According to Arizona Republic newspaper articles,
December, 1906 and January 1907, Tortilla Flat's
splendid buildings and equipment were purchased by
Jack Fraser, Mayor of Fish Creek Hill. The buildings
were the property of Adam Ator, and many referred to
the settlement at Tortilla Flat as "Ator's Place."
Jack
Fraser turned Tortilla Flat into a stage station for
the changing of stock instead of the station at
Mormon Flat. The stage stations were then located at
Government Wells, Tortilla Flat, and Fish Creek. The
water piped into roadside troughs from the windmill
at Tortilla Creek had made Tortilla Flat a perfect
location for the stage station. During this period
the stage and freight lines traveling between Mesa
and Roosevelt Dam was operated by c.c. Cox of
Shattuck & Desmond. Frank Nash was the stage driver
along the Apache Trail in 1907.
Background information on Jack Fraser revealed that
he was born in Nova Scotia in 1855, of Scottish
parents. Jack was lured to Nevada at the age of 22
by the great Comstock silver strike. The strike was
reported to have made overnight millionaires in the
l870s and '80s.
In 1883
Jack came to Arizona at the height of the Silver
King boom, and worked as a miner in that camp for
many years. It was during that time Jack met and
worked with a young mining engineer named Herbert
Hoover. Jack became a booster for Hoover from then
on.
In 1889,
shortly after old Jim Reavis and his three burros
were found dead on the trail, Jack acquired the
Reavis cow outfit. This isolated ranch was located
about 15 miles southwest of Roosevelt Dam.
Here, in
this wild and almost inaccessible country, where
supplies had to be brought in on pack animals, Jack
built up the run-down Reavis outfit. Starting with
only Reavis' few hundred head, Jack built up his "J
F" brand to over 8,000 range cattle.
During
the construction days of the Roosevelt Dam the
people of Mesa had an agreement with Jack to use a
small pine grove adjoining his ranch, as a summer
resort. In 1910, Jack sold his wild, mountain ranch
to the Clemans family.
Jack
became one of Mesa's leading public spirited
citizens.
He
invested his money in farm land, citrus groves, and
business ventures in the surrounding area.
Among other investments, he obtained an interest in
Everybody's Drug Store. It was here during the last
years of his life that he spent most of his time. As
trade flowed in and out, Jack enjoyed looking over
magazines and joking with the youngsters and
citizens of the town. Jack Fraser died at the age of
88.
Originally, Tortilla Flat was on the opposite side
of the road from where it is now, and largely on the
other side of the creek. A bit of exploring down by
the creek will reveal foundation remains. In the
community's entire history there were never very
many buildings. Some of the residents, according to
letters received by previous owners, lived in big
army tents with wooden floors. The Arizona State
Data Center, which keeps track of population
statistics, has guidelines specifying a community
outside a major urban area, such as Phoenix, should
have 100 or more persons before they're recorded in
the official books. Tortilla Flat has never appeared
on their records, which suggests the town's
population, if it reached 100, did not remain there
very long.
Old
newspaper articles occasionally mention a small
"zoo" kept at Tortilla Flat in the early 1920s. A
letter from Alice Christiansen, who resided in
Tortilla Flat in 1925, described the zoo as having
wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, snakes, raccoons,
bobcats, wild pigs and lots more, including a bear.
The bear had, apparently, been raised from a cub.
Being considered somewhat tame, he was kept on a
chain in front of the general store. Unluckily for
Alice, the chain was a little too long. Alice was on
her way into the store to get some gum when the bear
grabbed her and bit her on the leg. The bite had to
be treated by a doctor in Mesa.
