By Michael King 

(Last week's article outlined the evolution of the land use policies, laws and public sentiment, which provided the foundation for the national forest establishment. Today's article features the local context, including the early history of the City of Prescott's water supply challenges and the relationship to the Prescott Forest Reserve designation.)

Prescott was founded in 1864 as the Arizona territorial capital. The Village Council of Prescott was established in 1873. At the time it was called the Common Council. Prescott was later incorporated in 1883. Minutes of council meetings, newspaper articles and the research notes of Dr. C.A. Yount, former City of Prescott Health Officer, offer glimpses into the early challenges of meeting the goal of providing a never-ending supply of pure drinking water. Numerous water bond initiatives and resulting water structures and facilities were largely responsible for the heavy indebtedness of Prescott during its first 50 to 60 years of existence. 

Dr. Yount summarized these efforts into categories of action taken to supply water to the early residents. 

1. Wells: The primary source of water for early residents was wells on private land. The first priority for Prescott officials was fire protection. In March 1881 four wells were installed on the four corners of the plaza. They were hand pumps. A remnant of one of these wells exists on the southeast corner of the Courthouse Plaza today with an interpretive sign indicating its history. Wells were the principle source for water from the founding of the village in 1873 until 1884. 

2. Impounded surface water: 1884-1892. A dam was built on Miller Creek and a steam boiler powered pump pushed water up a pipeline to two storage reservoirs built on the south end of Mt. Vernon Street. Remnants of the dam still exist behind the APS compound. Access to this site is from the end of Campbell Street along the city trail from Miller Creek to Granite Creek Park. The storage reservoirs, located on the west side of South Mt. Vernon Street are no longer used by the City of Prescott. They have been replaced by two underground storage tanks directly east in the drainage below the street. 

The reservoirs were usually muddy, full of algae in the summer and an ideal habitat for frogs and waterdogs. A new boiler, pump and filter were installed in 1889. A cite in Dr. Yount's book describes the efforts of Morris Goldwater to cut foot thick blocks of ice from the Miller Creek reservoir. 

With the construction of the Miller Creek and Mt. Vernon Street reservoirs, the pumps at the four corners of the plaza were considered unnecessary and the pumps were sold. Private wells continued to be the primary source of drinking water and the reservoirs were used for fire protection. 

3. Wells with drifts: 1889-1901. A well was dug in the area called Goose Flats. This is south of Prescott Mile High Middle School and up and along Granite Creek. This was a 16 square foot well with hole or pipe that was directed at an angle toward the creek to capture underground flow or seepage. 

Plans were also underway to build a 3.5-foot high dam across Granite Creek and to dig a well along the North Fork of Granite Creek near its confluence with Granite Creek. This was accomplished in 1899. The location of this site is north of Easy Street. At the time this was outside the city limits. 

This was a period of very low precipitation in the Southwest and water was limited. The water supply situation was unsatisfactory and prospecting for water continued. New wells were dug, new drifts constructed and older wells dug deeper. 

Supplying water to Prescott residents was becoming a paramount issue that required new thinking, more money and great expertise. Prescott's 2000 residents needed a dependable water supply. City Engineer J. J. Fisher developed a plan to meet this objective. On January 17, 1898, a mass public meeting was held on the Courthouse Plaza to consider his plan. 

His plan would have a dam and reservoir built across Potts Creek (later to be renamed Butte Creek). Aspen Creek would have a diversion canal to increase the supply to the Potts Creek Reservoir. Runoff from the Potts Creek and Aspen Creek watershed was estimated to provide 589 million gallons per year. Daily consumption for Prescott at the time was estimated by officials to be about 300,000 gallons. Cost to construct was estimated to be $160,000. 

The city council wanted corroboration of Fisher's plan by a "nationally reputable" water expert of the time and James Schuyler, Engineer for the City of Los Angeles, was contracted to review and add his expertise to the plan. Schuyler's report was submitted to the council on April 14, 1898 for a fee of $700. It supported Fisher's plan. 

On April 19, 1898, a water bond issue was voted on to implement plans for the Potts Creek and Aspen Creek structures. Also included were approval of $5000 for extending the Goose Flat well and $600 for leasing adjacent land called Lindsey Gardens for well sites. Of the 431 votes cast, 401 were in favor. 

The City of Prescott understood the need for watershed protection to successfully implement the new water supply initiative. Acknowledging the importance of the General Land Office, the City of Prescott contacted GLO officials for the purposes of attaining their support for the establishment of a reserve to offer protection to these watersheds from further tree cutting and limiting uses that degraded the watershed. 

W.P. Hermann, a GLO special agent and brother of Binger Hermann, Commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington, D.C. visited Prescott in April 1898 with the purpose of substantiating the city's request for watershed protection. After a field visit with J.J. Fisher to the Potts and Aspen creeks watersheds, Hermann agreed. After the Prescott visit he went to Northern Arizona for further research regarding reserve designation in that area. Although the record does not indicate how word was passed back to Washington, D.C., it certainly did occur, and rapidly. 

Within 3 weeks of the visit, on May 10, 1898, President William McKinley designated a 4-mile square, 10,240 acres as the Prescott Forest Reserve. The evolution of public land use policy from the Revolutionary War and all the subsequent laws comes to fruition in the Arizona Territory 

Forestry, fire fighting, and reserve management were still in their infancy. Early Rangers were political appointees with little experience in these matters. Newspaper accounts of the reserve proclamation indicate that "there has been reckless and wholesale theft of timber embraced in the reserve." Mining timbers were in great supply and the rail system offered efficient transportation to other Arizona mining communities. Prescott became known as the "City of Stulls," a stull being another term for mining timbers. Confiscation of timber, criminal proceedings, timber sales and resale, boundary marking, preventing fraudulent entry and fire fighting were the major activities of the early reserve Rangers and Supervisors. 

Reviews of Prescott newspapers of the time do not indicate a high level of interest or controversy at the designation of the Prescott Reserve. The primary reason was the untimely death of Buckey O'Neill on July 1, 1898, and the Spanish American War were paramount in people's minds in this area. The Flagstaff and Williams newspapers have several articles protesting the future designations of the San Francisco Mountain Reserve. One calls the designation "a fiendish piece of business." Another article states: "It is proposed to send a man back to Washington who will stay there until he heads off such a scheme." Concerns about stifling economic growth, limiting grazing and mineral extraction and the over regulation of land were common themes expressed by many. Personal denouncements of the early GLO officials are evidenced by this statement. "His actions are small, egotistical, selfish and by no means becoming a man in such a position." 

Statements by others supporting the designation of forest reserves were more of this theme. An editorial in the Journal-Miner stated "It is not the intention of the Interior Department or any of its representatives to put hardships upon the people of Arizona but to preserve for her citizens those things which will some time in the future, make her a proud sister among the sisterhood of states: it is their (Department of Interior) desire to people the territory with men who come to make Arizona their home and to protect them against those to come to gather and go." 

Over time the 10,240 Prescott Forest Reserve would be expanded to its current size of 1.2 million acres. The forest reserves were transferred to the Department of Agriculture in 1905 with the establishment of the United States Forest Service. In 1907, forest reserves were renamed National Forests. Prescott is one of the few national forests named after a city and that special relationship is important to area residents as well as all communities near it. 

It is interesting to note that the Aspen Creek diversion and Potts creek reservoir were never constructed. This author is continuing research on the City of Prescott's efforts in the early 1900s to attain safe potable water for its citizenry. This will be the subject of a forthcoming article on water availability for fire suppression during the 1900 Prescott city fire and the construction of Goldwater and Hassayampa Lakes. 

(Michael King is the retired Forest Supervisor of the Prescott National Forest (1995-2005). He is interested in local and regional history and is a tour guide and volunteer at the Sharlot Hall Museum and Prescott Chamber of Commerce. He also participates in numerous community service organizations such as the Yavapai Cemetery Association, Prescott Sunup Rotary and Sacred Heart parish.) 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(dam102p)
Reuse only by permission.
Construction of Miller Creek Dam, c.1885, one of Prescott's first attempts to impound surface water for use by the town. 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(dam101p)
Reuse only by permission.
Miller Valley Dam, c.1909. 


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(333.9youc.16) Reuse only by permission.
Dam and pump house on Miller Creek, c.1884.