December 11, 2024
What's in a name? Plenty.
Sketchbook Daily Flashback Whip Out:"Itchy (Trigger Finger) Mickey"
(December 31, 202)
So, exactly, how did Cave Creek get its name?
December 22, 1873
Stationed at Camp McDowell, northeast of Phoenix, Arizona, a unit of the 5th Cavalry, led by Lt. Walter S. Schuyler, has been on the hunt since December 1, looking for bronco Apaches (Indians who have left the reservation).
Under Schuyler’s command are 11 enlisted men, 25 mules carrying supplies and ammunition, numerous civilian packers and 14 Indian scouts led by Chief of Scouts Al Sieber.
Daily Whip Out: "Al Sieber Chief of Scouts"The party scouts east of the Verde River and north of the fort, finding nothing. Crossing to the west side of the river, the patrol heads southwest, and some of the Apache scouts climb New River Mesa to get a look at the surrounding area. They find fresh signs of Tonto Apache activity.
After a cold night on the mesa above Elephant Butte, the scouts track signs down Cave Creek to a cave on the west bank of the stream. The scouts locate 11 wickiups (brush huts) “cleverly concealed” and hugging the cliff wall.
The scouts report their find to Lt. Schuyler, but he is afraid the hostile Tonto Apaches have already spotted the troops. If his force attacks straight on, the Apaches may escape into the rough hillocks northwest of Black Mountain.
Schuyler decides to guide the troop train westward to the Agua Fria River, making it appear the soldiers haven’t seen the renegade enclave.
After a day in camp, the troops openly march eastward along Camp McDowell Road (south of the present-day Carefree Highway). Schuyler is gambling the Apache lookouts, who are surely watching, will assume the soldiers are heading back to the fort. He is correct.
A few days before Christmas, Schuyler, Sieber and the Apache scouts quietly creep up alongside Cave Creek until they are opposite the Apache camp.
Once the first rays of morning break across the sky, the ambush party opens fire from its rocky concealment, killing nine Tontos.
An untold number of Indians flee in panic and escape, as the soldiers burn several tons of food.
Or, is this the genesis of the town's name?
An old Confederate deserter hailing from Missouri, Edward G. Cave (nicknamed "Old Rackensack"), prospected and mined in the Cave Creek area in the 1880s and ended up living in the cave that Cave Creek is named for after the turn of the century. The dates aren't clear but he appears to have died in or near the cave around 1912, depending on who you believe. Some have speculated he is the genesis of the town's name, although military maps show the area as Cave Creek in 1866 before "Old Rackensack" even came to the area (1870).
"The problem with local history is the people who lived it don't want the truth, they want to be absolved of the truth."
—Old Cave Creek Saying
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