|
 The
Superstition Mountain highlands have produced some
interesting stories about Arizona pioneers. Such a
pioneer was William George Knight.
Knight was born in Carpella, Cornwall, England on
November18, 1875, and traveled to American 1882. The
first home Knight remembered as a child in America
was the Silver King Mine, four miles north of
modern-day Superior.
Billy Knight, as he was known to his friends,
learned about livestock while working with Mexican
woodcutters around the Silver King Mine and working
for Gene Middleton, who owned and operated the
Silver King Livery Stable.
Knight found his way to the Reavis Ranch in 1892
with a group of friends. John J. Fraser took a
liking to the 17-year-old and Knight never returned
to the Silver King Mine. For the next 23 years he
lived on the Reavis Ranch and learned the cattle
business and became ranch foreman for Fraser. A
newspaper article dated October 2, 1897, reported
that Knight suffered from severe rheumatism even as
a youth. This young man was cured from a very
haunting disease by rigors of ranch life, the
outdoors and determination. Billy Knight became a
loyal friend of John J. Fraser for this opportunity.
 During
those years, Knight met the old “Hermit of
Superstition Mountain” on the trail many times. He
told stories about old man Elisha Reavis, the
“hermit”.
One story that created a lot of interest was the
story about Reavis and a bear. According to Knight,
Reavis was quite a hunter and a sure shot with his
45-70 Winchester repeating rifle. While riding
through the timber south of his dugout, Reavis came
upon a sow bear. The bear refused to give way to
Reavis and his burro. Reavis jacked a round into the
chamber of his Winchester and pulled the trigger.
The primer popped and the bullet went a short
distance down the barrel of his rifle. The sow bear
then took a look at Reavis and, with a grin on her
face, casually walked off into the brush.
Another story Billy Knight like to tell about old
man Reavis was the time when ten heavily armed
Apaches camped across the creek from his dugout in
1881 planning to kill him. They respected his
ability with a rifle and decided to wait him out.
Old man Reavis turned the tables on the Apaches by
stripping off his clothes and then in the nude, with
a flaming red beard and two knives, he charged the
Apache camp screaming and swinging his knives
wildly. The Apache jumped on their horses and rode
off never to molest old man Reavis again. Reavis’
demeanor that day convinced the Apaches he was
insane. The Apaches believed they should never
bother a crazy person.
By the turn of the 20th century, Billy Knight had
created quite a reputation as a cowboy in the
Superstition Mountains. But his life changed forever
when he met Eunice Ann Riggs. She came to the Reavis
Ranch to visit her aunt, Edith May Clemans, and
remained in Arizona, teaching school in Mesa. Eunice
and Billy were married in St. Mary’s, West Virginia
on December 9, 1913. He took his bride back to the
Reavis Ranch on horseback in January, 1914.
 When
John J. Fraser sold the Reavis Ranch to W.J. Clemans
in 1909, Knight remained on as foreman, with the
privilege to run some of his own cattle. When the
sale occurred, there was no deed to the property.
Both Fraser and Knight were aliens and could not
homestead public land in the United States, so
Knight’s wife Eunice homesteaded the Reavis for
Clemans and acquired a deed to the property in 1919.
It was about this time that Dick Trevathan and old
Herman Petrasch rebuilt the interior of the old log
house. They laid a wooden floor and put up heavy
wallpaper. The kitchen still had a dirt floor with a
cook stove, cupboard and water bench at one end.
Knight had worked as a cowboy on the Reavis since
1892, and was very familiar with the range. He
worked with top hands such as William Harding Martin
Sr., Eas Brown, Frosty Cullom, Jack Martin, old
Esubio Lopez, Gabriel Robles and Chino Celaya. All
these men could take a packhorse and work for weeks
on the open range caring for cattle. They were real
cowboys.
Knight told stories about working 6,000 head of
mother cows on the Reavis range. He talked about
farming in the Reavis Valley, and told stories about
how rough and brushy the Reavis Range was. He said
it would challenge the best cowboys in the
Southwest. He often added, one good cow dog was
better than a half-a-dozen cowboys working cattle in
the brush. When Knight left the Reavis in 1915,
eventually moving to Florence, he placed the ranch
in the hands of another top hand, William Harding
Martin, Sr.
Knight formed another partnership with John J.
Fraser and started a large farming and cattle
operation near Florence. Knight and his wife raised
a fine family and were highly respected citizens in
the tri-city area of Florence, Coolidge and Casa
Grande. He was an active member of his community and
was the past Master Mason of Gila Valley Lodge #9.
William George Knight died in Casa Grande on April
28, 1956, of viral pneumonia at age 81. He was
buried in the Cole and Maude Cemetery east of town.
The “Emigrant Knight of Cornwall” made quite an
impact on the history of the Superstition Mountain
area and his community.
Stories of the old Upper Fraser Ranch (Reavis Ranch)
will continue for decades because of Eunice Riggs
Knight’s dedication to recording the adventures and
stories of living on the Reavis at the turn of the
century (Credit must be given to Ann Rose Knight for
much of the information in this story). |
