Some of the history of the Scott Brothers was written about in Where Have All the Sheep Gone? Sheep Herders and Ranchers in Arizona – A Disappearing Industry new information on them have come to light. There were four brothers, Raleigh, Robert, James and George, of which three definitely have connections to sheep. Their uncle, Felix, was also a sheep man. All the Scott’s were from Oregon. Robert and James came after their uncle, Felix, and encouraged George to follow them to the Arizona territory. Besides the name of the fourth brother, Raleigh, little is know of him. More research may unearth new information on him and add to the Scott story.
More is known about George than the other brothers. George had originally set up his camp in Forestdale, then moved to an area just south of Show Low. A few years before he came, the Mormons had built a log cabin at Forestdale. This was 1870. George had the cabin taken apart, numbered each log, then the logs were moved to his new camp and put back together. On this land the brothers built Scotts Reservoir to insure a water supply for their livestock. It is known that James had his camp near Pinedale and Robert owned land where the Scotts Pine Meadow is located today.
George married the widow of the father of Sante Jaques, Anna Christina Jaques. Jaques is well documented in the abovementioned book. It was Scott who introduced young Jaques to sheep. George had 16,000 sheep. He would trail his sheep each winter to the Salt River Valley, but first he would burn his pasture land to rid it of the small trees beginning so they would not get a foothold on his pasture. In the Salt River Valley, George had 320 acres which he kept in alfalfa which allowed his sheep to have winter feed. In good years, he would sell his lambs to eastern markets prior to heading the ewes and rams back up the trail to summer grazing leases.
Before the Pleasant Valley War, the sheep trail was forged by the sheep herders and the sheep. There was no exact trail. Then a mile wide stretch of land was established for the herds. The trail began in east Mesa, cross the Verde River at Blue Point and then up the Mogollon Rim to their summer grazing in the White Mountains. If the land was dry because of dry winter conditions, the sheep would be taken by railcar to the White Mountains. George had grazing leases on the Apache Reservation.
Many locations are named after the Scotts and other sheep men in this part of Arizona- Scotts Reservoir and Scotts Pine Meadow, (Joseph) Sponseller Lake and Mountain, and Morgan Flat after William Morgan.
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I enjoyed reading about the Scott brothers. They were contemporaries of my ancestors the Amos brothers, who were also sheep ranchers from Oregon that were based in Lakeside, Arizona. My great uncle Will Amos was later one of the directors of a bank here in Mesa that was formed by Robert Scott. I would be glad to send you articles and information the Amos brothers if you are interested.
In your article on the Scott brothers, I noticed a date that is in error. You say that it was 1870 that the Mormons built a log cabin in Forestdale. Forestdale did not exist until the Mormon pioneers first arrived there in 1878. They were completely gone from Forestdale by 1883 (see pages 166-167 of this article on Mormon Forestdale https://ldr.lafayette.edu/concern/publications/cz30ps97x )
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Thank you for letting me know about the date. I will research my notes as I either typed it wrong or got it from another source. I will correct if wrong. I have been trying to get information on the Amos who were sheep men in Arizona. Care to share anything?
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Hi.
Thanks for the reply. Who do I have the pleasure of corresponding with? I couldn’t find your name anywhere. My name is Lonnie Amos West. I was born in Mesa in 1952, but I have a lot of pioneer heritage in the White Mountains of Arizona. All four of my great grandfathers (Corydon E, Cooley, Edmund L. Ellsworth, John A.West, Milton M. Amos) arrived there in the 1800s. My two grandfathers, Ezra West and Abe Amos, were both early sheep ranchers based in Lakeside, Arizona. Ezra had a smaller sheep operation from 1886 to the early 1900s . He and his sons (including my father) herded their sheep sometimes going as far as Wickenburg. Ezra eventually became a store and hotel owner in Lakeside. The Amos family had a much larger scale sheep business and my great uncle, Will (AKA “W.N.”) Amos, became Vice President of the Eastern Division of The Arizona Wool Growers Association in 1903. I would love to share some basic Amos family history and newspaper articles of the day with you, but the WordPress website won’t allow me to attach files to my reply. If you can contact me directly at lonalwest@cox.net I would be happy to send you what I have.
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I sent detailed information with pictures and articles about the Amos family on 8/29/2021 and again on 9/10/2021 to the “hotmail” email address you provided. I never received a reply, so I’m not sure if you got it or not. If you need me to send it again just let me know.
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