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Americn Pioneer
& Cemetery Research
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Internet Publication
Version 061411
THE BRADSHAW BROTHERS AND THE BRADSHAW TRAIL
By Kathy Block
APCRP Historian
Bradshaw
City and its cemetery, and Isaac Bradshaw's grave, have been discussed in several
fine APCRP articles.
They touched on the history and lives of two intrepid men who expanded a trail
that became the Bradshaw Trail thru Southern California. The brothers ran a ferry
across the Colorado River. One of them pushed on into the mountains of Arizona.
Here is more of the story of Isaac and William Bradshaw, true pioneers of the
late 1800s in Southern California and Arizona. I was able to access original
documents, later quoted by others, via a vigorous internet search, adding
interest and depth to their history.
William
David Bradshaw was born in Tennessee around 1826, but then lived in South
Carolina. He may not have been married. His tragic death on Dec. 2, 1864, in La
Paz, Arizona, will be discussed later.
His older brother, Isaac Bradshaw, was born in
1819 in North Carolina. Isaac married Frances Burdette Combs on Aug.22, 1843,
in Johnson County, Missouri. The 1860 Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California
Census lists Isaac, age 41, as a married white farmer; wife Francis B., age 34;
and two children, Maria age 13 and Francis age 9, both born in Missouri. Isaac
died of pneumonia on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1885. Francis had applied for a
homestead in Sonoma County on May 14, 1866, and she (nicknamed Fannie) lived in
Santa Rosa, California by 1870 with her daughter and son-in-law, John W. and
Maria Bradshaw Combs. She outlived Isaac, dying in Santa Rosa of ulceration of
the stomach at age 70, Oct. 14, 1894, and is buried in Santa Rosa. Isaac is
buried in a remote area of the Bradshaw Mountains near a riparian area at
Bradshaw Springs. The couple apparently had lived apart for many years.
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2006 Photo’s of
Isaac Bradshaw's Grave, Courtesy of Neal Du Shane
An original
document: Reminiscences of a Ranger; or Early Times in Southern California by Major
Horace Bell, (1830-1918) was written in 1881. Bell headed Chapter XXVII about William Bradshaw with “Bradshaw-A
True Gentleman and Natural Lunatic”. Bell's description of William Bradshaw,
often quoted by later writers, is classically florid: “(Bradshaw) was one of
nature's most polished gentlemen and brightest jewel in America's collection of
true born chivalry. (He) was brave, generous, eccentric, and in simple truth a
natural lunatic. In manly form and physical beauty, perfect; in muscular
strength, a giant; in fleetness of foot and endurance, unequaled.”
He
began his account with “Bill” turning up in Sonoma in 1846. He was 20 years old
and working for Captain Salvador Vallejo, Mexican Post Commander, building a
picket fence. In an argument over how the fence was being built, this “despotic
authority” hit Bradshaw with the flat of his “Toledo.” Bill struck back with a
redwood picket, knocked the captain down, seized the sword, and pounded it into
“pot-hooks” with his axe! Bradshaw
realized what he'd done, seized his rife, and hastily headed for the Sacramento
Valley, only to return when this military post fell to the California “Bear
Flag Party”, in 1846, after the start of the U.S. Declaration of war against
Mexico on May 13, 1846. The commander, Vallejo, recognized Bradshaw and
supposedly said that “now I suppose I will be murdered, finding this assassin
in your force.” Bradshaw replied that an American never strikes an enemy when
he is down, shook Vallejo's hand, and promised him his friendship.
In
1847, after many adventures, Bradshaw was in Los Angeles as a Lieutenant in
Fremont's Battalion. He was noted there for his “wild freaks that astonished
the Dons and won the hearts of the Donas, among whom he was a universal
favorite.”
Next,
in 1851, he was involved in a French revolution at Mokelumme Hill, an early
mining site. A large French colony there refused to pay a “foreign minter's
tax” passed by the State Legislature. The French miners defied the power of the
sheriff and then the State to collect this tax.
Bradshaw commanded a battalion of militia and avoided an armed battle by
approaching the French commander and proposing that if blood was to be spilled,
let the question be settled by single combat between the two commanders. In the
end, this led to an amicable adjustment, the French rebels pulled down their
tri-color flag, and peace was made, especially when it was explained the tax
was to apply only to Chinamen. A note on the treatment of the Chinese miners
was that “the Chinamen, were vigorously pursued and made to feel the full force
of the law in filling the pockets of the Collector and his legion of deputies,
for very little of the gold wrung from the non-resisting Mongols found its way
into either the county or State treasuries!”
William
Bradshaw was called “Bunk” (from the fact he came originally from Buncum
County, South Carolina) and was, according to Bell, one of the “most witty
fellows to be found, and wherever he stopped a crowd of eager listeners would
surround him, and roars of merriment would respond to his well-turned points.”
One example, while he was in San Francisco, occurred at a dinner party. Someone
passed a dish of shrimps to him. He held the dish of shrimps in one hand and
said he'd never heard of a shrimp before, though he'd eaten “snakes, feasted on
lizards, and gormandized on grasshoppers.” He took a large handful and ate
until he finished the whole dish, shells, claws and all.
When
William joined the Sonoma garrison to enlist in August to join the revolt,
Isaac Bradshaw moved his family at that time to California. But, after 1862, Isaac left his wife and
children in California to join his brother William in operating a ferry across
the Colorado. Before that time, though,
news of Pauline Weaver's discovery of gold at the Plomosa placer mines in La
Paz reached California, in 1861. William decided to explore the gold fields for
himself!
In the
spring of 1862 William Bradshaw led a party of 8 men to the Plomosa mines. He
was determined to locate a shorter, better route. The existing routes to
Arizona required going a great distance southeast to Yuma, crossing the river, and
then north up the river to La Paz. He
and his party traveled an existing trail thru San Gorgonio Pass to the Salton
Sink. There, several Cahuilla villages were located and he befriended a
Cahuilla Chief named Old Cabezon and a Maricopa Indian mail runner from Arizona
who was visiting. The two Native Americans gave Bradshaw a map of ancient
Halchidoma Indian trade routes thru the desert, with the location of springs
and water holes, ending at the Colorado River near present day Blythe,
California.
The
route developed into the Bradshaw Trail. It was originally 180 miles long and
began east of San Bernardino in the San Gorgonio Pass. It went southeast thru “Agua Caliente”, now
Palm Springs, then south to the region where the Cahuilla Indians lived.
Bradshaw traveled east near present day Mecca at the northern tip of the Salton
Sink, to the foothills of the Orocopia Mountains, then to an existing stage stop called “Dos Palmas
Springs.” The trail continued east thru a pass between the Orocopia and
Chocolate Mountain ranges, around the southern end of the Chuckwalla Range,
crossed thru a gap in the Mule Mountains, and reached the Palo Verde valley two
miles southwest of the present community of Ripley. Water holes were found at roughly 30 mile
intervals at Canyon Springs, Tabaseca Tanks, Chuckwalla Springs, and Mule Spring.
Ed Block at
Chuckwalla Spring May, 2011.
The stone wall
around the dried up spring was erected to trap water for sheep and other
wildlife
Only damp mud
remained at this time
One
traveler, named Marion Dickerson Fairchild, and a friend, traveled this route
in August 1862. They traveled 11 days and still had 60 miles to go on the route
that Fairchild described as “the road” and “the beaten path.” They obtained
“good water” at Chuckwalla Springs. They were followed, a few weeks later, by
the first large group of miners. There were 150 well equipped miners and they
traveled the entire route without loss of a man or animal. Pack trains and
freight wagons began using the trail as soon as it opened. In the middle of
September, 1862, the first stage line began. The stage operated from Los
Angeles to La Paz and was named “The Colorado Stage and Express Line.” It was
owned by David Alexander. The “coach and six” trip took 4 to 5 days. For only a
few weeks the stage operated regularly, carrying passengers for a $40 fare. The
Concord coaches could carry 9 passengers inside and 6 more on the roof! At
times more people were crowded on the stages. One carried 35 people, counting
the driver and “shotgun” rider.
Ridership declined with the peak of the gold rush, and in 1863 the stage
was replaced with a mail route from Los Angeles to La Paz, then north to
Prescott, and east to Santa Fe.
The
trail veered northwest to a crossing of the Colorado River north of what is now
Blythe, California, and then on the Arizona Territory side it went approximately
4 miles upstream to the gold fields of La Paz. The trail became the main route
between Southern California and these gold fields of La Paz and other places in
western Arizona between 1862 and 1877. In Arizona, it later roughly went east
along the present route of Interstate 10, towards Wickenburg. Then, various
trails went north into the Bradshaw Mountains which are named after William Bradshaw.
Map of the Bradshaw
Trail, Courtesy Neal Du Shane
The
Bradshaw Trail, as it came to be known, was an ambitious enterprise for moving
passengers and freight, because at least half the route would be thru uncharted
desert washes and mountains. Water made the difference, as it was more
available compared to other routes thru the desert. Wells, such as Wiley's
Well, were developed when the distance between springs was more than 35 miles.
The route shortened the trip to the gold fields by at least several days and
soon became recognized as the primary route to the gold fields, at La Paz.
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Looking
SE in Chocolate Mtns, Bradshaw Trail in distance |
Old
bombs along Bradshaw Trail at edge of Navy Bombing Range, Chocolate Mtns. |
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Chocolate
Mtns, Looking north towards Imperial Gables |
Miners
traveled the Bradshaw Trail past the Little Chuckwalla Mtns, CA. Seeking
a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow |
Some of
the travelers along the Bradshaw Trail were miners and explored and prospected
in areas mainly north of the trail in California. One such effort may have been the Aztec
Mines. These mines are located several miles north of the Bradshaw Trail in the
Little Chuckwalla Mountains, not far from Chuckwalla Spring. We found three male graves on a plateau
directly below ruins of mine buildings. These could have been people who died
near the trail or miners from the Aztec Mines. The graves are a reminder of
harsh conditions faced by the early Bradshaw Trail travelers as they pushed
eastward towards Arizona.
Ruins at Aztec
Mines
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One
of several male graves found on a plateau below mine ruins |
Aztec
Mines, graves and Chuckwalla Spring, in
relation to Bradshaw Trail |
When
men and animals using the Bradshaw Trail reached the Colorado River, they
needed a safe way to cross. On November 7, 1864, the first legislature in
Arizona granted to Isaac Bradshaw an exclusive ferry franchise on the Colorado
River “at any and every point between what was known as Mineral City and a
point five miles above La Paz.”
William
Bradshaw and his brother Isaac Bradshaw and William A. Warringer, owners, ran their
ferry, from Providence Point, on the California side to Olive City on the
Arizona side. Olive City was about 6 miles south of La Paz and was named for
Olive Oatman. Earlier ferries had been simple rafts of tulles (bulrushes) rowed
by Native Americans. Bradshaw's ferry was a rude boat attached to a rope
spanning the Colorado. The boat could carry wagons and a limited number of
animals, and the current was the propelling power.
Here
were the rates in 1862 for this ferry:
Wagon and 2 draft animals, $4.00. ($60
today)
Additional team of 2 draft animals, $1.00.
($15 today)
Carriage with 1 draft animal, $3.00. ($45
today)
One “beast of burden, $1.00.
One horse or mule with rider, $1.00.
One “footman” (meaning somebody walking), $0.50 ($7.50 today)
Cattle and horses, per head, $0.50
Sheep, goat or hog per head. $0.25. ($3.75
today)
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Ferry
similar to ones used by the Bradshaw's. Courtesy
Mohave Museum of History and Arts, Kingman, AZ |
1926 Ehrenberg Ferry on the Colorado River at
Blyth, Courtesy
Mohave Museum of History and Arts, Kingman, AZ |
1880 “Official Map
of the Territory of Arizona” showing Bradshaw Ferry and a road near La Paz and
a road/trail going east
Courtesy Mohave
Museum of History and Arts.
Isaac
and William Bradshaw operated their ferry together for about a year. However, in 1863 William left to lead a group
of men into the range (which was later named Bradshaw Mountains) in search of
silver and gold ore, which had been reported in the Weaver Mining District, at
Rich Hill. He was too late to stake a
claim on Rich Hill, and headed on to Turkey Creek. In the fall of 1863 William
did strike gold and a new mining district was named in his honor, and he helped
establish Bradshaw City. William Bradshaw, who was a heavy drinker, returned to
Olive City in late fall a year later, in an attempt to “dry out”. He supposedly
got a bad case of “delirium tremens,” and while suffering “a particularly
horrible hallucination” slit his throat with a drawknife. He'd walked into a
carpenter's shop, picked up a drawknife, and with one stroke “nearly severed
his head from his shoulders.” He is buried in “an unmarked grave near La Paz.”
(I speculate whether he is buried in the
Ehrenberg Cemetery in
one of the many unknown graves. The historian, Major Horace Bell, commented
about his death: “Alas, poor Bradshaw! A better fellow never lived, and we will
now in charity draw the somber curtain of forgetfulness over his unfortunate
death, which occurred at Bradshaw's ferry on the Colorado River.” Another
historian, Robert Stragnell, in “The History of La Paz” (E Clampus Vitus
Internet site, 1989) wrote: “The most potent character who ever came to Arizona
was John Barleycorn. Came early and long survived and few were the men of that
early day upon whom he did not set his mark. It is not strange that men drank
and gambled almost universally in that time, for human existence was as arid as
surrounding nature, and it was far more pleasant and practicable to irrigate
the human system with alcohol than to bring water to the land.”
There
is some mystery about William Bradshaw's death. He was financially secure and
respected. He had been defeated as a democratic candidate for Delegate to Congress by an overwhelming plurality of 505
to 66, but his opponent was Charles D. Posten. (Later Governor of Arizona.) A
drawknife would most logically be used by an attacker standing behind a victim,
but an unlikely tool for suicide. Generally, both handles would need to be
gripped and the blade drawn towards an object. Bradshaw was very proficient
with the use of firearms, and they were a more commonly used suicide tool!
Also, the only known report was given by James Grant, who had a grudge against
Bradshaw, claiming that he (Grant) was the first discoverer of the Bradshaw
Trail route. No mention of the death is reported in the December 1864
newspaper. The probate of his estate filed in Yuma County listed his death
place as Bradshaw Ferry, Dec. 2, 1864. The original probate papers are missing
and no records of the contents and disposition of his estate are in the probate
record book.
Drawknife.
After
the tragic death of William Bradshaw, his brother Isaac got “gold fever” and
sold his interest in the ferry in 1867. He left his wife and children (who may
have been living in California) and tried prospecting in various areas. He
became a partner in a copper mining operation, but sold his interest in the
Copper Basin property and went to the southern Bradshaw’s. He wasn't very
successful, but made enough “to keep him in beans and bacon.” He died of
pneumonia Christmas Eve in 1885 at his claim in a gulch near Castle Creek,
where he is buried, as mentioned earlier in this article.
The
ferries over the Colorado River between Blythe and La Paz were finally replaced
by a bridge, built in 1928. Photos in the State Archives show a crude span, two
lane, with a dirt road leading to it. Now, a modern freeway bridge (I-10)
crosses at this point, from just south of Ehrenberg, Arizona to Blythe,
California.
In
summary, this article focused on the accomplishments of Isaac and William
Bradshaw and their pioneering efforts to establish the Bradshaw trail to bring
miners and adventurers to the new Territory of Arizona. Their ferry enabled easier travel across the
Colorado River. Their further adventures
to the north and east in Arizona have been described in other
APCRP articles.
Their name lives on in Arizona with the Bradshaw Mountains and Bradshaw
City. In California, remains of the
historic Bradshaw Trail provide backcountry driving recreation.
American Pioneer
& Cemetery Research
Project
Internet Publication
Version 061411
WebMaster: Neal Du Shane
Copyright © 2011 Neal Du
Shane
All rights reserved. Information contained within this website may be used
for personal family history purposes, but not for financial profit or gain.
All contents of this website are willed to the American Pioneer & Cemetery
Research Project (APCRP).
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