ArizonaRealCountry.com 13 March 2018 All too often, the local residents of Black Canyon City hear their neighbor to the south, Rock Springs, was a military post, or a stagecoach station. According to Charlie Champie, son of Emma Warner Champie and Joe Champie, Emma’s father Ben Warner built Rock Springs. Joe’s grandfather Charlie built Castle Hot Springs and the Champie Ranch. As family members note Rock Springs, when the spring always flowed, was the waterhole for any traveler en route. Native Americans used it for centuries as did the military, stagecoaches, sheep and cattle drives, etc. There are no maps in existence showing Rock Springs of southern Yavapai County before 1920, however, there is a Rock Springs location on the 35th Parallel map of Arizona Territory in 1865. In 1857, President Buchanan appointed military officer and pathfinder, Lt. Edward Beale, to build a road along the 35th parallel from Fort Defiance, New Mexico, to the Colorado River in California. Beale enlisted the assistance of Hadji Ali. Ali was from Jordan in the Middle East and was known as “Hi Jolly” to Americans under Beale’s command. Hi Jolly used 25 camels along with men, horses, and mules to work this project along the Beale wagon road near Peach Springs in northern Yavapai County. Lt. Edward Beale requested command from President Lincoln in 1861. Lincoln preferred that Beale stay in California, surveying it and keeping it safe for the Union. He died April 22, 1893. Hi Jolly changed his name to Phillip Tedro. He died December 16, 1893, and is buried in Quartzite, Arizona. The early map of 1865 shows the location of Fort Rock Springs. There was a Camp Rock Springs in California and a city named Rock Springs in Wyoming. The Beale wagon road eventually was laid out as a route used for the Santa Fe Railroad and in modern times it was established as Route 66. Although Rock Springs of southern Yavapai County was never a stagecoach station it was a bus station for the Greyhound and Santa Fe bus lines according to Bonnie Warner Gholson who worked for her parents there at the time it was in operation. Charlie says, “Through the years, family on my grandfather’s property have found arrowheads, pottery, U.S. Calvary buttons, bullets and shells, wagon wheel rims and other pieces of discarded items considered artifacts.” According to Mary Warner Clements, the area was known as Rock Springs when her father settled here but was a well-kept secret. Public documentation of the early territorial location was brought to light when Ben Warner laid claim to the land in 1920. Apatrou Studios By Michael Sandford Lifetime Arizona Historian ROCK SPRINGS 35TH PARALLEL DEDICATED To Emma Warner Champie, 1931-2014 THE MAGIC OF MEXICAN ARTISTRY March 9, 10, 11 • Fri, Sat & Sun – 9am-4pm Mata Ortiz Pottery Featuring Master Potters Lydia Quezada and Lila Silveira 4087 N. Apache Trail • Apache Junction, AZ 85119 480-983-4888 • 9am-4pm Daily SUPERSTITIONMOUNTAINMUSEUM.ORG DEMOS • TRUNK SHOWINGS • SALES Oaxacan Carved, Painted Wooden Animals Zapotec Textile Weaving, Silver Filigree Jewelry Mata Ortiz to You Jewelry FREE ADMISSION and PARKING