WHITE HOUSE RUINS

Madera Canyon was originally called White House Canyon after the white washed adobe structure said to have been built by a sheep man named Walden in the late 1870s or early 1880s.  By 1882, the White House was being used by Tucson merchant Theodore Wellish as a vacation retreat.  Wellish brought his family to the White House to escape the summer heat in the city.  It is thought that Wellish may have been the first to Whitewash the two-room structure and cause the canyon to become known as White House Canyon.  Atondo Paz, and then his brother Rufino Paz, lived in the White House around the turn of the century.  About 1909, the house had been expanded to three rooms and was occupied by Alcario Morales and his family.  Alcario was a Mayo Indian from Sonora.  Mr. Morales kept burros, mules and horses.  He also made and sold cheese.  There was an orchard near by from which the family sold fruit and small trees. Mrs. Morales and their infant son died in 1921. The White House was abandoned in 1940 upon the death of Alcario Morales at the age of 90.  The remains of an adobe wall and a historic marker identify the location where the White House stood.  The wall and marker are located just off the surfaced trail near Proctor Road.  It is not known when the name of the canyon was changed to Madera Canyon.  The road leading to the canyon was, and still is, called White House Canyon Road.

Additional Material: GVHC Library File 36