In the early spring came reports of Indian raids to the eastward. So
Young hauled in a number of double-length ties, which he set on end,
making a stockade, within which he placed his camp, mainly of tents.
Later were brush shelters within, but the great log house, illustrated
herein, was not built until afterward. Thereafter was attached the name
of Fort Moroni, given by Young, who organized the Moroni Cattle Company.
At the time of the coming of the grade to Flagstaff, Young also had a
camp in the western end of the present Flagstaff townsite.
Fort Moroni was acquired about 1883 by the Arizona Cattle Company. The
large building was used as a mess house. The stockade ties were cut down
to fence height and eventually disappeared, used by the cowboys for fuel.
An entertaining sidelight on the settlement of what later generally was
known as Fort Valley has been thrown by Earl R. Forrest of Washington,
Penn., in early days a cowboy for the Arizona Cattle Company. He writes
that the building formed one side of a 100-foot square, with the stockade
on the other three sides. In his day, the name of the ranch was changed
to Fort Rickerson, in honor of Chas. L. Rickerson, treasurer of the
company. Capt. F.B. Bullwinkle, the manager, a former Chief of the
Chicago Fire Department, and a lover of fast stock, was killed near
Flagstaff, thrown from a stumbling horse while racing for the railroad
station. Thereafter the property passed into the possession of the
Babbitt Brothers of Flagstaff. The old building was torn down late in
1920.
In August, 1908, the first forest experiment station in the United States
was established in Fort Valley.
The great spring is used only for watering cattle, and the spring at
Flagstaff appears to have been lost in the spread of civilization.
LeRoux spring was named for Antoine LeRoux, principal guide of the famous
survey expedition of Lieut. A.W. Whipple, along the 35th parallel, in
1853. Incidentally, this is the same LeRoux who was principal guide of
the Mormon Battalion.