The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1893-04-15
1Nf MOUNTAIN HERMIT.
The Curious Character Arizona
Indians Fear 50 Much.

One of the strangcst characters In Ari-
zopa. where arrange and mysterious char
acters are not uncommon. is William B.
Reayis. better known to scouts and pros
pectors as the Hermit of the Superstition
Mountains" He well merits the title
they have given him, and though man
of splendid natural intelligence and an
education far above the average he has
spent years beyond the knowledge of the
oldest white settler in one of lOneliest
gorges of one of the most barren range OF
mountains in the territory. The Indians
say that he came there in 1868, and the
old time drivers on the overland stage say
that about that time he used to intercept
them between Casa Grande and Maricopa
Wells and buy newspapers. He refused
to answer any questions and would walk
away across the desert to the north with
out in the least gratifying their curiosity.
When the prospectors came across the
Colorado in 1866, the Indians told them
of the white man who lived in the noun
tains south of the Salt river and said that
he was in league with the evil spirits and
that he could not be killed. The whites
called the mountains the Superstition
range-their name. When they pushed
on into the country, they found what the
Indians said, as far as his existence was
concerned, to be a fact. He saved this
company from dying of thirst by leading
them to the only spring for miles, the one
at which he lived in the canyon. Since
that time his half stone and half cave
house has many times been the protec
ton of the desert wanderer.
When l came to Arizona one Of the
first things heard was, "You ought to
see Reavis." OF course I asked who
Reavis was, but the answer was, THAT is
the question" l did see him later on
and found him to be man perhaps IS
years of age, with form unbent and eyes
as keen as they could have been in youth.
He was dressed in moccasins, buckskin
brooches upon which the beads and fringe
betrayed Indian origin, and we'll worn
shirt laced in front. His hair and beard
looked as if they had never known the
use of razor or comb, and streaked as
they were with gray gave setting to his
sharp features that one can never see and
forget. He invited me to his cabin, where
we conversed for more than too hours on
the topics of the day, with which he
showed himself we'll informed. He had
number of papers and magazines lying
about, which he had evidently secured at
some of the trading posts visited by him,
and was we'll posted in current affairs.
My object was to get something of his
early history but, try as might, he skill
fully evaded every trap that set to lead
him to talk about himself, and though l
slept in the cabin, the next morning when
l awoke he was gone. For twenty years
he fought the Apaches single handed,
finally driving them out of the range of
mountains that he chose to inhabit, and
to this day one Of them will not set foot
in bis domain.
Who he is or where he came from is
mystery which no one has been able to
solve. Age is fast telling on him, and
some time the passing hunter will find his
whitening bones in his dugout, but they
will throw no light on his mysterious life,
and it will be put aside as the unwritten
story Of man who, like many others,
had chosen for himself living death in
the heart of the great American desert.