D.C. "Walker" McCallen
Arizona Republican Newspaper
October 12, 1910

D.W. McCallen, better known as Walker McCallen of Ray Camp, 
Pinal County was in Phoenix yesterday en route home after a 
very eventful visit in the east.  It was his first trip back 
to the old home in Pittsburgh for fifty one years and it is 
easy to imagine that he saw many changes.  He went to see his 
relatives, if he could find any, a thing he was not very sure 
about, and he came very near failing to do so.  It was only by 
a lucky chance that he did find them, but when successful he 
had the finest kind of visit.

Fifty one years ago Mr. McCallen turned his face to the west.  
It was during the gold excitement in California and he kept 
traveling until he reached the west.  As was so often the case 
in those days, he neglected to write and the mail service was a 
very haphazard institution anyway.  He finally lost track of 
his relatives, from whom he was so widely separated, and did 
not think it worthwhile to try and restore communication.  
Eventually he drifted down into Arizona and a number of years 
ago he located in Pinal County acquiring valuable claims.  
Some of them he still owns and some he has sold providing 
himself with a competence.

Mr. McCallen is now 77 years old and being in easy 
circumstances he decided to visit Pittsburgh again.  He 
might or might not be able to find his relatives, if any 
were yet living, but he could at least see the city and 
note the changes of the better part of a lifetime.  He 
left on his journey several weeks ago but when he reached 
Pittsburgh he was lost, except for the guide books, police 
and other officials who take care of strangers.  He was 
prepared to be surprised and startled but he was not prepared 
to be completely bewildered.  He looked the city over but 
could find nobody that he knew or had even heard about in 
former days.  He was about to return to Arizona when it 
occurred to him to apply to the police.

The police chief was found but he said it was too far back 
in history for him to grasp as he had only been living there 
during the period since he was born.  However, he accompanied 
Mr. McCallen to the office of the mayor who was an older 
man.  He could not give any information either but there 
chanced to be a clerk in the office who had known people 
by the name of McCallen and after calling around located a 
relative.  A date was made for Mr. McCallen to be at a 
certain place and when he got there he faced a whole 
houseful of relatives.

The face that most appealed to him was that of his sister 
who was married to a man he had known in childhood.  The 
sister the handed Mr. McCallen a letter dated 1864, written 
by a brother, now dead for many years and addressed to Mr. 
McCallen in San Francisco.  It had been returned to the 
writer and kept in the family ever since awaiting the day 
when his address would be made known.  The letter was 
written in a fine handwriting and the ink was certainly 
good for it had not faded in the slightest and the envelope 
carries the old fashioned three cent stamp.

Mr. McCallen who left for his home in Ray yesterday, said 
he could not and would not live in Pittsburgh now but he 
will surely visit the old hometown and the relatives from 
whom he has been so long separated.