By Parker Anderson

One of the most enduring legends of Yavapai County is the story of outlaw James (also known as Fleming) Parker who was hanged on a gallows on the east side of the Courthouse in Prescott on June 3, 1898. His life and crimes have been told and retold, with varying degrees of accuracy, countless times in the 111 years since his execution.

By Carol Powell

March 13, 1900 began like any other day for the busy Locke household in Prescott. With six children to look after, Mrs. Locke had her hands full, being especially concerned about Elmer, her active 18-month-old toddler. Her husband was David G. Locke, section foreman for the Santa Fe Prescott & Phoenix Railway. The family lived in a typical section house just sixty feet from the main tracks and a quarter of a mile east of the Prescott depot. Like most people that live by train tracks, the family became accustomed to the usual train whistle as the trains left the depot. The whistle that day was prelude to a tragedy.

By Anita Nordbrock

There is a large tract of land on Arizona maps about 45 miles northwest of Prescott and 35 miles southwest of Seligman named the Luis Maria Baca Grant Float No 5. In 1821, as a reward for his services to the Spanish Crown, Don Luis Maria de Baca was granted 500,000 acres of prime grassland near Los Alamos, New Mexico. By the mid-1800s, Mexican settlers had moved onto the de Baca land. In 1856, the heirs of Don Luis laid claim to their rights to that original land grant. Rather than kicking off the settlers on the de Baca New Mexico land, the United States government agreed to a "land swap" and offered the heirs five other tracts of land of 100,000 acres each.

(In 1988, Arizona pioneer resident, Samar Inzer Roman, self-published a book called "Gold in Coyote Canyon." Although written in novel form with the characters’ names changed, these stories were her memoirs describing the life she and her husband led while living on a small gold placer mining claim in the 1930s. Around 1996, Jody Drake, the director of Sharlot Hall Museum’s Blue Rose Theater, acquired a copy of the book, fell in love with it and became determined to meet Mrs. Roman.

By John S. Huff

After marching across the northern expanse of New Spain evaluating the presidios (forts) for King Charles III of Spain, Colonel Hugo O’Conor arrived at the presidio of Tubac (35 miles south of Tucson) in the summer of 1775.

By John S. Huff

In April 1775, Paul Revere made his famous ride. Four months later, the site for the Spanish Presidio (fort) San Augustin del Tucson was established by a red-headed Irishman, Hugo O’Conor, who was a Colonel in the Spanish Army. This is his story. It is also the story of Tucson and how this very important Arizona city has been influenced for centuries by many cultures.

By Tedd deLong

Marcus Aurelius Smith is a name that’s not on the tip of everybody’s tongue but it should be remembered here in Arizona. Why should his name be familiar to us since he was born and educated in Kentucky and worked as a lawyer in San Francisco?

By Ken Edwards

"King of the Cowboys" – not Gene Autry, Roy Rogers or John Wayne, but Tom Mix bore this epithet during his movie career. As cowboy superstar of the silent screen, he was the matinee idol of many cowboy wannabe youngsters in the 1920s. Mix was the clean-cut hero of over 300 short and feature length westerns. But before he became a cowboy star he was a real-life cowboy and a lot of other things besides.

By Judy Stoycheff

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created by an act of Congress in 1933 soon after the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The U.S.Forest Service was one of the first agencies to step forward and request the services of the program enrollees. According to "The New Deal in Arizona," the Forest Service had projects in four interrelated categories: resource protection, resource development, improvement of infrastructure and recreational development. One of several CCC camps in the Prescott area was located at Walnut Creek, about 44 miles out Williamson Valley Road, northwest of Prescott.

By Judy Stoycheff

In response to the Depression that hung over the nation in the early 1930s, newly-elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt created many programs designed to put Americans back to work. One of those programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It was designed to bring together the nation’s young men and the land in an effort to save them both.