By Richard Gorby
Early in 1863, the new Arizona Territory had been signed into law by President Lincoln. By March of 1864, the territorial officers, headed by Governor John Goodwin, had arrived in the new territory and had picked this site for the first capital. A few other young men, mostly seeking after mining wealth, were already there. Joseph Reddeford Walker and his Walker Party had moved into the "Links" Creek area and were mining with some success. Van C. Smith, a young adventurer from California, had built a small cabin and was accepting the stock on immigrants to graze and to care for at one dollar and fifty cents per head per month, and had been elected Recorder of the Walker Mining District. And he spelled the name of the area "Lynx"
Upon meeting Governor Goodwin's party Van Smith immediately agreed to give a portion of his land for a town site. He probably possessed only squatter's right to the land, which included much of today's Prescott, since the first homestead entry in the area was registered in 1871.
Van Smith must have made a good impression on Governor Goodwin, as he obviously had on Walker. At a meeting in the only real building in the area, later called Old Fort Misery and moved to the grounds of Sharlot Hall Museum, on May 30, 1864, he was appointed one of three "Commissioners to represent the interests of the Government in the disposition of lots in the townsite of Prescott as surveyed by R.W. Groom."
About thirty days after the birth of the new Capital, a Fourth of July celebration was held on the Plaza, using the following announcement: "Fourth of July and Inauguration Celebration at Prescott. Van C. Smith, Esq., Marshall of the Day."
Since Prescott was now officially the capital, when time came for the Governor to convene the Arizona Legislature the problem arose as to where it would meet. The new territory had a "capital, but no "capitol". Goodwin received proposals for building, but the lowest of these so much exceeded the amount which he felt authorized to spend that he was in doubt as to what to do until Van C. Smith, Esq., offered to put up a structure "for business purposes," that would be temporarily fitted up for the use of both branches of the Legislature. "It is to be of hewn logs, carefully put up, and will be upon Gurley Street, on the north side of the plaza."
There were two short reports on the progress of the building, one saying it was "well advanced", the other, that it was large and comfortable, though plain in its appointments and under the circumstances, "all that could be asked for."
Judge Joseph Allyn, one of the Governor's aides, didn't agree: "The building erected for the legislature was just made tenantable, and resembles a large livery stable; there was no floor, and the partitions dividing it into rooms did not reach the roof, so that the murmur of voices in one could be distinctly heard in all the others. The furniture was of the simplest kind, consisting of pine tables and chairs, unpainted. (Two of the chairs can be seen today in the Governor's Mansion). The presiding officers were upon slightly raised platforms, the tables being covered with fancy blankets and the American flag hung up behind them."
Soon called "The Old Capitol Building", it ran seventy-five feet along Gurley, including today's The Shoe Box, to Plaza Cafe and TCBY.
Still in 1864, Governor Goodwin appointed Van Smith sheriff of Yavapai County, the first in Yavapai County and the only sheriff in all of Arizona. From the Arizona Miner:
"In this delicate position Mr. Smith was equal to the duty demanded. He was seldom in the office but constantly in the field. He assisted miners in going out and coming in, and through his efforts life and property were relieved of alarm. He was of gentle disposition, but on the line of duty, a more courageous man never lived."
After six months as sheriff, Smith, seemingly always on the move, spent some time mining in Mexico and then New Mexico, apparently with some success. Arriving in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1870, he purchased from James Patterson, "All his interests in this immediate section: house, goods, and a considerable stock of horses and cattle."
Smith sent to Lincoln, New Mexico, for adobe makers and layers, and in an incredibly short time had three rooms added to Patterson's original one. He also sent to Fort Stanton for lumber and carpenters, raised the roofs, and made the building one and one-half stories high, and placed the first shingle roof ever seen in that Valley.
Away from Prescott for less than five years, Van Smith was, apparently, still mining successfully. It took money for his building and cattle-buying. So Smith entered a partnership with Frank Wilburn to engage in the mercantile business. The firm commenced the erection of a store building in Roswell, a blacksmith shop and a meat house, and "an immense stock of goods."
With their store and hotel, Smith and Wilburn offered an assortment of comforts and pleasures for the weary cattle-drovers who frequented the place while their herds were passing through the area. "The best whiskey and cigars that money would buy, faro, monte, poker and other card games allured many."
Van Smith never married, and no mention of any relationship with a woman could be found until this 1878 account by John Chisum implies that Smith and Wilburn may have offered other services as well. Chisum allows that Van C. Smith was engaged in the "income business", which Chisum defined as "living with a good-looking Mexican woman who lives in town and has a room and a clean bed and has an income from her customers, and she divides her income with her lover."
Historian Frederick Nolan, The Lincoln County War: A Documentary History, 1992, takes this to mean that Roswell's first "hotel" was the first of the bawdy houses which would be a part of the Roswell scene for the next hundred years. Van Smith, after all of his wanderings, must have happily remembered his youthful early days in Prescott. He returned and died in the Pioneer's Home in 1914, at the age of 77.
Richard Gorby is a volunteer at the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives and Library. It is not too late to come down to the Museum today for the annual Folk Arts Fair and see Ft. Misery and the Governor's Mansion.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (st117pg). Reuse only by permission.
Van C. Smith offered to put up a structure "of hewn logs [on] Gurley Street, on the north side of the plaza." that would temporarily serve both branches of the Legislature in 1864. This 1877 photo shows the building (with the roof tilted toward the street) being occupied by the Arizona Brewery, the Prescott Market and other businesses.