More Than a Century and a Half Later and Wickenburg’s Jail Tree Remains an Unverified Legend

By Larry Nader, Photography & Art

Published May 16, 2022, for State 48 A2Z

Located roughly 100-feet north of US-60 on Tegner Street in Wickenburg, Arizona, sits an old, gnarled Mesquite tree that, had it not for the statue and sign by it, no one would guess that it holds a deep mystery from town’s early wild west days. To delve into this mystery or legend, we take the 40-minute drive from Surprise and head up to check it out ourselves. In fact, I have been to Wickenburg probably 20-times since 2007 and never knew about this tree and its “history”, so to speak, until last year.

Note: Legend is defined as a story coming down from the past, especially one popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable.

The tree itself has been dated at roughly 200-years old, so, without a doubt, it was around for the town’s early, roughshod days. What makes this tree so unusual is its very own role in Wickenburg’s history.

As the legend has it, drunks and criminals that were arrested in Wickenburg between 1863 and 1890 were shackled to this tree until the proper lawman from Phoenix could arrive to pick them up. That could easily have been anywhere from a few days to more than a week. These prisoners would then be left exposed to the elements with only the tree for shelter.

So, why would they do that? Quite simply, Wickenburg didn’t have a jail until 1890, so there was no place to keep these criminals until transportation arrived.

The legend itself and its extremely interesting back-story may be factual but, it is equally possible that it is just that … a legend. As per atlasobscura.com, “One woman posted on a Wickenburg website that she grew up in the town in the 1930s and saw no remnants of a jail near the tree.” Of course, that was also some 40-years after its use was ended and any evidence of the tree being used as a temporary jail may have vanished by that time. The woman also said that the story grew from parents threatening to chain their unruly children to the tree.

From the 1930s, or possibly earlier, the site was marked by the tree, the sign, and the safe only. However, the city eventually took notice of the magnetism that the legend had to pull in tourists for photo-ops in front of the tree, and, in 2009, Seward Johnson, who passed in 2020 and was known for his life-size statues depicting people doing everyday things, created a sculpture of a cowboy in prison stripes shackled to the tree with a hole in one sock. This sculpture was added to the existing display to complete the monument site.

We will probably never know if the legend is true or not. If it hasn’t been proven as fact in more than 150-years, it’s bound to remain a legend forever. However, legends can be as fun as facts, and this is really a fun and interesting roadside attraction to check out when you are in the area. Be sure to take your kids with you (jk). It truly is a great spot to snap a few photos.

That’ll wrap things up for this week. As always, thanks for reading, stay safe, and happy travels. Be sure to like and follow us on social media (links below), share our blog posts, and feel free to give us your feedback. And, if you go somewhere in Arizona that you think others should know about, please let us know so we can add it to our travel list. We’d love to hear from you. Peace!

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