The Hassayampa River begins north of Wickenburg, in the Bradshaw Mountains and empties into the Gila River near Arlington. Dry most of the year, the Hassayampa has been the stuff of legend throughout the history of Arizona.
The name "Hassayampa" is Apache for "river that runs upside down" because it flows beneath the sandy surface, according to the Arizona Traveler's Handbook by Bill Weir. But other sources indicate that it may be a Mojave word meaning "beautiful water." Still others claim it is a Yuma word for "hidden water."
Regardless of the origins of its name, the Hassayampa was discovered to be a rich gold-bearing river. Its most famous mine, the Vulture in Wickenburg, made German Henry Wickenburg a very wealthy man when he discovered gold along the Hassayampa in 1863.
There is one tale about the Hassayampa which has a solid foundation in fact. According to Thomas Penfield, author of "Dig Here!", there is a lost treasure somewhere along the Hassayampa somewhere between Wickenburg and the mouth of the river. In February of 1890, a dam located 40 miles north of Wickenburg burst due to an abundance of snowfall in the Bradshaw Mountains. Twenty miles downstream from the large dam was a smaller dam to control the overflow. Penfield tells us, "The loss of life in the flood was never established, but 83 bodies were later recovered, some as many as 25 years later when their skeletons were found in the sand along the Hassayampa...In the Conger Store at Seymore, $1500 was hidden in the rafters of the building. This was swept away together with $5000 in gold kept in a heavy iron safe in Bob Brow's Saloon." The safe and the money has never been found and may still be lying somewhere, just beneath the surface of the banks of the Hassayampa.
But, perhaps the most famous legend regarding the Hassayampa is that
whoever drinks of its waters will never again tell the truth. Judging by
the number of tall tales told by local old-timers, this is one legend
that might just be true.
