Stuckey's, Williams Arizona

 I posted information on the Williams Stuckey's on the other blog. The address is available under my profile. Thanks for viewing!

Update

  I have been actively seeking out those hidden historical sites in the woods. Sometimes a hike in the woods ends up with no historical findings, however it is a hike in the woods. Just getting out there and seeing those natural wonders is worth the trip. Currently, with the heat wave in Arizona, I stay close to the air conditioner and do my trip preparations online. 

Did you know there was a Stuckey's in Williams, Arizona? I will soon be posting information on the Williams Blog site. The building still survives, albeit as something else. You couldn't travel cross country in the 60s and 70s without seeing the great store called Stuckey's. 

I am committed to finding additional spurs of the Saginaw north of Kendrick Peak. I recently found one with numerous stumps and fallen logs, and the remains of a log loadout. Before posting my findings, I want to return to the area with a map to document this line. From what I have seen, the Saginaw was very active in this area. 

Until next time, stay safe, and visit Williams. It's a great little town. Maybe one of those old timers that haunt the downtown area may turn out to be me.

  My second Blog is now up and running! This new Blog is dedicated to Williams, Arizona. The address can be located under my profile. In addition, I have changed the theme or background of each blog to make the information more accessible. Things are beginning to make more sense, and I hope more visitors will find all of this history more interesting and engaging.

OUTLINE OF LUMBER MILLS IN THE WILLIAMS AREA (UPDATED)

    

OUTLINE OF LUMBER MILLS IN THE WILLIAMS AREA 

COPYRIGHT; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (6/01/25)

1882-1884: Parker and Company; Tie cutters and p0rtable mill at Chalender (aka "Pamela") By 1906, mill and townsite reportedly a near ghost town (Fuchs 75, 76; Stein 7.) 

1882-1883: W.Z. Wilson and Alvin Haskell; operated a small mill on a ranch formerly owned by Rogers Vinton, several miles SW of Williams. Possibly some mill employees lived in Williams. Mill provided lumber, timbers and ties for the railroad, local residents and other communities. Mill was operated around June 1882; by November, moved to Prescott, AZ. Some confusion exists as to the location and the veracity of a story referring to a town named "Sun-Up." Location reported just west of Williams. Sun-Up reportedly had one mill, a store, restaurant and saloons. When the milled closed, town moved to Williams (Fuchs 56,65,72,73; Stein 6.) 

Could this be the construction town located above Johnson Canyon tunnel? Or is it a townsite, now covered by the Williams cemetery just west of town?  One longtime resident places the town just west of town, across the tracks from where the cemetery is located. 

1891-1894(?): E.P. Clark and A.D. Adams operated a mill 2 miles SW of Williams. 

1892: A. Greenlaw and Brother operated a circular say mill located at Chalender. Up to ten teams hauled logs to the mill that made ties for the Prescott and Phoenix RR. Operated for ten years (NAU Archives, MS314, Box 1, Mill File, The Lumberjack, Vol. 1.)

June, 1893: Saginaw mills were in production at Williams and Chalender, AZ. (Fuchs 108,110; Stein 30.)

1893-1900s: J.M. Dennis Lumber Company was contracted to cut timber for the Saginaw, moving a plant from New Mexico. In 1893 the sawmill was located 8 miles east of Williams at Walker. By 1901 the mill was located at Rhoades, 16 miles east of Williams. Facility included a box factory and plaining mill (Fuchs 110,145,181.) 

Was it possible that there were several portable mills, in addition to the permanent site at Rhoades? Rhoades appears to be Chalender or Maine, which the latter was located at present day Parks, AZ. 

1882-: Edward Ayers built branch mills at Bellemont and Prentice, serviced by the A&P. Arizona Lumber and Timber company operated a mill at Bellemont from 1887-1907. This could be one and the same mill at Bellemont (Schupper 30, 64.) 

  SAGINAW AND MANISTEE LUMBER COMPANY TIMELINE

1893 - SAGINAW LUMBER COMPANY, OF WILLIAMS, ARIZONA INCORPORATED. MILL CONSTRUCTED.

1893-1897 -CHALLENDER MILL IN OPERATION

1894-? CHALLENDER SOUTH LINES

1898-1904(8) -SAGINAW SOUTHERN INCORPORATED AS COMMON CARRIER

1899- COMPANY RE-INCORPORATED AS SAGINAW AND MANISTEE LUMBER COMPANY

1902-1906(?) -CHALENDER NORTH LINE

1903-1929- BELLEMONT LINE (1904-18 MILES; 1917 -KENDRICK MTN; 1929 -29 MILES.)

1924-1929(?) - GARLAND PRAIRIE LINE

CIRCA 1920 - PORTABLE CAMPS PHASED-IN

CIRCA 1928 - HORSES SOLD, MECHANIZED LOGGING IMPLIMENTED 

1930-1936 -TUSAYAN LINE. TIMBER TRACTS SOUTH OF WILLIAMS HARVESTED BY MECHANIZED LOGGING.

1941 - ARIZONA LUMBER AND TIMBER OPERATIONS IN FLAGSTAFF, AZ. LEASED BY THE SAGINAW AND MANISTEE. WILLIAMS MILL PHASED OUT. POSSIBLE THAT PLAINING MILL CONTINUED INTO 1942.

1942 -ALL OPERATIONS AT WILLIAMS MILL CLOSED

(SOURCES: STEIN, GLOVER, FUCHES)

UPDATE: A MYSTERY SHAY IS REVEALED, PART I AND II

 A Mystery Shay is Revealed Part I

After a short absence, I once again awakened this Blog from its blissful slumber, authoring new posts. There was some urgency in completing the updated engine roster, as the old list was outdated. I am thankful for all of the research by prior scholars who immeasurably helped in documenting this information. Combined with my recent research, I hope to have given them due credit for their prior work. 

I am also thankful for a significant milestone in the number of hits on this Blog. It is now becoming a reference point for research and information on the Saginaw and Manistee Lumber Company of Williams, Arizona. This is not to be confused with other logging railroads that used the same name in different formats, and in separate regions of the country. Thanks to all who have browsed these pages and making this Blog what it is today. Hopefully, I will get a book published someday...

  Courtesy National Archives, neg. 48-RST-4C-2

  This is a well-known image of Saginaw Southern engines at work, south of Williams. The second engine is often listed as "Unidentified." I can now confidently state that the two engines are two-truck Shay #556, and Shay #212. Both working the line in Barney Flats area, circa 1900. In addition, two-truck Climax #327 was at work in those woods. Like the two Shays, it appears to have the same number as its builder's number.

This may seem to be a minor point; however, it took several years of sleuthing to uncover the second engine's identity. 

Mystery Shay, Part II 

    I like to browse the eBay listings for vintage images of Williams, Arizona, and anything related to the Saginaw. Searches may include old postcards or photographs that pop-up on a search for Saginaw and Manistee. 

    A rare gem was found on a listing by Taplines (Photos@Taplines.net - WWW. Taplines.net.) I have to give credit where credit is due. It was an image of Wilson Luther and Wilson #212 Shay and #6 Heisler. Shay #212 had an interesting history, having traveled to New Mexico and thence to the Saginaw on 9/22/1893 (this information, and a great deal more is documented on the reverse of the photograph I purchased from the seller.) 

The image is from the collection of Donald R. Hensley, Jr. 390 Hillcrest Ave- Waynesburg, PA 15370.

If you take a closer view of the two images, you can see the resemblance of between the Shay in the background of the first image, compared to the Shay, on the left, in the second image. 

Sometimes a remarkable piece of history can be found in the most common of items. 

    

Saginaw and Manistee: Hardy Hill Trestle Recent Findings

 Saginaw and Manistee: Hardy Hill Trestle

With the recent warm weather, and a pleasant fall in Arizona, I took the liberty to return to the Hardy Hill Area. This area hasn't been visited for some time, so I was due for a reconnection with one of my favorite areas. Prior posts on this blog regarding this remarkable site can be located by using the search feature. 

While out and about, I met one of the locals.  One thing I will say about the local inhabitants; show respect and a willingness to converse in a friendly manner, and you will learn more than what you can tell. It's their land, don't forget that. From our long conversation, I learned a great deal about the history of this area. 

Seems the structures and other remnants of past habitation were built after the Saginaw had left. The area is dotted with old homesteads, now hidden from the curious by the effects of nature. This particular area was once an orchard, which today you would be hard pressed to find. This also confirms one of my conclusions that the forest of the high country had more springs and water sources. As you go back each one hundred years, you can find evidence that springs were abundant; the native cultures traversed a land of relative abundance. 

It is still a bit of a mystery as to why the Saginaw built a trestle in a ravine. I suspect three things occurred: they were seeking a water source closer to the logging operations; the trestle was built to allow a spur that circled from the south to reconnect with the main line; and or the Ponderosa pine forest extended further west than the current natural boundary. I still surmise that the Saginaw built a number of the holding tanks to the west of the trestle location. Personal opinions are only begrudgingly abandoned after much grumbling and grumpy behavior.

It was an opportunity to find a rock and just have a time to enjoy the view. Sitting there with the rock art, and the hand-hewn legacy of lumber jacks was worth the time. The simplicity of signatures made on the rocks by intelligent persons long ago was worth studying, even for this brief moment.  The construction techniques in building this trestle were also worth pondering. Both are decaying from the effects of nature. One section of the rock wall is about to tumble down.  

 Not everyone's idea of a perfect day, then again, I am not just another face in the mass of humanity. A quiet time in the forest is worth a week in a mall, or in group of more than two people. 

Solitude can bring about a sense of gratitude for life in general. 

SAGINAW AND MANISTEE: A PREQUEL TO THE WILLIAMS OPERATION

 SAGINAW AND MANISTEE: A PREQUEL TO THE WILLIAMS OPERATION 

The following comments are meant to be a prelude to the history of the Saginaw and Manistee Lumber Company in Williams, Arizona. Comments and references are based on the book "Indians, Jacks and Pines," by Stuart Gross (1962.)

                                                                                    .....

The Michigan forests that surrounded the town of Saginaw were considered to be so dense that it would take "a hundred years to cut." This comment was often spoken, and then repeated, from the New England forests to the magnificent stands of mature trees in the Pacific Northwest. The wonders of ever evolving technology would over and again prove such a statement to be short-sighted, and ignorant of the capable creative intelligence of humanity. 

According to Stuart Gross, the Saginaw area was the lumbering capital (of the nation) from the year 1851 until the 1890s (page 48.) From the earliest mills of the Saginaw country in 1835, to the closing years of 1897, some 83 mills produced over 25 billion feet of lumber, 5 billion shingles and other wood products to the nation (page 49.)

From the early years, the main mode of transporting the timber to the mills was by floating the logs downstream on the numerous river systems. This provided a cheap method of moving large quantities of raw product (logs) to the production facilities (lumber mills.) As the forests were cut further inland from the waterways, another method needed to be employed to transport the logs. 

Railroads had developed from the most primitive concepts to a proven mode of transportation. It was becoming more reliable and would evolve to become an efficient method transporting logs to the mills. Once processed by the mill, the lumber could be marketed throughout the nation by the burgeoning railroad industry. 

With the diminishing forests around Saginaw, the lumber barons of the Michigan forests began casting about a large net, seeking virgin forests that could potentially provide lumber for a growing nation. One such area were the vast Ponderosa Pine forests in Arizona. The building of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad allowed access to the timber stands.  With the railroad came land grants, deliberately sectioned into a checkerboard pattern across the territory as dictated by Congress in the 1860s. Other investors had purchased land holdings from the railroads, so some haste was needed to take advantage of this opportunity. 

Once the investment was made in the timber rights, the Saginaw Lumber Company (and later the Manistee, who merged to form the Saginaw and Manistee Lumber Company) began a methodical and well-planned move to Arizona. This was not to be solely a new operation, but a relocation of company assets and personnel. 

The Saginaw applied their long-standing expertise in the timber trade to acquiring and designing a mill site in Williams, and a short lived second mill at Challender. With the mills came the machinery and trained craftsman who applied the art and technology of producing lumber. Housing was arranged for the mill personnel who moved with the company. The operation of a railroad was not unknown to them, and surveying was begun as to reach the stands of timber. 

SAGINAW SOUTHERN PART I: NORTH OF PERKINSVILLE AREA

 SAGINAW SOUTHERN Part I: NORTH OF PERKINSVILLE AREA

We all have those fixations in life that tend to constantly draw our attention, such as a hobby, a building project, or the perfect lawn. One of those vexing problems for me is to find the exact point where the Saginaw Southern ended. It isn't located at a nice sign post placed on a gravel turn-out, along with an appropriate monument. After all, this was incorporated as a class one railroad that ran south from Williams. Maybe someday national leaders will come to lay a golden spike or other appropriate offering at the end of the rail line. Or this just may be my obsession getting the better of me. 

Nevertheless, this research project has revealed a number of hidden historical treasures. 

Courtesy of Google Maps. Thank you, Google!

The map identifies a vast region to the south of Williams, Arizona. it is bordered on the west by FR186, to the South includes FR 44, To the East includes Perkinsville Road, and to the North the road continues to Williams. Coordinates indicate multiple routes that were taken to explore the area.

The majority of the following images were taken around FR44. Specific images taken at the provided coordinates will be included in each post. 

Wash area. There are numerous stumps in the drainage, 

some that appear to be from the Saginaw era, up to the current times.

In one of the side ravines, I found a jumble of cut trees, having all the appearance of having been left on the ground through the ages since the Saginaw. I measured one to be about 45 feet in length. More modern logging methods would have required these magnificent logs to be removed and not wasted. Despite a number of visits to the region, I could only locate one definitive entrance for the early loggers. However, others must exist, including the possibility that the forest roads were built on early logging trails. 

I did not find any indication that rail spurs were laid in this region, other than that which has already been documented. The most logical theory is that horse drawn Big Wheel logging carts were used to move the logs to the existing railheads.

Additional findings will be posted in parts II through IV, along with some startling conclusions. Those reference points will reveal more of the history that has been waiting to be found in this vast region.