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Cline Family
George Cline
"From this point some fifty or so
years ago I helped trail one thousand and seventy-six bead of cattle to the Salt
River Valley. We went over Reno Pass." George Cline, 82-year-old cowman of
Tonto Basin, stood in front of the Punkin Center Store pointing to the Mazatzals
Mountains. "Took us fourteen days. I wasn't. much more than a button then,
and this was just about my first time beyond those hills."
From this point also Cline rode out to Phoenix another time. A medal explains
that trip: George Cline - World's Championship -Bull Tying - 1919 Arizona State
Fair."
"Me and John Armer won that roping," he said. "Was the first time
I'd ever seen that kind of tying. Now-a days they call it 'team roping.' For
many years I thought that there little old medal was bronze, and come to find
out, it's gold."
Again he rode out in 1923 to the Cheyenne rodeo, winning first in the calf
roping on a borrowed horse. From there he traveled to .Denver and New York where
he took money. He explained, "At Prescott I won three day monies and the
average a day only brought home five hundred dollars. The prize money wasn't
big. But I didn't hanker none for the big rodeo circuit. I had to get back to my
ranch. I come home to Punkin Center. And .some people ask where is Punkin
Center."
Punkin Center on a road map is a small circle on Arizona Highway 188 between
Roosevelt and Payson. The minutes of the circle classified it as a "city of
O-25O inhabitants." And almost any inhabitant will correct someone who
miscalls it "Pumpkin Center."
Punkin Center is a community larger than the immediate scattering of buildings
beside Arizona 188. It is the seat of a cattle ranching center called Tonto
Basin and mail from Punkin Center is postmarked Tonto Basin.
While other areas in Arizona suffered growth and change, this settlement
underwent little alteration. Some operations continued just about
the same as in the late 1800s when the Clines, the Conway's, the Packards
and other pioneer families settled in this lower valley of Tonto Basin, between
the Sierra Anchas and the Mazatzals.
Although separated on ranches miles apart, most Tonto Basin people participate
in all local projects whether it is a Tonto Maverick 4-H Fair or a project at
the schoolhouse. For three years, with its March of Dimes dance, the community
was first in the nation in the per capita amount of money contributed for this
cause. Last election, all the electorate that was physically able turned out to
vote.
Sam Simmons, cowboy carpenter, each spring plants a 10-acre garden from corn to
black-eyed peas, all to give away. He even helps with the picking. At Halloween
he selected his largest and choicest pumpkins and gave each child in the school
the materials for a jack-o-lantern.
At the ranch houses, the coffee pot is always on. Mrs. George Cline has been
known to get out of bed at 2 o'clock in the morning to bake biscuits for lost
hunters. It is said that when people come to see Roxie Cline, she answers their
"Hello" with "I'll get you something to eat."
The focal point for the area is "The Store," owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jip
Toot. The Store is a gray, unadorned, concrete block building, hardly noticed by
some tourists as they speed by, their wheels spitting gravel on the gasoline
pump and laying dust on the greasewood bushes.
The Store offers a supermarket variety of commodities from a keg of horseshoe
nails to a cup of coffee. It also includes a bar. This is the hub of all the
activity which goes on up and down the road, across Tonto Creek, and throughout
the valley south and west of the Sierra Ancha Mountains.
While her husband is on his Gila County highway job, Frankie Toot operates the
business. The Store has the only telephone in the immediate vicinity and Frankie
is the handler of communications. She has made trans actions involving thousands
of dollars for cattle sales, has been the go- between for betrothed couples and
has been the judge of a Roosevelt Lake bass fishing contest.
She can tell you where the Jay Slash X outfit is branding and what crossing to
use to ford Tonto Creek. She is the dispenser of mail, the bar- tender and the
unofficial banker. George Cline said, "Frankie Toot is my bookkeeper, my
confidante, my business manager, and best of all my friend."
Social life centers at The Store. Behind the pot - bellied wood stove is an oak
table which serves those who gather for a card game and friendly time. Henry
Simmons refers to the bar as "Punkin Town's Waterin' Hole." Cline left
a card game explaining, "I got to go down and interview some of my
cows." Another player departed saying, "I should've been twenty miles
from home by now, a whippin' and a spurrin'."
The schoolhouse serves as the community
hall for large gatherings: weddings, funerals, meetings and parties. Every
summer the community has a work day to get the school in shape. On Sunday there
are church and Sunday School classes. On Saturday night there is a dance. The
desks, pushed against the wall, make temporary beds for sleeping children while
their parents dance. The western band plays modern tunes but also plays old
country favorites. Charlie and Laura Mae Blake dance the Varsovienne. Another
couple does a polka to "The Little Brown Jug." At intermission, some-
one picks up a fiddle and improvises:
"The last time I saw her 'twas late in the fall." she was
dancin' a two-step in Punkin Center Hall
At midnight festivities halt while the dancers revive themselves with eat
and drink. The women provide homemade cakes, pies, cookies, sandwiches, and lots
of coffee. During weekdays, one teacher instructs 11 pupils in the schoolhouse.
Tonto Creek directs much of the life of
the people, dividing many ranchers from The Store and other habitations.
Unpredictable Tonto Creek can slumber with a few inches of water, or go
completely dry, and then awaken to a storm and run a half-mile wide, overflowing
its banks and blocking off ranch roads.
Rancher Tom Simmons, who lives across
the creek from The Store, constructed a suspension bridge for single file
walking. Made from barrel staves, automobile tires, heavy wire and anchored to
huge cottonwood and willow trees, the bridge was the route to civilization when
Tonto Creek's swollen waters cut off transportation. The bridge served for many
years until 1965 when heavy rains uprooted the supporting trees and carried the
bridge down the creek toward Roosevelt Lake.
Several years ago Roxie Cline was in Globe when continued rains prevented her
crossing Tonto Creek to the TV Ranch where her hus- band George was marooned.
She waited two weeks. The waters did not recede. She fussed and fussed and then
did something about it. Coming to Punkin Center Store, she ordered, "Bring
me a horse." Mrs. Cline, great - grandmother, swam the horse across the
turbulent waters, getting home that night in time to cook jerky gravy for her
husband's supper. More than 50 years before, she had ridden across the creek
horseback when she came to the ranch as a bride.
Pulling motorists out of Tonto Creek is another community pas time. Hunters
seeking deer, javelina and quail are unused to the vagaries of Tonto Creek and
often find their vehicles stalled in the water or sand. Punkin Center people
come with help. Frank Jordan's Jeep has helped many stalled automobiles. Homer
Wells once removed a tire from his trailer to give to stranded motorists so they
could get to Payson.
Although Punkin Center retains the atmosphere of yesterday, change is coming.
Electrical power has been promised and a bit more of the road to Payson has been
paved.
Recently, outsiders have found this haven to build retreats from the rush of big
cities. Newcomers are bring mg mobile homes and building cabins across the
creek. 0
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