King Woolsey's 1864 Campaign for Revenge

King Woolsey was away from his Agua Fria ranch, which was located around present-day Dewey. Instead, he was with Governor John Goodwin along the Verde when a messenger came with disturbing news. Fifty Native Americans “made a descent on [his] herd at mid-day, and before the herders could alarm the men at the ranch, they succeeded in driving off all the animals but one or two, which they killed,” the Arizona Miner described. Except for three yoke of oxen that were actively plowing the land, 30 head of livestock were lost.

This was not the first large loss Woolsey experienced, and he vowed to wreak revenge. “He will organize a company to hunt and punish the thieves, and if it is as successful as the party he headed [previously], which slaughtered twenty or more of them, he will have a good revenge,” the paper continued. “He is one of our most daring and skilled Indian fighters, and believes fully…in the extermination policy. And in view of the importance of the expedition, the Governor has made Mr. Woolsey an aide upon his staff, with the rank of Lt. Colonel.” The chance of capturing the 50 Natives who actually made the raid was so slight, it was never even considered, so revenge it was.

The Forgotten, Lost Town of Val Verde

 

The evening of September 24, 1904, was windy, and the smelter’s open building provided some relief from the heat of the furnace. Around 9pm, as part of their routine, workers wet down the furnace and began to remove, or “undrape” the liquid slag. This time, however, there was too much of the by-product, and the slag poured out of the furnace too quickly for the men to control it. 

“It spread over the floor, in front of the smelter,” the Weekly Journal-Miner explained, “and the molten slag, coming in contact with the water, caused [an] explosion, sending the hot metal all through the building; setting it on fire in a number of places.” While there was an abundance of water on hand, it was impossible to check the progress of the blaze as the strong winds fanned the flames. 

Not only was the building doomed, but so was the five-year-old town of Val Verde.