Pauline Weaver (1797 – June 21, 1867), born Powell Weaver, was an American
mountain man
A mountain man is an explorer who lives in the wilderness. Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through to the 1880s (with a peak population in the early 1840s). They were instrumental in opening up ...
, trapper, military scout, prospector, and explorer who was active in the early
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
. A number of geographic features in
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
are named after him.
Life
Weaver was born Powell Weaver in
White County, Tennessee
White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 25,841. Its county seat is Sparta.
History
On September 11, 1806, an act of the Tennessee General Assembly created White County out o ...
, the son of a white German father, supposedly Frederick Weaver or John Weaver of
Weaverville, North Carolina
Weaverville is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,120 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Chartered in 1875 and named for Michael Montraville Weaver ...
, and a
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
mother. As a young man he worked for the
Hudson’s Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
in Canada. In 1830 he traveled to the Rocky Mountains with a group of nearly 50 other men on a trapping expedition. The trip took him to
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...
, which he adopted as a base for his trapping and trading. It was among the people of Taos that his given name ''Powell'' was changed to the more-familiar to Spanish speakers ''Paulino'', which in turn was changed to ''Pauline'' by English speakers. In 1831 he traveled from Taos to California, going through Arizona for the first time.
In August 1832, Weaver was baptized into the Catholic faith, and the following month he married Maria Dolores Martin in Taos.
[Ken Edwards]
''Pauline Weaver’s early life as a trapper and scout''
, Sharlot Hall Museum, accessed 10 November 2010. They had a son and two daughters. He later married a
Native American woman in Arizona.
Weaver settled at a ranch near
Banning, California
Banning is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 29,505 as of the 2020 census, down from 29,603 at the 2010 census. It is situated in the San Gorgonio Pass, also known as ''Banning Pass''. It is named for Phi ...
in 1845, and lived there for more than ten years.
Weaver usually maintained excellent relations with the indigenous peoples of the region, and consistently tried to smooth relations between them and the American settlers. Despite the usually good relationship, Weaver was seriously wounded in an Indian attack in the 1860s.
Marshall Trimble
Marshall Trimble (born 1939) is an American author, singer, former community college professor, and Arizona's official state historian. In addition to his position as director of Southwest studies at Scottsdale Community College, he is a popular ...
, ''Roadside History of Arizona'', Missoula: Mountain Press, 1986, pp. 330–331.
General
Stephen Kearney
Stephen Peter Kearney (born 11 June 1972) is a New Zealand professional rugby league football coach who until 2020 was the head coach of the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL and a former player.
A New Zealand national captain and second-row for ...
recruited Weaver to scout for the
Mormon Battalion
The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to July ...
in 1846. He served the military off-and-on for the next 20 years, as a scout and as intermediary between the Army and Indian tribes. During the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, Weaver was the Chief of Scouts for the federal forces that engaged a Confederate unit on 15 April 1862 at the
Battle of Picacho Pass
The Battle of Picacho Pass, also known as the Battle of Picacho Peak, was an engagement of the American Civil War on April 15, 1862. The action occurred around Picacho Peak, northwest of Tucson, Arizona. It was fought between a Union cavalry ...
in Arizona.
In 1862, Native Americans showed Weaver where gold could be found on the east side of the Colorado River. The discovery led to a gold rush and the establishment of
La Paz, Arizona
La Paz (Yavapai: Wi:hela) was a short-lived early gold mining town along on the western border of current-day La Paz County, Arizona. The town grew quickly after gold was discovered nearby in 1862. ''La Paz'', Spanish for ''peace'', was chosen as t ...
, now a ghost town. A year later Weaver later led the Peeples party on a prospecting expedition up the upper
Hassayampa River
The Hassayampa River (Yavapai: Hasaya:mvo or ʼHasayamcho:) is an intermittent river, the headwaters of which are just south of Prescott, Arizona, and flows mostly south towards Wickenburg, entering the Gila River near Hassayampa. Although the ri ...
to what are now the Weaver Mountains, where they found placer gold at Rich Hill, near present-day
Yarnell, Arizona
Yarnell is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. The population of Yarnell was 649 at the 2010 census. Yarnell's economy is based on ranching, mining and services to travelers and retirees. Peeples Valley, t ...
. In Weaver’s honor the mining district was named the Weaver District.
[Maureen G. Johnson, (1972) ''Placer Gold Deposits of Arizona'', US Geological Survey, Bulletin 1355, pp. 61, 76.]
Death and further travels
Weaver died in 1867, and was buried at the
Camp Verde
Camp Verde ( yuf-x-yav, ʼMatthi:wa; Western Apache: Gambúdih) is a town in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town is 10,873.
The town hosts an annual corn festival in July, sponsored and orga ...
army post with full military honors in recognition for his military service and for his services in keeping peace with the Indians.
When the military closed the Camp Verde post, Weaver’s remains were moved to
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. In 1929, Arizona
Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts may refer to:
* Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement.
* Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement.
* An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...
and school children raised money to have his body returned to Arizona, and he was buried for the third and final time on the grounds of the Arizona territorial capital at
Prescott, Arizona
Prescott ( ) is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. The city is the county seat of Yavapai County.
In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona T ...
.
[
]
Arizona geographic features named after Weaver
* Weavers Needle
Weavers Needle is a column of rock that forms a distinctive peak visible for many miles around. Located in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, Arizona, Weavers Needle was created when a thick layer of tuff (fused volcanic ash)—a volca ...
in the Superstition Mountains
The Superstition Mountains ( yuf-x-yav, Wi:kchsawa) is a range of mountains in Arizona located to the east of the Phoenix metropolitan area. They are anchored by Superstition Mountain, a large mountain that is a popular recreation destination for ...
* in Yavapai County
Yavapai County is near the center of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 236,209, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Prescott.
Yavapai County comprises the Prescott, AZ M ...
* in Yavapai County
* in Yavapai County
* in Yavapai County
* in La Paz County
* in La Paz County
* Weaver, Arizona
Weaver, or Weaverville, is a former gold mining town, now a deserted ghost town, in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. All that remains are some rusting mining machinery, a partially restored cemetery, and the ruins of a stone house.
Histor ...
, now a ghost town, in Yavapai County
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weaver, Pauline
Arizona pioneers
American Civil War spies
American explorers
American fur traders
American prospectors
American people of Cherokee descent
Members of the Mormon Battalion
Mountain men
People from Banning, California
People from White County, Tennessee
1797 births
1867 deaths
19th-century Native Americans