I.D. Mack. or J.D. Mack - Where Are You?

AI Generated

🔍 Cemetery Mystery: Who Was I.D. Mack?

In 1903, the body of an old prospector was discovered near Peoria, Arizona. His name? I.D. (or possibly J.D.) Mack. His identity was revealed through a dictionary and letter addressed to a mining woman named Mrs. Fanny Pogue of Tucson.

Mack had big dreams. The letter suggested that Mrs. Pogue fund a mining expedition and even suggested she join him in the hills. Mrs. Pogue apparently had sold many successful claims in the past. But before anything could come of it, he was found dead.

He was brought into Phoenix by the sheriff and Mohn and Dorris, undertakers, on August 20, 1903. The cause of death was "natural", and the body was "buried here last night" according to an August 21, 1903 article in the Arizona Republic. Newspapers later said the money from auctioning his few possessions would pay for a "decent burial and small headstone." But… where is he buried? No funeral record has surfaced. No headstone has been found. And the trail goes cold in Phoenix.

Was he ever truly laid to rest?

🕵️‍♀️ Have info on I.D. Mack? Drop us a comment or message. We're on the trail of another cemetery mystery!

Thomas A. Cochrane (1836-1894) - Prospector

Broderbund Clip Art

Thomas Augustus Cochrane was born in Canada around 1836 to parents who had immigrated to Canada from England.  In about 1838, his widowed mother brought Thomas and his older sister Mary Ann to Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois.

According to his obituary, Cochrane went to California in 1849 when he was only 13 years old.  He spent the rest of his life as a prospector and mining consultant.  He never married.

City directories, census returns and voter registrations record his travels throughout California and Arizona.  In 1864, he was a miner, living in San Francisco.  By 1870, he was a miner in Tuolumne, California.  He had moved to Pinal County, Arizona, by 1880.

Cochrane registered to vote in Maricopa County, Arizona, in 1886, although he continued to have business dealings in Globe.  By this time, he was well regarded as a mining man.

In June, 1890, Cochrane and his business partner Frank Kirkland were selling shares in a mining corporation with gold mines located near Harqua Hala.  One of the mines, the Golden Eagle, had been ‘jumped’ by M. H. Horn, and the partners along with Columbus Gray had to get an injunction to make Horn leave.

Cochrane returned from trip East in August 1890, after which he was planning to go to Baker City, Oregon, to superintend operations at a new mine there.  He was said to be a man of great skill and integrity.

Early in 1893, T. A. Cochrane made a prospecting trip into the Bradshaw Mountains.  In May, he was a member of the coroner’s jury convened to determine the cause of Tessie Murray’s (Letitia Rice’s) death.

Just a few days before his death, Cochrane was exhibiting a gold nugget the size of a hen’s egg, which he said was taken from a digging on the Hassayampa River north of Wickenburg.

Thomas A. Cochrane died in his room at a Phoenix boarding house on September 18, 1894, of what was almost certainly a heart attack.  Captain Calderwood took up a collection for his funeral expenses, which his sister in Illinois reimbursed shortly thereafter.  Cochrane was buried in City Loosley Cemetery, Block 16, Lot 7, Space N 1/3.

-Donna carr

Saloma E. Newland - Lady Prospector

Val Digital Art and AI

Saloma E. Larcombe Newland was a female prospector in territorial Arizona. She was born around 1838 in Massachusetts.  It is unknown who her parents were, or if she had any siblings.  Prior to 1880, there are no census records that list her, and what has been discovered comes mostly from newspaper articles. 

She lived in Ohio at some point, as her daughter Flora Larcombe was born on January 14th, 1859 in Steubenville, Ohio. Flora had married Barry Baldwin in 1875 who was a United States Marshal for the Northern District of California. 

Saloma also lived in California on and off for several years as Mrs. S.E. Larcombe, having married a Thomas B. Larcombe, a miner, at some point.  She divorced him in 1870.  In 1864, she worked as a sales agent in Virginia, Nevada Territory for the Florence sewing machine.  In 1866, she worked as the manager of the Western Union Telegraph Office in Santa Barbara, along with another job as operator at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.  She left California in 1877, and came to Arizona to pursue her interest in prospecting. 

She would continue her mining endeavours in Globe while managing a hotel in “Watsonville”, a mining camp near Ramboz peak.  After marrying Thomas Newland in 1878, together, they mined several claims, which included prospecting the Defiance, Pioneer, and Saloma Mines in the area of Globe.  In 1896, Thomas died of  chronic pneumonia at 66 years of age.  Saloma continued mining their prospects, earning her notoriety in the Arizona Republic, and an article written about her in the The San Francisco Call in 1897 called “Arizona’s Lady Prospector”. 

Saloma Larcombe Newland died of cancer December 31, 1898, and is buried in Loosley.  She has no headstone.  For more information on her, come to the Pioneer Military and Memorial Park to learn about this fascinating “lady miner”. 

- bio by Val Wilson

Thomas Jefferson Newland (1830-1896) - Prospector

 

Digital Art by Val

Thomas Jefferson Newland was born around 1830. He came to the Southwest in hopes that the dry, desert air would ameliorate a chronic respiratory condition. He was supporting himself as a prospector when, in 1877, he married a woman who had worked for several years as a telegraph operator. She too had an interest in prospecting and was willing to live in a tent in the desert. Together, they filed on several mining claims in Yavapai and Gila Counties.  As Newland’s health declined, his wife Saloma did the actual prospecting; she brought the ores to him so he could judge whether her find looked promising. Thomas Newland died of pneumonia on December 12, 1896, and was buried in City/Loosley Cemetery.

Saloma Newland (1838 - 1898) - Lady Prospector - Enterprising Women

Globe Mining District
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
//hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pan.6a17352

Saloma E. Larcombe Newland was a female prospector in territorial Arizona. She was born around 1838 in Massachusetts.  It is unknown who her parents were, or if she had any siblings.  Prior to 1880, there are no census records that list her, and what has been discovered comes mostly from newspaper articles. 

She lived in Ohio at some point, as her daughter Flora Larcombe was born on January 14th, 1859 in Steubenville, Ohio. Flora had married Barry Baldwin in 1875 who was a United States Marshal for the Northern District of California. 

Saloma also lived in California on and off for several years as Mrs. S.E. Larcombe, having married a Thomas B. Larcombe, a miner, at some point.  She divorced him in 1870.  In 1864, she worked as a sales agent in Virginia, Nevada Territory for the Florence sewing machine.  In 1866, she worked as the manager of the Western Union Telegraph Office in Santa Barbara, along with another job as operator at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.  She left California in 1877, and came to Arizona to pursue her interest in prospecting. 

She would continue her mining endeavours in Globe while managing a hotel in “Watsonville”, a mining camp near Ramboz peak.  After marrying Thomas Newland in 1878, together, they mined several claims, which included prospecting the Defiance, Pioneer, and Saloma Mines in the area of Globe.  In 1896, Thomas died of  chronic pneumonia at 66 years of age.  Saloma continued mining their prospects, earning her notoriety in the Arizona Republic, and an article written about her in the The San Francisco Call in 1897 called “Arizona’s Lady Prospector”. 

Saloma Larcombe Newland died of cancer December 31, 1898, and is buried in Loosley.  She has no headstone.  For more information on her, come to the Pioneer Military and Memorial Park to learn about this fascinating “lady miner”.