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hello and welcome to another big edition of Mysteries of the Superstition
Mountains and why is it big because we have a chance right now to talk to our
own Larry Hendrick about his experiences with Apacheland my job out at Queen
Valley living in the rock house running cattle was over I got into Pete for
about $800 and he stood out in front of the rock house and wave his hand out
there and said I'll trade you some land rather than the money and I declined and
today that land is right in the middle of the golf course out there Larry how
did you get started at Apacheland how I found that Apacheland is a mystery to
me because there was no gold canyon you know Gold Canyon didn't really get
started till about 1974 when Harold Chris put it all together but somebody
must have told me about it and I just showed up and learned my cowboy duds
that I wore every day but I did have my gun strapped on and there was nothing at
Apache land there was no there was no main street or anything like it hadn't
been built yet and there was just one single roll buildings that they called
hang town and I stood there with a small crowd watching skits being put on and it
was all put on to audio the audio was telling the story the people were just
reenacting what they heard on the audio and when the crowd dispersed after a
skit I just kind of mingled with the players and kind of got accepted that
way and then one day somebody didn't show up and this guy that was the
sheriff which was about a six foot six guy and I don't remember anybody's name
out there but he just says get out there and do it
what do I do he says just listen to the tape and do what the tape says so I used
to walk out in the middle of street and there was a girl coming my way a late
teenager and as I move she changed her course to
match mine she coming straight at me and I'm not hearing anything I'm just
sitting there worried about what's gonna happen and she gets right up against me
and the gun a gun goes off and she falls right in my arms and I lay down and and
I'm not hearing anything that they're talking about on that audio I'm just
reacting to what happened and I look where the gunshot come from there was a
guy standing there with his gun in his hand at in an alleyway and and I drew my
gun and started after him and the sheriff come along and took the gun away
from me and like to tore my fingers off you know and so that's the way the first
one happened and I was listening to him a little bit later and I heard the
sheriff say well I like these action acting I actually had to take a gun away
from him you know so from then on they started using to me there was no pay it
was just you know I had that eight hundred bucks you know and that today
that was the purchasing power of about seven thousand dollars today and I I
wasn't looking for a job or anything I was just having fun running around and
so one weekend we were out there and I happened to be behind the Row
buildings which were not complete they didn't have any doors or windows on the
sides the fronts were complete but there was an obvious intention to finish them
up and I happened to walk by the back of this one building and looked in and
there said Clint Walker on a couch surprised the heck out of me and I
struck up a conversation with the guy and just about that time Charlie
Aldridge come in and just ripped me up one side and down the other who let you
in here you know I ought to throw you off the set
you know think the guy just ripped me something terrible and I just turned
around walked away and fifty years later I was over at Scottsdale at one of the
festivals of the West and there set Clint Walker selling pictures and books and
stuff so I got in this long line and when I got up to Clint I
said say listen do you remember being out at Apacheland land he's all yeah that was
1959 I said do you happen to remember some kid talking to you and aldrich
start ripping on him he says yeah I remember that I felt so sorry for that
kid I said well that was me
[laughter]
so you know I it was just a month or two later that
the giant pagoda of the superstitions took place and when that was over I went
back to Oklahoma for my birthday to see my mother and it was six years before I
came back I came back permanently to Arizona in 1966 so I went out to Apacheland
and to see and here it was all complete it was a wonderful place
large crowds and more skits going on but they weren't using the audio
anymore and I didn't have much to do with Apacheland for the next few years
Larry I'm impressed I hear you have a lot of pull with the Air Force I do
remember being out there one time when some director was trying to film some
movie the planes from William Air Force Base were just destroying him every time
he tried to say anything Here Come a jet and he was so frustrated there about the
sixth time that happened he'd just threw everything down on the ground says I
don't know what we're gonna do and I said I walked up to him I said well why
don't you call Williams Air Force Base and have them changed the flight path
well they wouldn't do that I said they'll do it they cooperate very well
with you you called Williams Air Force base ask to talk to the
officer on the flight line and tell him who you are on what you're doing and
I'll bet you they'll change the flight path they've got several flight paths
and so he went in the office and about ten minutes later he come out and
he just stood there for a little while wasn't a plane in the air and so he
started filming he never even over and said thanks
[layghter]
but anyway in the late 70s
I formed the Calvary reenactment you unit
and about half my guys are on the west side of Phoenix then most of those had
horses and the guys out here in the East Valley we you know we were always going
over to Pioneer Village or Ron Nix's a day in the West you know way way west of
Phoenix to do things and I was kind of looking for a home so I went out to
Apache land and made a deal with Sue Sliverman and we went out on the back
lot and a back lot was nothing more than a junkyard
it was horrible just every piece of trash you could imagine was out there in
this 10 acres so I called in all the infantry and artillery guys and my
Calvary and we spent a couple of weekends just cleaning that place up and
we removed all the junk from that 10 acres out behind the place to the east
you know patchy land had a fort wall in the front and guard towers and this was
to be our home and we done a lot of things there just for ourselves
reenactments and stuff and inviting other units from around the state to
come in and from time to time we did our own little skits for what crowd was
there and you know and it was just a lot of fun but in it was 79 that we decided
to do a major event and we publicized it very well and this was called a prelude
to Gettysburg and we had infantry readouts and a little rock wall for
Pickett's Charge because that's what we were reenacting and we set up explosives
and and set off charges and all that and we had all our casualties planned out
and there was over a thousand people there to watch this thing and it was on
July 4th it was pretty warm we called Apacheland our home and till about 1983
but in the early eighties Red Wolverton was was managing the place
he was trying to buy it the the price of it I recall at that time was a million
and a half for Apacheland and every time he went in to try to make a deal
the price went up and he got pretty frustrated about it but Red is
well-known in the movie industries you've probably seen his stagecoach many
times in many movies and just didn't even know who it was but he had a he had
a Concord stagecoach that was made back east and just absolutely 100% authentic
and it cost sixty four thousand dollars it and he had all his own horses he
always run a six up team and it was my privilege one time he allowed me to
drive his stagecoach and that was a real experience to drive a six up team and
but he finally got frustrated and went down to Old Tucson and that's where a
lot of most of his moviemaking was done it was Old Tucson and he used to read
stuff from me for the movies he rented all my saddles for hubba bubba bubble
gum commercials and he rented a wagon from me and attached a team of horses to
it and i drove it in a race that they didn't tell me I wasn't supposed to win
his daughter was supposed to win a race in another wagon and it was about 20
wagons involved in this race and that was an exciting experience I want to
tell you going out of there full speed and his daughter and I can never talk to
me again and of course we had to reshoot the whole thing cuz she had to win and
and then about you know Ron Nix was out there all that time he helped build the
main street of Apacheland I don't know if he was involved in Hangtown or not
although he talked a lot about it like he was involved if he was there when I
was I don't remember him because I don't remember anybody's names and our paths
crossed many times in movies and commercials and we didn't even know each
other and but he he had me collaborate with him to use my Cavalry
to the day in the West out at what it's called cow town at that time and we made
several movies and commercials out at cow town with the Calvary and and things
like that and it was just just a wonderful time at Apacheland it was
just our home base for the Calvary well there you have it
mystery solved Larry Hedrick and his association with Apacheland this guy is
not just a pretty face
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