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I
can not claim to be Chuck Aylor’s biographer, but
while working for the Barkley Cattle Company in the
1950s I met Chuck and Peg Aylor on several occasions
and had many interesting conversations with them.
The first time I met Chuck Aylor was with my father
in 1948. The next time our trails crossed, Chuck
Aylor was at his Caballo Camp in East Boulder
Canyon. I believe it was in the summer of 1955.
Barkley had asked me to pack salt down to the Brush
Corral salt grounds. I found my way to Brush Corral,
dumped the salt and then decided to take the stock
over to East Boulder for a drink of water. As I was
riding up East Boulder I came upon Chuck and Peg
Aylor’s Caballo Camp. Chuck knew I worked for
Barkley the moment he saw me riding toward his camp.
I am sure Betty Barkley had told him. Chuck always
called me “Slim” or “Red” for obvious reasons. He
asked me to step down and talk for a little while.
He offered me a cool drink of water and a chance to
rest. This began my friendship with Chuck and Peg
Aylor that lasted for almost a decade.
 I
was no different than other visitors that stopped at
Caballo Camp. Chuck began his spill about the
mountains once he learned who my father was. We
talked for a couple of hours about the old Dutchman
and Spanish gold in the Superstitions. He offered to
take me over to see his mine, but I decline because
it was getting late in the afternoon and I needed to
get back to First Water Ranch and start the windmill
or Barkley.
Chuck was working closely with the Q.E.D., a
corporation on the East Coast at that time. A man
named Jim Butler was the lead man for Q.E.D., and
Chuck had taken him into the country above the Upper
Box of La Barge Canyon. I am sure he showed Butler
old Roy Bradford’s diggings at the head of the Upper
Box and they may have gone on into Miller Basin
looking for the juniper stumps.
Chuck Aylor was a very interesting man. He found
quoting Shakespeare a way of relaxation. I was told
Chuck had worked as a cook in an insane asylum in
Colorado prior to moving to Arizona. I heard many
stories about Chuck and Peg Aylor; some were
probably true and others were undoubtedly not.
Chuck was always packing people and their gear into
the mountains to make a little money. He had two
burros, one named Cisco and the other Jacko. There
were many occasions when I was sitting around a
campfire I would think of Chuck and Peg Aylor and
their many stories.
Chuck and Peg staked a claim in the Pioneer Mining
District near the Silver King Mine on January 20,
1937. They called the claim El Caballo. They soon
moved to the Superstition Mountain area in 1938 and
then recorded the Palomino #1 on February 24, 1939.
Chuck and Peg were actively involved with
prospecting and mining in the Superstition Mountains
from 1939-1961, according to the record books. I
have heard stories about them prospecting in the
Superstition Mountains as early as 1935.
My father and Bill Cage first met Chuck Aylor in
1937 on the old road to the Silver King Mine. About
1955 Chuck built Peg another house in La Barge
Canyon near the old Indian Paint Mine. Chuck had to
give up this residence and returned to Caballo Camp
when the forest service learned about the La Barge
house in an article written by Mary Leonard in the
Arizona Republic. The forest rangers would not allow
any permanent camps. Chuck’s La Barge Canyon
dwelling had a masonary wall and a large glass
picture window.
The last time I saw Chuck and Peg in the Caballo
Camp was in late spring of 1960 when I rode into
Charliebois Spring. Chuck Aylor had come in contact
with many of the old timers who had searched for the
Dutchman after 1900. Chuck believed in the gold of
Superstition Mountain, and many men have spent time
with Aylor prospecting and talking about these
mountains. Aylor’s stories still flourish because of
these people.
The other side of Chuck Aylor’s life was his wife,
Peggy. She considered herself an astrologer and also
thought of herself as a predictor of future events.
Peggy had also taken up oil painting and had painted
several pictures of the interior of the Superstition
Mountains. I have one of her paintings in my
collection that was done about 1951. There is a good
possibility that several of Peggy Aylors’ oils still
exist around Apache Junction.
The Aylors were a special part of Superstition
Mountain history. They were icons to many old timers
who hiked the trails of the Superstition Wilderness
in the 1950s and early 1960s. Their names have been
etched into the pages of Superstition Wilderness
history and will remain there forever.
Chuck and Peg Aylor both passed away in the early
1960s leaving behind a legacy of searching and
dreaming. |
