“Now, even at the base where we were encamped, snow eight inches deep was lying upon the surface. But we were in a region where curled grama was everywhere abundant, and our mules fared well upon what they could glean from the hill-sides.” Lieutenant Amiel Weeks Whipple, December 26, 1853.
What did the Prescott/Yavapai region look like to the first Americans to discover the area. Some of what they described in journals, letters and reports back to Washington D. C. make for some interesting insight of what our local natural world looked like in the first part of the 1800’s.
After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) Secretary of War Jefferson Davis wanted the United States to find the most practical and economical railroad route from the Fort Smith, Arkansas to the Pacific Ocean. Surveys that were sent out included astronomers, geologists, naturalists, guides, a military escort, muleteers, packers and those that setup and broke down camps. The most favored routes for a railroad were the 32nd and 35th parallels. But they had no idea what lay ahead for their expeditions. Weather conditions, lack of water and unknown geography they experienced would be mean hardships to animals and humans alike.
The Whipple survey expedition would follow some of the mapping and markers from the earlier Sitgreaves expedition. Hoping to find a way west to the Colorado River the expedition would take a fork going to the southeast instead of westerly. Going down Partridge Creek (tributary to the Verde River) starting from near what is now Ash Fork they came through what Whipple would name ‘Val de Chino.’ Chino in Spanish could mean Chinese but it also has a meaning of curled as in what an eyebrow does.
Whipple would eventually turn around before coming to the Prescott location but would be responsible for naming the Sierra Prietas (black mountains) and other landmarks in our area. The expedition found many pueblo and hilltop fortifications up what they would name Pueblo Creek (present day Walnut Creek). Whipple wrote “Fifteen miles from Partridge creek we found flowing, through a dark grove of overhanging ash and hickory, a limpid stream, where ducks, turkeys and deer were abundant.’
Lt. Whipple ‘What we saw in this country was full of interest to each department of science. There were extensive forests, abounding with game; wild grass valleys, afford pasturage to innumerable herds of deer; crystal brooks alive with trout, their fertile banks once cultivated and now line with ash and walnut timber.” It was Yavapai County ten years later.
That curled grama, which influenced the name ‘Val de Chino’ now Chino Valley, is Bouteloua gracilis, common name blue grama a long-lived, warm-season perennial grass native to North America. It is a drought tolerant grass that can be found in seed packets in plant nurseries in our area.
The idea for this short piece, it leaves out the Aubrey, Sitgreaves and Beale Expeditions, was taken from Founding A Wilderness Capital by Pauline Henson which is still in print. Lieutenant Whipple, for whom the local Fort is named after, would become a Major General in the Union Army losing his life during the Battle of Chancellorsville. The complete 1k plus pages report of the Expedition, including botany, game, etc can be found at Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean v.4 and v.5. at the Smithsonian website.
An excellent source for information about history here in our area can be found at the Sharlot Hall Museum website section Days Past. https://archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles