By Norm Tessman

The bottling of soda water is one of the frontier occupations which is frequently overlooked by historians. The soda works, however, was certain to exist in every town of even moderate size and permanence, and left more artifacts to record its existence than did many better-known businesses.

The bottler with his team and wagon was a prominent part of the Victorian summer scene in Prescott, perhaps selling nickel pop directly from the wagon or plodding by on his way to deliver a case or two to a saloon or other retailer.

By Parker Anderson

In January of 2001, this author related in this column the story of the grisly murders of Charles Goddard and Frank Cox at a popular New River stage stop known as Goddard Station. Two Mexicans, Hilariao Hidalgo and Francisco Renteria, were tried, convicted and hanged in Prescott on July 31, 1903, even though no motive for the murder was ever concretely established.

By Fred Patton

In the morning you would pick all the nannies that looked like they were close to giving birth, which was called kidding out. These nannies were staked by a peg and rope to one front leg in rows with a swivel in the middle. Daily you would have to go out with the pick-up at noon and pick up the nannies and kids that had birthed out. After kidding, the kid was pegged there by the same method except tied by one hind foot. A kid box was placed near the kid for protection from the elements, and the kid and nanny were numbered using a small brush and house paint so you could match the nanny with the kid if they became separated.

By Fred Patton

Angora goats originally came from Angora, Turkey - hence the name. They were raised for mohair that was used for rugs, upholstery in cars, clothes, cinches for saddles, and for a lot of other things. Angora goats were more confining than cattle, required more work, and also had to be watched more because of coyotes.

The highest price I remember for mohair was 60 cents per pound for kid hair and 40 cents for aged hair. It went down to 6 cents in the depression of 1929 to the early 30s. 

By Marguerite Madison Aronowitz

In many Prescott area locations, voices of artists from days long ago speak to us through their creations: paintings and sculptures of great beauty and imagination. For example: George Phippen's 'The Walker Party' exhibited at the library; Kate Cory's 'Migration of the Hopi Tribe in the Early 20th Century' in the First Congregational Church; and Solon Borglum's 'Sioux Indian Buffalo Dancer' on display in the Prescott Valley Civic Center. These are but a few of the many significant art pieces, executed by men and women no longer with us, that can be seen and appreciated by those willing to seek them out.

By Don Larry

On Prescott's courthouse plaza stands the tall, ornately canopied bandstand. It was built in 1908 on the spot where an earlier bandstand had stood for many years. The nationwide brass band movement was first introduced into Arizona here in 1865 and it quickly spread throughout the territory.

By Tom Brodersen

Sometimes "days past" leave traces that cannot be forgotten. 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site and many still suffer from cancer and other diseases caused by fallout from the United States atomic testing program half a century later. It may come as a surprise that Yavapai County residents are included in the official list of people affected. The areas in Arizona recognized by the government as affected by fallout are Yavapai, Coconino, Apache, Gila, and Navajo counties. One out of every seven tests dumped radioactive fallout on northern Arizona.

by William "Bill" Peck

If there is one lesson history teaches, it is how fast we forget. When I was a boy in Hillside, Arizona, the occupants denied there ever were any Indians or gold mines of significance, even though less than a man's lifetime had intervened between those most notable events. One need only venture into the hills in search of Indian artifacts, arrowheads, pottery or search the mine dumps for evidence of early workings such as old bottles, metal objects or crucibles to realize that you are much too late. Earlier visitors have denuded these places.

By Linda Ludington

(This is the second part in a two-part series on the Perkins Family) 

Annie Perkins, like her daughters-in-law later, was a resourceful ranch wife. She grew large gardens and canned fruits and vegetables throughout the summer. She also canned meat-venison and beef-and dried some beef into jerky. There was no refrigeration. Annie also made good use of her treadle sewing machine, generously sharing with her Yavapai Indian neighbors.

By Linda Ludington

Perkinsville, Arizona, 1963. The Hollywood movie cameras zoom in for closer shots. The frontier sheriff is about to confront the hardened outlaw who has just come into town on the train. The final episode of "How The West Was Won" is being filmed. The movie is fiction; the movie set is, however, real. What could be more authentic to the spirit of the West-its land, its history, its people-than Perkinsville and the Perkins family!