By Ember Foxx

Once there was a prosperous town that hundreds of people called home, now lost and forgotten.

In 1875 a prospector named Edmund Peck was walking through the Bradshaw Mountains when he bent down to drink from a spring. As he drank, he noticed a shining rock near the water. Suspicions led him to get it tested; it was silver ore. He later returned to the spring and founded The Great Peck Mine. He began a partnership with C.C Bean, William Cole and his father-in-law, Thomas Alexander. The mine was extremely successful, producing over $1.2 million in silver in its time.

The success of the mine attracted prospectors from all over the territory. and a thriving community formed around the mine. Peck named the town “Alexandra,” after his mother-in-law, who was the first woman to visit the town. Within a few months, the town had a blacksmith, a school, a church, a barber shop, a billiard hall, two mercantiles, three hotels, three boarding houses, two stables, two restaurants, four saloons and at least 50 homes. In 1874 the Spence family built the Palace Station to serve as a stage stop between Prescott and Alexandra. By 1876 more than 60 men worked at the mine. In 1878 the town opened a post office, officially putting Alexandra on the map.