Arizona republican., 1916-11-23

grim band of pleace loving white men set forth for the haunt of the outlaw raiders.
 Descending upon the marauders. wto were busy with their scenes Of revelry, the vengeful whites opened fire and ran the frightened and hitherto Haunting outlaws who at this unexpected attack completely lost their nerve. to the four corners or the territory After the first few shots 1t is said. that the entire out law Dand. with the exception of their leader. Reyes, turned tail and fled In all dirao :icns closely pursued by the maddened whites and were summarily osterminatcd. no quarter seing shown.
 FINS REYES
 As for Reyes the outlaw leader harrieaded himself in one of the adc5e houses Of the settlement and therc held the entire posse at bav for the entire day. As the shades Of evening fell, however a well directed bullet found it's mark and the career of the famous outlaw was at an end.
 This incident sounded the knell Of open lawlessness il the district, al- though the usual scenes of disorder and wild orgies, customary to a new country. were still in evidence. Adams vile was no longer the haunt of an outflow band but many and wild were the doings which followed in after years in the former haunts of the Reyes gang.
 II is said although the tale may not be true. thatA Adamsville and its endless legends was the material and scene from which Alfred Henry Lewis secured his data for the famous Wolf vile series of tales.
 Closely following the pioneer Whit lock into the country. in 1862 a Cali fornian, John D. Walker. entered the district and settled near the Gila. Walker became very powerful among the Pima Indians and was later ap- pointed Indian agent by the govern ment. Prospecting was carried on by Walker in different parts of the dis trict. especially to the west in the Casa Grande region. whtrc he later discovered and worked the Nekol mine, producing many tons of high grade ore fol which he received thou auds of dollars in return it is said. EARLY PROSPECTING
 The first record of actual and de- termlned effort of mineral eXplora- tion in the district occurred in the year 1S70 when a group of adven- turers numte erin9 about six men and know r. as the "Californians." arrived at Florence and thence turned east ward through the rough mountain passes in.o the range of the Pinal mountains. The band spent several months in the fastnesses. braving the dangers of the savage Apaches. who held forth in the inaccessible can yong and strorghoids of that region and were finally almost wiped out i in an encounter with the willy red skins The remnant of '5e prospect ! ing band returned to Florence and i drifted cut of the ken of this tale. ] About this time the depredations Of the Apache had reached the.r ! length, and the long arm of tn gov- ernment reached forth to check the redmer .n their career of terror and destruction among the invading and ever increasing white men who were slowly enroaching upon their fastness- es. The soldiers led by Stoneman, Mics, and Crooks at various times came and went through the district, holding the Apache at bay and slowly | forcing nim back to hls innermost 1 halnts.
 Along in 1871, General Stoneman, ir command of the army ia that district, ! established a picket post at what wa, later called the town of Pinal under ] the shadow of a huge lone mountain. | known as Picket Post, which lowered 1, to vast heights out of the valley a. 1 tho mouth of Queen Creek.
 I The post was known as Picket Post, and from this point the construction of road through the mountain ranges into the higher valleys of the Finals ! was begun: to facilitate the move
 mcnt of the troops in their operations against the depredations of the Apaches. The road was known as the Stonersan Grade. and was a won derful example of army engineering work, being hewed in many places through the sold rock along the sheer sides of towering walls. which ended | hundreds of feet lower at the bottom | of immense canyons and winding valleys The road is still in exist | encc today and is heavily travelled | from Miami 10 Superior and Florence Up to this time the district was still