 Front side of Mining Notice |
 Reverse side of Mining Notice |
Christmas
Arizona
Tweaking the Story of How It Got Its Name
Front side of Mining Notice |
Reverse side of Mining Notice |
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I recently came across an old "Notice of Mining Location " paper that was filed back in Arizona's Territorial days . As I researched the location of the claim, the people involved and the date that it was located, I began to think that the document may be more than just another old mine paper.
My thoughts were that it may be related to the history and the story of how Christmas Arizona got its name. Except that some of the information that it contains seems to contradict the dramatic details of the most often-told version of the story.
The Story
The events that led to the name story happened back in December of 1902. But it is not unusual, especially around Christmas time for the story to be re-told. Two Phoenix area newspapers have had articles as recently as 2005. (1,2)
The story goes something like this: valuable minerals were discovered in the late 1870's or early 1880's in an area north of Winkelman, Arizona in the Dripping Springs Mountains. Government officials soon realized that the claims were located inside the boundaries of the San Carlos Indian Reservation and further mining was prohibited. The Phelps Dodge Company held several of the claims that would become involved in the name story.(8). On December 22nd, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt, in a one sentence executive order had the western boundary of the reservation re-drawn so that the contested mineral lands would fall outside the reservation boundaries and thus be re-located in the public domain.
The most often quoted version of what happened next comes from the entry for Christmas Arizona in "Arizona Place Names". "A wire was sent to George Chittenden and his partner N. H. Mellor which reached them at their camp on Christmas Eve. They acted promptly; reachg the Gila at midnight they waited for daylight, forded the stream and made their locations. I guess we jumped the claims of O'Brien, Tweed and Dr. Douglas all right" says Mellor, but it was Christmas day in the morning so we filled our stockings and named the place Christmas in honor of the day--Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Dec 24, 1930"(4)
This version of the story as presented in the Arizona Republic article seems to have really taken hold and has been repeated over and over again through the years. It has appeared in numerous newspaper articles and books written on the ghost towns of Arizona. One such book is Arizona GhostTowns by Jim Sherman.(5)
The Mining Location Notice
I believe that the paper that I have is one of the original Notice of Mining Location papers that were filled out by the Chittenden and Mellor group as they staked their claims in December of 1902. The Notice Paper is a valid claim location document. It is embossed in two places with the seal of the County Recorder of Gila County. The reverse side has the date and time that the paperwork was turned in at Globe, the county seat. It was received at 8:30am on March 7th, 1903. The recorder signed the document and recorded the number of the book that the claim was entered into.
The location of the claim as stated is: "situated and located in the San Carlos or Banner Mining District". When the Christmas area was within the boundaries of the reservation, it would have been assigned to the San Carlos district. Its new assignment outside the reservation would have been the Banner District. Continuing: "in Gila County, in the Territory of Arizona, about 1 1/4 miles in a westerly direction from the Gila River and about 1500 westerly from the old San Carlos Smelter" The current ruins of the ghost town of Christmas are essentially centered on the 1 1/4 mile westerly distance from the river.
For me, the mention of the old San Carlos Smelter is really the key. In the Copper Handbook Vol. 5 for the year 1904, published in 1905, under a listing for the Saddle Mountain Mining Company, there is this information: "Office: 1008 F St. Washington, D.C. Mine office: Dudleyville, Pinal Co., Ariz........organized 1902.....Dr. Taylor Emery, president;........Geo. B. Chittenden, general manager..........;N. H. Mellor superintendent......Property was discovered about 1880 but after slight development was found to be in the San Carlos Indian Reservation, hence was closed down until restored to the public domain.....has a 20 ton concentrator with jaw crusher and Bartlett table, also had an old smelter with 2 small blast furnaces erected in 1880 by the San Carlos Company. A test run with the old smelter was made, January 1905....The old smelter, built in 1884(?) was torn down immediately after the test and a new 150-ton matting furnace is being erected and should be blown in about June or July, 1905"(6) The description of the San Carlos Smelter in this report and its association with Chittenden and Mellor; and the reference to the old smelter in the claim notice really seem to me to link the claim to the Christmas area.
The top signature on the claim notice is N.H. Mellor, one of the two prominent actors in the Christmas story! The other two signatures are by Hugh McCallister and A. J. Eldridge. Mr. Chittenden's signature is not on this claim notice. Why is that? It would have taken several claims to cover the Christmas area. Was he simultaneously at work making claim to other nearby areas so that the group could cover as much ground as quickly as possible? I do not know the number of the claim papers that were turned in with the notice that I have. The distance of 1500(probably1500 feet) from the old smelter is interesting. That distance is one claim's length from the smelter. Had Mellor and his guys already laid claim to that space? Or was that one that Chittenden was working on?
The name of the claim notice is not Christmas. It is difficult to read the name on the paper, but it might say "Geological Spring"?? Was there a "Christmas" claim? If so, whose signatures are on that? And did it come before or after the claim that I have. Research at the County Recorder's office could answer those questions.
Now for the date that the claim was located. It occurs in two places on the paper: "was entered upon and located for the purpose of exploration and purchase by the undersigned on the 23rd day of December 1902" and "dated and posted on the ground this 23rd day of December 1902". The dates in the claim notice do not match the dates in the story told by Mellor and Chittenden that they made their first discovery on December 25, 1902!
Aside from the date of the mining notice, the other information seems to associate itself with the people and the place of the Christmas name story.
So What Gives On The Dates?
The sequence of events according to the Mellor/Chittenden story were : Roosevelt signed the executive order on the 22nd; Chittenden received notice of the signing on the 24th; and the first claim work was done on Christmas Day, the 25th. From the information on the mining notice, it may not have gone down quite like that. It appears that at least Mellor and two other members of the group might have not only been in the Christmas area prior to the 25th, but were already at work stacking rocks to outline their first claims on the 23rd. If that was the case, had they known for sure that they were legal? Had the official word actually reached them from Washington, but arrived before the 24th as told in the story?
Or, could Mellor and Chittenden have had information prior to the 22nd that the 22nd was going to be the day of the executive order? Armed beforehand with that information had they known that they could start on December 23rd and had they done so?
Is There Any Evidence Elsewhere That There May Have Been Early Entry?
In later years, Mr. Chittenden may have acknowledged that the group had made entry to the area earlier than reported in the name story. In a 1925 USGS report, the author wrote "Just before Christmas, 1902, Chittenden and three other men located a group of claims covering the deposits. The mine was named from this circumstance."(8) The author of the report stated that his information had been "Compiled from data supplied by G.B. Chittenden and others".(8)
So why the Christmas day discovery story if it was not true? Was it just created to gin up interest and publicity? If so, it worked--interest persists even today. Having a way to keep their story out in the public eye was probably beneficial. Their new mining company had shares to sell.
Or could the story have been concocted to provide a believable time line between the time of the executive order and the timing of the first discovery work? What would have been the reaction if it had become public knowlege that they were creating claims within 24 hours after the president's signature?
How did the original claimants whose work had been invalidated react? Apparently, they did not react well! The Phelps Dodge Co. actually held the rights to the claims of O'Brien, Tweed and Douglas. From the 1925 USGS report:"The Phelps Dodge Co. protested, but before the case came to trial a compromise was effected. and the Saddle Mountain Mining Co. bought the Phelps-Dodge holdings........"(8)
It seems to me that if everything had been on the up and up as far as the claiming process that Chittenden and Mellor would not have had to purchase the claims. Had Phelps Dodge discovered that the locating dates did not "jibe" with a reasonable time line from the signing of the executive order?
Are there other versions of the Name Story?
I was recently able to visit the Gila County Historical Museum and show the old notice to a docent, Donna Anderson. She agreed that the paper was associated with the Christmas area. Donna then showed me the file folders of information that the museum had on Christmas, Arizona. One article was titled "Christmas" Excerpts from Happy Memories of a Great, Great Aunt"--Reminiscensces by Marjorie Lee Chittenden, East River[now incorporated into Madison], Connecticut, August 1979. (7)
This was a four-page typewritten document put together by a Douglas R. Briggs. "He extracted them from 43 double-spaced typewritten pages of notes prepared by some of Marjorie Chittenden's friends and relatives, recording her very words."(7) Marjorie Chittenden was one of George Chittenden's daughters. The 1930 Connecticut census shows her living with Mr. Chittenden in Madison. The article is a listing of her memories from her childhood of the times that she visited and lived in Christmas, Arizona.
It appears that later in life,Mr. Chittenden may have been telling a different story on how Christmas Arizona was named. There is this entry in Marjorie Chittenden's memories: NOTE: George Chittenden named the mine and the camp "Christmas" because he had been born on Christmas 1849 and also married on that day in 1876. He died 02/24/39". (7) This note is enclosed in square brackets. At the end of the article, the Note is explained: "He made some minor changes and additions, which are all contained within square brackets [ ]. "Aunt Mardie" and "Grandpa Chitty" were significant people during Mr. Briggs's boyhood. They were actually cousins of his......(7) So this name story is apparently Mr. Briggs's recollection. Had he gotten the story from Mr. Chittenden or his daughter? Were his recollections correct?
I have not been able to confirm Mr. Chittenden's birth date. An internet search shows his grave marker in Madison Connecticut. But only his birth year and death year are shown.
How Did I Come To Have The Paper?
It was strictly accidental and my good fortune! My mother was going to donate several books that she had to one of the local thrift stores. She had asked beforehand if I wanted them. The Mining Location paper fell out as I was thumbing through the pages of one of the books. She had no idea what the paper was about or where it had come from.
She had obtained the books from a friend when we were living in Winkelman, Arizona. Years ago, her friend, a Mrs. Finch, and she were taking art lessons together. Mrs. Finch was using the books for inspiration for her artwork. She gave the books to my mom. The books themselves do not seem to have any association to mining or to this paper. Mrs. Finch is no longer alive. One of her sons, Neil, is married to one of my sisters. Neil has no recollection of the notice nor had he ever heard either of his parents mention any stories connected to Christmas, the name story, Mr. Mellor, or mines in general up that way. We seemed to be at a dead end on the issue until I mentioned the paper to a high school buddy of mine. He remembered Mr. Finch telling a story about taking his wife out to visit an old prospector living in Dudleyville, which is just south of Winkelman. At the end of the visit, the old prospector apologized profusely to Mrs. Finch that he had been so shabbily dressed. My friend, Mike, remembers that the prospector's name was Mellor. So the Finches knew Mr. Mellor. Had he given them the paper? And if so, why?
I just recently went back and looked at two other pieces of paper that were in the book with the Mining Notice. One is a publicity brochure put out in the 1960-s-70's by the Hayden/Winkelman Chamber of Commerce. Inside there are photos and descriptions of the towns in the area. Under "Christmas", the Chittenden/Mellor story as it appears in Arizona Place Names is written. Since the two pieces of paper were together, my guess is that the Finches had made the connection between the Mining Notice, Mr. Mellor and the name story. Had they known of the connection earlier than this brochure? Did they realize that there was a discrepancy between the dates in the story and the dates on the notice? Could Mr. Mellor have ever clued them in? The other piece of paper is a modern copy of the creation of the Arizona Territory that at this point in time does not seem to be connected to the other two.
By coincidence, my dad, who is also alive, knew of Mr. Mellor. When my dad was in high school, he remembers Mellor as an eccentric old man living in a shack out in a mesquite thicket with many burros always hanging around. My dad says that you would have never guessed that he had once been a prominent mining man. Mr. Mellor died in 1938. He is buried in the Winkelman cemetery.
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References:
1. Newspaper article,"Ghost Town named after Christmas is Also a Reminder of Mining Era", published by East Valley Tribune, December 2005:
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/article_69927a7a-06a6-5fa8-9788-f8ae5175e6fe.html
2. Newspaper article, "Yes, Arizona there was a Christmas", published by the Arizona Republic, December 2005:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/1212christmas1212.html
3. Executive Order signed by President Roosevelt returning the Mineral Lands to the Public Domain:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=76698
4. Arizona Place Names, University of Arizona Press, 1988, page 93
5. Ghosttowns of Arizona, James Sherman, page 31
6. Copper Handbook Volume V for the year 1904 published 1905, page 700:
7. "Christmas" Excerpts from Happy Memories of a Great, Great Aunt, a four page document in a folder of Information on Christmas Arizona at the Gila County Historical Museum, Globe Arizona
8. Ore Deposits of the Saddle Mountain and Banner Minng Districts, Arizona, Bulletin 771, Clyde Ross, 1925, page 53
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