By Goodwin "Goodie" Berquist

In 1863 when gold was first discovered in the Prescott area, all a miner needed was a pick axe, a strong back, determination, and a little bit of luck. Up to October 1, 1876, of 11, 605 mines located and recorded in the Arizona Territory, 7,298 were in the county of Yavapai. Area mines yielded silver, copper, iron, and lead, as well as gold. Rich deposits of gold nuggets were discovered and mined in these early years.

By Nancy Kirkpatrick Wright

On Tuesday morning, June 8, 2004, the bright planet Venus will move in front of our sun--a transit of Venus--and millions will watch through strong filters as a small black dot moves across the lower part of the sun. Scientists and astronomers are excited since no one now alive has seen a transit of Venus. There were no transits of Venus in the 20th century - the last pair being 1874 and 1882.

By Pat Atchison

Because Citizens Cemetery is near the center of Prescott, many people walk in to look around. Some visit to view the artistic grave markers. Others are history buffs who are interested in the dates and other information listed on the markers. Some walk in to see the beautiful wildflowers in the springtime. Some come on a mission to discover the burial place of a relative.

By Robert Stragnell, M.D.

For over 40 years Prescott has been home to an award winning organization dedicated to the preservation of the real history of the American West. The goal of the Prescott Corral of Westerners International is to replace the romanticized picture of Western history often presented as "fact' in motion pictures and other fiction with well-researched, historically accurate presentations and publications.

By Michael Wurtz

The title to this article is a nod to the 1989 publications about the Chinese that came to Prescott in the 1860s and eventually drifted away by the mid 20th century. They may have never intended to stay in this country, hence the term "sojourner." The first accounts of Chinese in Prescott were in 1869, supposedly shortly after the Union Pacific railroad was complete across the middle of America. The so-called "Celestials" lived and worked mostly along Granite Street behind Whiskey Row.

By Jody Drake

On May the 6, 2004 The Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theater will celebrate its tenth birthday. Ten years of learning to teach history through theater. Ten years of entertaining audiences through live history-based plays. Ten years of creating living history characters, characters like Sharlot M. Hall, Grace Sparks, Viola Jimulla, Kate Cory, Charlie Genung, Paulino Weaver, George Ruffner, Morris Goldwater, and Buckey O'Neill. Ten years since the idea began.

By Jean Cross

Before the roaring and scraping of backhoes, bulldozers and other earth moving equipment leveled the area once known as Jackass Flats for the StoneRidge Development, Crews leveled select areas of the region to unearth the remains of previous dwellings. These were the habitation sites of the prehistoric people who chose this wind-swept plateau as their domain. It was an ideal location as the necessities of life were readily available here: water, game, and wood. So the "living was easy", or as easy as it could be in the prehistoric times.

By Michael Wurtz

In 1876 Samuel Baker and his crew began to build a modest house on the southeast corner of Gurley and Pleasant Streets. Almost 100 years later that same house, which had blossomed into a beautiful Victorian home, was raised up on to a truck and slowly rolled down Gurley Street to its new home as a museum artifact. On April 19, 1974, 30 years ago, the William Coles Bashford House was moved to the Sharlot Hall Museum.

By Fred B. Nelson

Easter of 2004 will mark the 50th anniversary of my first visit to Prescott. At the age of 15, I was a member of the Methodist Youth Fellowship of Alhambra, California. That group contracted with a church in Prescott (Mission San Lucas Iglesia Metodista) to refurbish certain aspects of the building and surroundings of that church during the week before Easter in 1954.

By Fred Veil

(This is the second part of a two part series.  First part is titled, "A Soldier's Recollections of the Civil War and Arizona".)

Charles Veil's service in the Army ended abruptly in February 1871, when he was involuntarily mustered out of the service pursuant to an Act of Congress mandating a general reduction in the size and strength of the Army. Upon his discharge, Veil traveled to Prescott where by chance he happened upon a business opportunity that enabled him to make an easy $5000 (not an insubstantial amount of money in those days) by brokering the sale of some grain to Ft. Whipple.