Georgia home in 1847. Jack enlisted as a musician in the army that autumn and went to Mexico to fight America’s war against that country. Swilling’s battalion from Georgia ended up in Central Mexico while General Scott occupied Mexico City. Jack’s volunteer service ended in 1848 when the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. Both Jack and his brother were discharged in Mobile, Alabama. At home, Jack met Mary Jane Gray. He married her in 1852 and settled in Alabama. They had one daughter, Elizabeth, born in 1853. She reportedly died in 1857. Old timers who were close to Swilling in Arizona Territory said that he fought border wars on the Kansas/Missouri line in 1856, but there is no confirmation of these tales. He reportedly killed 11 men in border wars in retaliation for the killing of a relative. Jack decided to head west in 1857, leaving his child behind. He joined a wagon train at Fort Smith, Arkansas in the summer months and arrived in Belknap, Texas some six months later. August of 1858 found him in Yuma heading for the area where Colonel Jacob Snively had found gold along the Gila east of Yuma. All of this activity in the area upset the Yavapai Indians, who began raids against the miners and prospectors living in what was called Gila City. The Overland Mail Company responded by organizing a 25 man force to keep its route along the Gila safe. Swilling led the group on several attacks against the Yavapai; following them as far north as what is now Prescott. By the winter of 1860, Swilling had left the Gila and the census reported him in the Pinos Altos mining camp near Silver City, New Mexico. While there, the Civil War erupted and Jack was conscripted into the Confederate Army. Swilling deserted in the summer of 1862 disgusted with the Confederate policy of taking cattle from local citizens. By fall, he had joined the Union Army under General Carlton. He was discharged within a few months. He then joined the Walker Party that made its way from New Mexico to the Hassayampa and up to Lynx Creek in the Bradshaw’s looking for gold in 1862. Rich Hill & Wickenburg Swilling then joined up with the party Abraham Peeples organized in La Paz that Pauline Weaver and some Indians guided to the gold riches on Antelope Peak and Rich Hill near Congress and Yarnell. One nugget Swilling carried with him from Rich Hill for several years he said was the first nuggets found on Rich Hill in 1862. Rich Hill yielded more than $1 million in nuggets in the years that followed the Peeples Party discovery. The nugget Swilling toted as a memento was about the size of a man’s three forefingers from the first joints to the tips and weighed five ounces. When discovered it was worth about $90 in the gold price of the day. Jack managed to get the National Bank of Arizona to loan him $100 on it at one time. Then he later got “Buck the Barber” in Phoenix to make him a similar loan and forgot to redeem the nugget. Gambler Caribou Brown got possession and housed the nugget in Ben Butler’s safe at the Capitol Saloon. It was still at Butler’s in 1895, long after Swilling’s death, and Caribou rejected all attempts to get him to wager it at faro or in any other game of chance. The Peeples party divided the top of Rich Hill into equal shares of claims and formed the Weaver Mining District in 1863. Swilling worked his claims out of Rich Hill, and then prospected on south on the Hassayampa and in the area of Henry Wickenburg’s find at Vulture. He ended up with several mines, including the Big Rebel Mine on the eastern edge of the Vulture Lode in the Randall District. In 1865 he sold the Big Rebel along with the Chase Mine in the Hassayampa District and a year later had built one of five stamp mills that were processing ore along the Hassayampa from the Vulture and other nearby mines. Wickenburg Shootout In addition to operating his mill on the Hassayampa, Swilling rode express mail between Prescott and the Pima Villages near Tucson from 1865 to 1867. This put him in Wickenburg often where his reputation as a heavy drinker, Suilling (misprint) Irrigating and Canal Company, organized November 16, 1867. The first digging was started across from where Tempe is now located.