By Stan Brown

Rachel Berry’s 20-year-old son, Wiley, had just been killed by two cattlemen brothers, Zechariah and John Booth, while driving his father’s sheep from St. Johns to the Salt River Valley for winter grazing. Wiley Berry and Juan Vigil, the 16-year-old son of their hired sheepherder, Santiago Vigil, were both shot as they ate breakfast at their sheep camp near Gisela (south of Payson), early on December 22, 1903.

By Stan Brown

As we approach the 100th anniversary of Arizona’s statehood, we are discovering stories of little known events from our state’s beginnings. One of these is about the first woman to be elected to our State House of Representatives and the tragic event that motivated her.

By Charles B. Genung, 1915

(Edited by Parker Anderson and Kathy Krause)

(Charles B. Genung (1839-1916) came to Arizona in 1863 and was involved with the earliest mining in the area around Stanton, Rich Hill, Yarnell and Walnut Grove. He settled in Peeples Valley, was active in civic and community affairs and befriended Sharlot Hall, aiding her in preparing for the establishment of the museum in Prescott. The following is a continuation of his account of gold mining in 1863. He and his partners had just registered their claim, the Montgomery.)

By Charles B. Genung, 1915

(Edited by Parker Anderson and Kathy Krause)

(Ed. Note: Charles B. Genung (1839-1916) was one of Arizona’s earliest pioneers in the area soon after Arizona had been officially declared a Territory in Feb. 1863. He is a legend in the Yarnell-Peeples Valley area. Arriving in Arizona in July 1863, he first began mining down the hill from Yarnell in the Rich Hill-Stanton area where many other miners were striking claims. He was involved with much of the earliest mining in the Hassayampa River-Walnut Grove area. He believed his mine, the Montgomery, was the first quartz mine in the new Territory.

By Tom Collins

The Hotel Burke opened in January of 1891 and was not only one of Prescott’s architectural gems, but was operated by its proprietors, Dennis A. Burke and Michael J. Hickey, as a first-class hotel. They hired experienced dining room managers, Mrs. Durning and Miss Bergheart, both of California, an all white kitchen crew and even a night watchman.

By Tom Collins

On July 14, 1900 a roaring fire raged through Whiskey Row and Gurley Street, destroying Prescott’s most cherished business buildings. Ironically, the magnificent $60,000 hotel on the southwest corner of Montezuma and Gurley Streets, advertised proudly as Prescott’s only “fireproof” hotel, collapsed into smoking rubble along with the Palace Saloon, the Bashford-Burmister Company mercantile store as well as many others businesses. The hotel had stood for nearly eleven years as one of the architectural gems of Yavapai County.

By Parker Anderson

A few years back, the Elks Opera House Foundation named me the Official Historian of the Elks Opera House because I had spent over four years compiling a list of all known bookings in that facility in 100 years, as well as collecting other data and records.

By Parker Anderson

Admirers of the life and work of our museum’s founder, Sharlot M. Hall, contend that a key event in her life was her participation in an event called, "The Hassayamper’s Evening." It was there that she made her first public call to preserve the old Governor’s Mansion (then decrepit), as well as to start a museum to preserve Yavapai County history.

by Laura Clonts

It was June 18, 1910 and President William H. Taft had just signed the Enabling Act for Arizona. By this act, Congress authorized the people of the Territory of Arizona to frame a constitution and meet all the prerequisites for statehood. It was announced that official declaration of statehood would occur in February of 1912. After decades of waiting for this day, the people all over the territory were ecstatic.

By Laura Clonts

(Days Past Editor’s note: Many Arizonans do not know what a long and arduous struggle Arizona had in order to go from "Territory" to "State." Way back in 1877, then Territorial Governor A. P. K Safford predicted, "Arizona will soon be a state." Little did he realize it would take another 35 years! This ambition to be a state did not even attract attention of the U.S. Congress until 1889 when the first bill was proposed and dropped. In 1891, the First Constitutional Convention met in Phoenix and another bill was presented to Congress but, again, no action was taken.