Long explanations are good. I think there should be some dialog on the history of the area. I am finding lots of things are not quite as accurate as stated in some of the books or in the oral histories.

It was my understanding that Richville is now covered by Lyman Lake. When was it known as Walnut Grove? I am surprised by that name because I didn't think walnuts grew wild in Arizona.

The dam broke April 15, 1915. That is the flood that drowned Josefa Saavedra and her baby at El Tule.

If El Vadito was a land grant, as Solomon Barth said it was, then people were living or herding along the Little Colorado much earlier than how written history has it. I haven't squared away when land grants were last issued and if El Vadito was a bona fide land grant. I would like to see the papers for Barth's filing of squatters rights for El Vadito, as his great grandson states he had done.

When Manuel Antonio Candelaria brings his newly started family back to the Concho area in 1861, he reported that "there were a handful of others living along Concho Creek." I would suspect the same for the Little Colorado area.

I have read about why St. Johns wasn't named San Juan in the first place. However, I do like it better than the name Salem. I came across another report of the bridge being built in 1873. Was the bridge located at where Apodaca Sreet ends? Or was that another bridge that got washed out?

I find it interesting that Sol Barth and his brothers never filed for homesteads, except Federico Barth filed for one in New Mexico. I cannot find any filings on Antonio Luna. Saavedra doesn't file for one until the 1880s. I think Jose Maria Baca was there along the Little Colorado in 1871 - per his homestead petition information.

There are a lot of loose ends and inaccuracies in the history for the area, and Sol Barth may be the one to thank for that. He was a slick gambler with a "take the money and run" attitude. The best gambler will have everyone suspicious and guessing about everyone else, except of him. I can only imagine what webs were spun to fuel the friction between all the people that settled in the Little Colorado area.

I would love to hear your account on McNary! I don't know that much about McNary and how it was started. Coming across the Cooley name piqued my interest for McNary.

Thanks for Posting!
Clarissa