b"They found a place to their liking near Payson along Webertold Ed he was looking for a place to locate with a herd ofdrew pistols. Tom and John Graham and the other Tewksbury Creek. Trouble was the Apache liked this area as well andcattle. Ed told Graham about Pleasant Valley. boys ran for their guns and began shooting to back up Ed.recurring Indian scares prompted Silas to move his family into Payson and the security of town. Silas then went lookingWhen the Tewksbury boys returned to their ranch on CherryJohn Gilleland was wounded and young Elisha took a bullet for work. His search took him to Pleasant Valley, where heCreek, Tom Graham went with them to look the place over.in his back that lodged in his lung. Potash Ruiz never got his was hired by rancher Tom Graham as foreman. It was towardThe winter of 1882-83 found the Graham brothers, Tom,gun out of his holster. All three rode off to escape the fire of the the end of 1887 when Silas hired on with Graham and heJohn and Billy, on a homestead about a mile down CherryTewksbury boys and the Grahams. Young Elisha was shot from was soon to learn that his new job had more occupationalCreek from the Tewksbury place, in a rough-cut log cabin thehis horse as they fled. Ed Rose, who came to the Tewksbury hazards than he ever could have imagined. Tewksbury boys had helped them build. ranch as soon as he heard of the shooting, and the Tewksbury boys, took the wounded Elisha to the Stinson place. Ten years earlier, old James Dunning Tewksbury had broughtA SHOOTOUT IN JANUARYBy Bill Roberts Reprinted from The Traveler his family into the valley after traveling from Boston toIn 1880, James Stinson had moved some 500 head of cattleIt seems the ill feelings that grew into the Pleasant Valley war Oregon as a 49er, then moving to San Francisco and Battleinto Pleasant Valley, cattle he had got from William Flakebegan here. Except for Stinson, everybody in the valley was Mountain, Nevada before arriving in Prescott, Arizonain exchange for Stinson's rights to Silver Creek, now calledtrying to get a herd going. Unfortunately, many including the Territory in 1877.Snowflake. When Stinson herded his cattle into PleasantTewsbury's and Graham's, were bolstering their efforts with Valley, the Tewksbury's were already there. So was Ed Rose,Stinson calves. When the trial over this shootout took place in Sometime between his arrival in Prescott and 1879, JamesBob and George Sigsby and a man called Church. That wasPrescott, young Frank Tewksbury, suffering consumption, was Tewksbury joined a group of men searching for a herd ofabout it except for John Gilleland, who had, since Stinsoncalled to testify, despite having told authorities he did not see stolen stock. They trailed the stock to the White Mountainmoved his herd into the valley, the first cattle to enter thethe shootout and was away from the ranch at the time getting Apache Reservation and decided not to pursue them anylush, well-watered region, been in charge of the Stinson herd. a wagon load of shakes. After his return from the long trip to farther. It was on that trip that James Tewksbury first sawPrescott, Frank died.Pleasant Valley below the Mogollon Rim.Sinson himself, having made his fortune in Arizona Territory, was comfortably nestled in a home in the SaltThe loss of Frank embittered the Tewksbury clan, against Tewksbury had four sons and a daughter when he arrived inRiver Valley where he could send his stepson to school.Stinson and against the authorities, There are strong Prescott in 1877. John, the oldest, was about 19. The childrenIt was mid-January, 1883 when John Gilleland rode up toindications that both the Tewksbury and the Graham herds were motherless. Their mother, a Shoshone Indian womanthe Tewksbury place on Cherry Creek. With him was a 16had some Stinson cattle among them. Sometime after the Tewksbury had married perhaps before leaving the East whileyear old nephew Elisha Gilleland, who was visiting another1883 shootout, the Tewksbury's and the Graham's began she was still a student there, had died in Nevada. By the fall ofuncle, O.C. Felton, a rancher on the junction of Rye andaccusing each other of doing the same thing they had done 1879, the Tewksbury family had moved to Tempe and JamesTonto Creeks and Epitacio Potash Ruiz, a Stinson hand.to Stinson, stealing calves. This led to a total falling out married Lydia Ann Shultes, who had three children of herWhat happened that day is buried in conflicting courtbetween the one-time close friends, and deep regret among own from two earlier husbands who had died. testimony. It appears that Gilleland was looking for missingthe Tewksbury's that they had ever introduced the Graham's Stinson cattle with altered brands. to Pleasant ValleyThe four Tewksbury boys, John, Edwin, James and Frank started taking their horses and stock up to Pleasant ValleyIn the Tewksbury ranch all four boys and Mary AnneThe Tewksbury and Graham families had shared a mutual about then to a site along Cherry Creek old James hadTewksbury, along with Tom and John Graham were busybrand. The Graham's went to Prescott and registered the selected. They started the Tewksbury ranch there. Aboutworking on the new log house they were building next to thebrand in their name, in effect leaving the Tewksbury's without four years later, in 1882, Ed Tewksbury was in Globe with hisold one, and working on the forge they were building. Whena claim to any cattle sporting that brand. The feud was on. brothers for supplies and a little excitement in the then smallGilleland and his companions rode up, Ed Tewksbury went mining camp. Ed met Tom Graham on the street. Grahamout to greet them. They exchanged words, quietly, then bothPick up our June issue for Part 2.V I S I TH I S T O R I CD O W N T O W NW I C K E N B U R GSERAPE BLEUFinal LogoFul ColorShop for the perfect outfit or gift at Serape Bleu,a boutique with exceptional selection, style and service.164 N. Tegner StreetWickenburg, AZ928.232.2600 SERAPEBLEU.COMOPEN DAILYMON-SAT 10 AM - 5 PMSUN 11 AM - 4 PMFOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAMAS FEATURED IN COWBOYS AND INDIANS MAGAZINEPHOTO: KALEE TAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHY ArizonaRealCountry.com May 2022 31"