(Originally written by Richard Gorby & edited and updated by Kathy Krause.  Original article was published in the Prescott Courier on August 30, 1998.)

(Ed note: Many Prescottonians remember well the hill between Lowes and the Gateway Mall on Route 69 as “Bullwhacker Hill.”  Today the name is rarely heard.  A remnant of the old road, with its gentle curve, is still visible on the slope to the north of the present highway, below the Lamb and York car dealerships.  In January of 1988, the hill was “in for a whacking” by the highway department when they began construction to straighten the road and lower the rise of the hill.  Today, the Gateway Mall is at its top, but 137 years ago the Bullwhacker Mine was in that spot.  The mine changed hands many times, was discarded many times and, although called Salvador for a while, still retained the Bullwhacker name.)

Bullwhacker Hill was named for the Bullwhacker Mine that used to sit near its top at what is now the Gateway Mall. The Costco store would be located in this 1891 photograph above the hat of the man leaning against the rocks (Call Number: M-197pb).

From the Arizona Miner Newspaper:

-April 2, 1875: “Kent and McHenry have purchased the Salvador Mine, otherwise known as ‘Bullwhacker Lode,’ some three miles east of Fort Whipple or four miles N.E. of Prescott.”

-August 11, 1876: “On Monday morning, we saw at the store of C. P. Head & Co. the nicest bar that Arizona has ever produced from quartz gold, so far as we have any knowledge.  This was the result of 93 tons of rock from the Bullwhacker mine.”

-March 23, 1877: “The Bull-whacker Mining Company has contracted with the Aztlan mill for the reduction of 200 tons of gold ore from their mine.  This mine has paid well, in the past, and will no doubt give a good account of itself in the future.”

And, much later in the Miner:

-November 20, 1901: “Rumors of all sorts have been circulating in Prescott recently about rich strikes being made in the old Bullwhacker mine, located about three miles northeast of Prescott.  The property was being worked by C. E. M. Beall, who found the shaft caved in, the timbers rotten, and the old mine generally in bad condition.”  But the Miner hoped for the best: “When this is in operation, Prescott will be for the first time in its history within hearing distance of a mining whistle, although for years it has been the center of one of the best mining sections in the west.”

Present day view from near the same location as the mine photo of 1891. The photo was taken from the parking lot at the east end of the Gateway Mall. Costco is the white building at the left (Courtesy Krause Personal Collection – 11-16-12).

But what of the name, bullwhacker?  Just what is a bullwhacker?

From Webster’s Dictionary: “bullwhacker: a driver of a team of oxen in the early days of settlement.”

A bullwhacker, then, was a man who whacked bulls.  Why did bulls need whacking?  Horses, and even mules, seemed to grow accustomed to their pulling of wagons cross-country to the West, but, from all accounts, bulls or oxen never grew to enjoy it, and made their distaste clear in many interesting ways.

The aspiring bullwhacker, usually a young man in his early twenties, was first required to put his ox team together, usually from a corral of rampaging young bulls.  The typical team was made up of twelve oxen: two “leaders” (the brains of the team, and they also set the pace for the rest); six called the “swing” (all the unbroken riff-raff, a sort of apprentice lot); two “pointers” (controlled the “swing” bulls); and finally, two “wheelers” who were yoked onto the tongue of the wagon and were the main reliance in emergencies.

With luck, the young bullwhacker would be helped by the wagonmaster in picking out the best for each of the twelve.  From William Jackson’s “Bullwhacking to Salt Lake City,” the twenty year-old Jackson wrote:

“It was with a sinking heart and with a courage sustained by grim determination that I shouldered a yolk and ventured out into the turbulent mass of bovines for the off wheeler that was pointed out to me as the first of my team.  Having once been assigned a particular ox for a certain place in the team, we were expected to recognize it in subsequent yokings, no matter how involved it might be with the 300 or more of its fellows in the crowded corral.  There was but little trouble getting the two “wheelers,” for they were old-timers, and with the bow once around their neck, submitted easily to being led up to the wagon.”

With the other ten oxen, things didn’t go as well!  Jackson’s next task was to bring in his assigned “leader.”

He continues, “I trailed him around for some time, maneuvering for a first attempt, but when he found out what I was up to he became wary and gave me a lively chase, dashing into the most crowded part of the corral while I kept up the pursuit, encumbered with a heavy yoke, besides being knocked around, squeezed and stepped on most plentifully.”

It took young Jackson eight hours to get his team of twelve attached to the wagon!

But why was our Prescott hill called Bullwhacker when the Prescott area had no ox-teams at that time?  The answer is that the hill was named just a few years after the founding of Prescott by the Bullwhacker Mining and Gold Company of Globe, Arizona, where there were many ox teams.

“Then and Now” photos confirm the approximate location of the mine which sat atop Bullwhacker Hill. The Bullwhacker Mine, shown here in 1891, was located approximately in the center of what is now the Gateway Mall (before the hill was cut down and leveled). The ‘now’ photo was taken November 16, 2012 from the parking lot at the east end of the Gateway Mall – note Costco is the white building at the left (Call Number: M-197pb with Krause courtesy photo).

Republished in Prescott Courier: November 25, 2012