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History and Legends of Grand Canyon West Ranch
Tap Duncan, Master Gunfighter Turned Rancher!
BEFORE
TAP DUNCAN BECAME a cattle baron with his 1,450,000 acre Diamond Bar
ranch, he sometimes rode with the outlaw Kid Curry, and the Hole in
Wall Gang, which consisted of the likes of Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid. To them, Tap was known as the last two-gun man in
Mohave County. Old-timer Les Ruston summed up Tap’s reputation when
he said, “he was the best gunslinger in the state of Arizona. If you
monkeyed with him, you were monkeying with a rattlesnake, I’ve seen
him tried out several times.”
Part of
the gang, led by Curry, was caught by a posse after a failed train
robbery in Parachute, Colorado. A shootout took place. and more than
200 shots were exchanged. Kid was shot in the arm and both lungs,
with the bullet leaving through his other arm. Kid new it was his
last moments, so held off the posse so his accomplices could get
away. He then took his own life with his Colt .45 on June 9, 1904.
The posse wasn't sure whose body they had and Tap Duncan was seen in
Green River, Utah at the time, so they thought it might be him. The
body was taken to Glenwood Springs, Colorado where the coroner
looked at it. After examination they were sure it was Kid Curry, and
not Tap Duncan. But since the railroad did not want to pay the
$30,000 reward the body has been labeled to this day as Tap Duncan.
Louis
L’Amour, the prolific writer of Western sagas, once admitted that
Tap Duncan taught him everything he knew about "cowboying."
The late
Dick Waters, longtime Kingman, Arizona resident and respected
newspaper-man, always enjoyed telling this tale about Tap and his
cowboys: “After they had driven a herd of cattle to the railhead in
Hackberry, Tap and his men went into a saloon and got into a game of
billiards. But after a game or two, Tap got bored with the pace,
pulled his six-shooter, and started shooting the balls into the
pockets.” No doubt, the game speeded up quite a bit.
Ironically, after surviving numerous “close scrapes” and living a
long and exciting life, Tap Duncan was struck down by an automobile
at the age of 75 while taking a leisurely stroll in downtown
Kingman.
Mojave County Miner Newspaper, November 23, 1944.
Death
came to one of Mohave county’s best known and most widely respected
pioneer cattlemen last Saturday evening when George T. “Tap” Duncan
was accidentally killed when struck by an automobile on the railroad
crossing at Fourth street.
The accident occurred approximately at 7:30 p.m. Duncan was
proceeding north on Fourth Street and was struck by a Ford coupe
driven by W.S. Chamberlin.
A cattleman who gained his knowledge the hard way working cattle all
over the southwest when there were no such things as fences or
corrals. Duncan had seen lean and prosperous years and through them
maintained the same jovial attitude. Widely known over the entire
southwest he was as widely respected and his word was as good as
anyone’s paper.
Deceased was born in San Saba Texas, on February 4, 1869, and worked
the Texas longhorns for which the state was famous in the Panhandle
country.
In 1892 he married Miss Ollie Bimmon in San Saba and moved to Idaho
where he ran a cattle outfit for some time. He came to Mohave
country in 1898 and purchased a ranch south of Hackberry.
In 1910 he moved to the Diamond Bar Ranch which has been
headquarters since that time. While primarily a cattleman, Duncan
also helped to develop the mining industry in the county and
financed several mining interests. Chief of which was the King Tut
mine.
In
addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Charles and Byron,
and by one daughter, Mrs. J.M. Ray, all of Kingman. His youngest
daughter, Mrs. Laura McCoy, died in 1928. He also has ten
grandchildren and six great grandchildren surviving.
Left to
right: John Neal, Tap Duncan, Harrie Avery surveying the
Ranch, circa 1935. |
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