Arizona republican., 1911-04-06
END OF CAREER OF
FREDERICK |. BRILL
DIED YESTERDAY MORNING AT
HIS HOME HERE
Pioneer of the Earlier Times In Botf
California and Arizona

In the death of Frederick l.. Brill
early yesterday morning. there passed
from life one of ArizOna's earliest
pioneers. one of the few remaining
settlers who cast his lot in the gold
fields along the Hassayampa in 1865,
and who has been resident of this
city for the last twenty-siX years.
Death occurred at the family home
in the northeastern part of the city.
in a subdivision of il that bears his
name He was 79 years old and his
demise followed the complications
and Weaknesses due TO advanced age.
His funeral will be held Friday MORN
ing at Sis o'clock in the Catholic
church.
The life story of the deceased was
filled with varied and interesting
experiences. even before he came TO
Arizona over forty-five years ago and
since that time il has been fraught
with all the changes incident to the
conquering of primitive nature and
the recalcitrant savages that infested
the hillsides and deserts of a WON
derful land then but little known and
still less understood. The vicissi-
tudes and dangers of that life can be
but little appreciated now. but they
included almost the entire lack of
creature comforts and constant vigi-
lance lest life itself might pay the
forfeit of Venturesome ambition. In
the first years of his residence in
Arizona when the region through
which the historic Hassayampa wends
its way. was a frequent battlefield
between the fearless whites and the
thieving and murderous redskins, Mr..
Brill was often witness of, or con-
cerned in these fierce encounters. He
survived those days of peril, as much
through good fortune perhaps as any
thing else. and the bones of scores
who then shared his campfires or the
shelter of his insecure habitation, have
rested for a generation in their final
sepulchre.
Frederick L. Brill was born in
Prussia in December, 1892, and was a
son of Henry and Vina Brill. He
received a good education in the
German schools. finishing in a col
lege at Lipstadt. At the age of IL
the spirit of adventure and hope of
fortune in the western world i'm
PEELED him to take passage in a sail
ing vessel the destination of which
was New Orleans. In that city he
spent six months in acquiring a
knowledge of cigar making. then NOV
ed further west stopping in San An
tonic, Texas. where he engaged in
the mercantile business and the manu-
facture of cigars
: But the call of the west still
echoed in his ears, and the most di-
rect route was via the isthmus. OPP
portunities were also reported from
Nicaragua so he set out for that
country, only to decide that he pre-
ferred to live in a more northern
cline. He crossed the isthmus and
took passage on a boat for San Fran
cisco. suffering an attack of yellow
fever en- route.
He arrived in San Francisco in 1852,
during the height of the gold excite
ment and went to Mariposa county
where he engaged in placer mining
and also kept a boarding house for a
year and a half. Southern California
next attracted his attention and he
journeyed to San Diego county where
ing one year of this time he was a
deputy sheriff and also served the
county as supervisor and trustee. He
had some mercantile experience in
San Diego also but the greater part
of the time he spent in the cattle
business having taken up a large
tract of government land
In 1865. Just at the close of the
war and almost coincident with the
gold discoveries along the HASA
yampa. when the government was en-
gagged in warfare with the hostile In
dams, he secured beef contracts for
furnishing the army posts and set
out for the still newer field of adj
venture. AS a nucleus of his herds.
for meat in those days could not be
shipped in. he brought some seven
or eight hundred head of cattle with
him from southern California, driv-
ing them across the deserts. until he
finally reached the Hassayampa river.
There he settled on that little tract
of land that has ever since been
known as Brilrs ranch, a few miles
south of Wickenberg and gradually |
added to his acreage until he had a
large holding. The ranch house over |
looked the river bed and is within
a stones throw of the present line |
of the S. F. p. & p. railroad. Here |
Mr.. Brill cleared the benches along |
the river and planted various farm
crops. also planting an orchard, the
first one in Arizona, so far as there
is record. Though he had many fruits |
the apple trees predominated. and |
later the ranch became quite famous |
for its apples.
The most serious drawback to his
fortune in the cattle business was
the thievery of the Indians who |
stole and slaughtered his stock to
such an extent that he almost re-
tired from the business and de-
voted most of his time to the rails
ing of fruit, and potatoes, which he
could better protect with a rifle, and
his products in Prescott
and Fort Whipple. At that time there
was no Phoenix and the few habita-
tons in this vicinity were known as
the Salt River settlement. of Yav-
apai county.
One of Mr.. BrilPs first business
self with Henry Wickenburg in the
development of the Vulture mine, but
he sold out before the property had
been long operated. Wickenburg con-
tinued to be Mr.. Brill's home until
1885 when he acquired a considerable
rrfl Of lie oft md I