Headed out with Stoic to follow up on some previous trips, throwing in the Sundad ghost town / rock art as a side trip.
First up was the Oatman Massacre site. The actual massacre site is up on the bluff, not just the memorial down on the very dusty Oatman Flat. Stoic agreed I was not exaggerating about the depth of the dust on the farm access road. Reminder: Cars should park at the Fourr Cemetery, then walk in. The massacre site itself is marked by a stone mound, topped by a cross, next to which is a historical sign. It is believed this is where the parents were buried, with the children being buried in several very scattered mounds to the side. (Lots of wagon trains passed by over the decades.) I explained the circumstances of the massacre, and that afterwards the Western Yavapai had supposedly taken the Oatman girls to the Agua Caliente hot springs, pointing out the not-too-far distant Agua Caliente Mountains. We poked around for a few minutes on top, then headed back to the Stoic’s Xterra.
FYI: The Eva character on AMC’s “Hell on Wheels” is highly fictionalized. The real Olive Oatman never worked in a brothel.
Next stop: Sundad.
GPS File: Oatman_Massacre_Fourr_Cemetery
Fourr & Oatman Video
Oatman Massacre Site / Fourr Cemetery from Preston McMurry on Vimeo.
