Knagge Trail – 2/15/2018

Looking down into the clouds from the top of the Knagge Trail. February 2018.
Looking down into the clouds from the top of the Knagge Trail. February 2018.

Clouds cover the mountain, small waterfalls decorate highway road cuts and on the trail every small drainage is flowing – the variety on the mountain is infinite, what an interesting day to be on the Knagge ‘Trail’!

The Knagge Trail is still drawn onto maps of Santa Catalina Mountains, but like the Davis Spring and Brush Corral Trails, it disappears long before reaching it’s eastern terminus. You can, of course, still make your way down to the junction of the Knagge Trail and the Davis Spring Trail in Edgar Canyon, and even find occasional convincing pieces of old trails, but at this point it is an off-trail adventure.

Old cabin site. February 2018.
Old cabin site. February 2018.

From Look to the Mountains, p. 69:

In addition to their homestead and the pack train, The Knagges worked a mining claim in the Catalinas. It was located on the east side of Kellogg Mountain. From around 1916 into the 1930’s, the family spent time at the claim during the summer under very rustic conditions. A simple cabin provided shelter and a spring supplied them with fresh water. On occasion, a mountain lion stalked the camp, lured by their horses and burros.

Mine below the cabin - first time I have seen water flowing here! February 2018.
Mine below the cabin – first time I have seen water flowing here! February 2018.
A distant waterfall thru the clouds. February 2018.
A distant waterfall thru the clouds. February 2018.

Headless Windmill in Geesaman Wash – 8/5/2016

Headless Windmill in Geesaman Wash at 'Deep Well'. August 2016.
Headless Windmill in Geesaman Wash at ‘Deep Well’. August 2016.

As a result of the mining and ranching history on the east side of the Santa Catalina Mountains there are a seemingly infinite number of dirt roads criss-crossing the landscape. One of these roads splits off from the Black Hills Mine road and works along the ridge between the Geesaman and Stratton Washes. Below the road, in Geesaman Wash, at a site labeled ‘Deep Well’ a headless windmill stands near a large, impressively full, water tank – the solar panels that replaced the windmill sit below the old tower.

Finley Geesaman, 1830-1917, staked a number of claims in the Old Hat Mining district and this wash and a mine group higher on the mountain bear his name. A short obituary appeared in the Arizona Daily Star on December 18, 1917:

Finley Geesaman.

Up to 9 o’clock last night, pioneers of Tucson visited the Reilly Undertaking parolrs [sic] to take a last look at the long familiar features of Finley Gessaman [sic], who died Saturday night at a local hospital after a brief illness, at the age of 87. The remains will be shipped this morning to his boyhood home, Quincy, Ill., to rest beside the graves of his father and mother. Mr. Gessaman is survived by a number of nephews and nieces, beneficiaries under his will of an estate estimated at about $60,000. His holdings include a number of claims in the Catalina mountains. Once the owner of the old Condon mines, he sold them to the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining company.

There are two photos of F. Geesaman in the Geesaman Family Newsletter #11 (Volume III, July, 1977, No. 3) – a portrait and a photo of Geesaman in the door of a cabin in the Santa Catalina Mountains. These photos accompany a letter written by Geo. P. Myers to Miss Amanda F. Geesaman of Rouzerville, Pa. after Geesaman’s death.

A horseshoe in the Deep Well area of Geesaman Wash. August 2016.
A horseshoe in the Deep Well area of Geesaman Wash. August 2016.
A flower surviving in the middle of Black Hills Mine Road. August 2016.
A flower surviving in the middle of Black Hills Mine Road. August 2016.
Marked on the map as 'Drill Hole' this small site sits on the slope of Alder Canyon below Black Hills Mine Road. August 2016.
Marked on the map as ‘Drill Hole’ this small site sits on the slope of Alder Canyon below Black Hills Mine Road. August 2016.