Bradshaw Mountains
Encyclopedia
The Bradshaw Mountains are a mountain range
in the Sonoran Desert
of central Arizona
, USA, named for brothers Isaac and William Bradshaw after their death, having been formerly known in English as the Silver Mountain Range.
, called the Kwevkapaya who built forts and mined copper
from around AD 1100 to 1600. Apache
s occupied the area around 1800 as a means of keeping White
settlers out. But by 1863, a party led by William Bradshaw was in the area, followed by the Walker party. In 1864, a group of five white settlers was attacked by Apaches at what is now called Battle Flat. One of the settlers went for help, but upon his return found the Apaches had left.
The Walker party found gold, and within a few years, the Bradshaws were filling up with settlers mining for gold, silver, and copper. In the early part of the 20th century, most of the towns that had sprung up were little more than ghost town
s.
Located approximately 5 miles (8 km) south of Prescott, Arizona
, between the Agua Fria River on the east, and the Hassayampa River
on the west, the range is 40 miles (64 km) long, and almost 25 miles (40 km) wide.
granite
, gneiss
and schist
.
and montane conifer forest, to plains and desert grassland, and Sonoran desert scrub. Many species of trees are found in the Bradshaws, including Piñon
, Alligator Juniper
, Ponderosa pine
, Blue Spruce
, Quaking Aspen, White fir
, and Douglas fir. As well, much wildlife is present, including javelinas, Mule deer
, wild turkey
and Short-horned Lizard
s.
Several creeks have been dammed to form reservoir
s, including Lynx Lake, Goldwater Lake
, Lake Marapai, Hassayampa Lake, Horsethief Lake, and Cedar Tank.
Gold
was first discovered in the Bradshaws in the 1863, over $2,000,000 worth being taken from just the Crowned King Mine. Copper and silver
were also mined in the early part of the 20th century.
, Bumble Bee
, Goodwin, Bradshaw City, Alexandra
and Cleator
.
land. Other parks include Horsethief Basin Recreational Area, Lynx Lake Recreational Area, and the Castle Creek Wilderness.
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
in the Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
of central Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, USA, named for brothers Isaac and William Bradshaw after their death, having been formerly known in English as the Silver Mountain Range.
History
The first known settlements in the Bradshaws were a group of Yavapai peopleYavapai people
Yavapai are an indigenous people in Arizona. Historically, the Yavapai were divided into four geographical bands that considered themselves separate peoples: the Tolkapaya, or Western Yavapai, the Yavapé, or Northwestern Yavapai, the Kwevkapaya, or Southeastern Yavapai, and Wipukpa, or Northeastern...
, called the Kwevkapaya who built forts and mined copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
from around AD 1100 to 1600. Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
s occupied the area around 1800 as a means of keeping White
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
settlers out. But by 1863, a party led by William Bradshaw was in the area, followed by the Walker party. In 1864, a group of five white settlers was attacked by Apaches at what is now called Battle Flat. One of the settlers went for help, but upon his return found the Apaches had left.
The Walker party found gold, and within a few years, the Bradshaws were filling up with settlers mining for gold, silver, and copper. In the early part of the 20th century, most of the towns that had sprung up were little more than ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
s.
Geography
Located approximately 5 miles (8 km) south of Prescott, Arizona
Prescott, Arizona
Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....
, between the Agua Fria River on the east, and the Hassayampa River
Hassayampa River
The Hassayampa River is a mostly underground river, the headwaters of which are just south of Prescott, Arizona, and flows mostly south towards Wickenburg entering the Gila River near Hassayampa, Arizona...
on the west, the range is 40 miles (64 km) long, and almost 25 miles (40 km) wide.
Peaks
- Mount UnionMount Union (Arizona)Mount Union is a mountain located in the Prescott National Forest in central Yavapai County, Arizona. The mountain's peak is the high point of the Bradshaw Mountains, and of Yavapai County. Mount Union is flanked to the northeast by Mount Davis....
, named during the Civil War, is the highest, at 7979 feet (2,432 m). - Mount Davis – second highest at 7897 feet (2,407 m), named for Jefferson DavisJefferson DavisJefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
. - Spruce Mountain – 7696 feet (2,346 m), misnamed for Douglas firs mistaken for Spruces.
- Mount Tritle – 7793 feet (2,375 m), named for Frederick Augustus TritleFrederick Augustus TritleFrederick Augustus Tritle was an American politician, businessman, and attorney. He served as the sixth Governor of Arizona Territory and held a number of lesser government positions there and in Nevada...
Governor of Arizona Territory (1882–1885).
- Towers Mountain – 7628 feet (2,325 m)
- Maverick Mountain – 7443 feet (2,269 m)
- Mount Wasson
Geology
The Bradshaw Mountains consist primarily of precambrianPrecambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
and schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
.
Ecology
The biotic community of the Bradshaws ranges from interior chaparralChaparral
Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...
and montane conifer forest, to plains and desert grassland, and Sonoran desert scrub. Many species of trees are found in the Bradshaws, including Piñon
Pinyon pine
The pinyon pine group grows in the southwestern United States and in Mexico. The trees yield edible pinyon nuts, which were a staple of the Native Americans, and are still widely eaten...
, Alligator Juniper
Juniperus deppeana
Juniperus deppeana is a small to medium-sized tree reaching 10-15 m tall. It is native to central and northern Mexico and the southwestern United States...
, Ponderosa pine
Ponderosa Pine
Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...
, Blue Spruce
Blue Spruce
Picea pungens is a species of spruce native to western North America, from southeast Idaho and southwest Wyoming, south through Utah and Colorado to Arizona and New Mexico. It grows at high altitudes from altitude, though unlike Engelmann Spruce in the same area, it does not reach the alpine...
, Quaking Aspen, White fir
White Fir
White Fir is a fir native to the mountains of western North America, occurring at altitudes of 900-3,400 m. It is a medium to large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 25–60 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m . It is popular as an ornamental landscaping tree and as a Christmas Tree...
, and Douglas fir. As well, much wildlife is present, including javelinas, Mule deer
Mule Deer
The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...
, wild turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
and Short-horned Lizard
Short-horned Lizard
The Short-horned Lizard is a small lizard that occurs in North America. Like other horned lizards, it is often wrongly called the "Horned Toad" or "Horny Toad," but it is not a toad at all. It is a reptile, not an amphibian. It is one of five species of lizards in Canada...
s.
Several creeks have been dammed to form reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
s, including Lynx Lake, Goldwater Lake
Goldwater Lake
Goldwater Lake is a reservoir formed by a dam on Goldwater Creek, located south of Prescott in North Central Arizona. This lake is maintained by the City of Prescott Parks and Recreation department...
, Lake Marapai, Hassayampa Lake, Horsethief Lake, and Cedar Tank.
Human use
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
was first discovered in the Bradshaws in the 1863, over $2,000,000 worth being taken from just the Crowned King Mine. Copper and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
were also mined in the early part of the 20th century.
Ghost towns and other settlements
There are over 40 ghost towns in the Bradshaw Mountains, including Crown KingCrown King, Arizona
Crown King is an unincorporated community in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States, located at an elevation of 5,771 feet . Crown King has a ZIP Code of 86343; in 2000, the population of the 86343 ZCTA was 133. The site of a former gold mining town, Crown King is 28 miles west of Interstate...
, Bumble Bee
Bumble Bee, Arizona
Bumble Bee is a ghost town in the Bradshaw Mountains of Yavapai County, Arizona, United States, named for nearby Bumble Bee Creek. Established in 1863, Bumble Bee served as a stagecoach stop and an outpost for the U.S. Cavalry; with a post office established in 1879.With the demise of the...
, Goodwin, Bradshaw City, Alexandra
Alexandra, Arizona
Alexandra is a ghost town in Yavapai County, Arizona. The ghost town was settled during the frontier days of 1875 as a mining camp until abandoned in 1896. Alexandra is ten miles east of Mayer.-History:...
and Cleator
Cleator, Arizona
Cleator is a ghost town in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. It lies along the road that has replaced Murphy's Impossible Railroad between Cordes and Crown King....
.
Protected areas
Much of the Bradshaw Mountains are on Prescott National ForestPrescott National Forest
The Prescott National Forest is a 1.25 million acre United States National Forest located in north central Arizona in the vicinity of Prescott. The forest is located in the mountains southwest of Flagstaff and north of Phoenix in Yavapai County, with a small portion extending into southwestern...
land. Other parks include Horsethief Basin Recreational Area, Lynx Lake Recreational Area, and the Castle Creek Wilderness.