History of Wickenburg

An Austrian named Henry Wickenburg was one of the first prospectors. His efforts were rewarded with the discovery of the Vulture Mine, from which more than $30 million worth of gold has been dug.

Ranchers and farmers soon built homes along the fertile plain of the Hassayampa River. Together with the miners, they found the town of Wickenburg in 1863. Wickenburg was also the home of Jack Swilling, a prospector prospected in the Salt River Valley in 1867. Swilling conducted irrigation efforts in that area and helped gound the city of Phoenix, Arizona.

As the town grew, conflicts developed with the Yavapai Native American tribe, who rejected a treaty signed by their chiefs. When the American Civil War began in 1861, the Federal troops were all withdrawn and the settlements were left unprotected.

The Yavapai promptly began a series of attacks on the white intruders. A Confederate cavalry company brought temporary relief, but it fell back before the advance of Union troops from California. By 1869 an estimated 1000 Yavapai and about 400 settlers had been killed, with many on both sides fleeing to safer area. With the end of the war, the Union troops and local volunteers forced the Yavapai onto a reservation, where they remain to this day.

However, Yavapai recalcitrants remained for years and raids on stage-coaches, isolated farm houses, and periodic raids on American villages kept the area in a constant state of tension. Finally, following several murders of Yavapai chiefs allied with America by insurgent Yavapai warriors, hostile warrior tribal leaders mobilized the entire Yavapai warrior