By David Alfonse (outreach coordinator, Prescott Bee Club)

Residents and visitors love Yavapai County’s great outdoors and many experience the buzzing of our bees. Did you know Arizona and our central highlands are home to over 1300 native bee species? We dwell within diverse topography that gives rise to many different pollen and nectar sources for most of the year, creating a rich bounty of insects. Bees are small, but their contribution to local native indigenous cultures and early settlers in the Arizona Territory was immense. 

Before European contact, “stingless bees” (Melipona Beecheii) were utilized by indigenous Mayan and Aztec cultures in the Americas. Bee products were used for food, medicine and ceremonies, where a fermented drink like meade called balche was consumed. Wax was prized for use in burns. Major indigenous trade routes criss crossed central Arizona, making it possible that these bee products were traded and used locally by the Hohokam, known as “the ones who came before,” long before Arizona was a territory or state. Native bees were also important for the pollination and spread of squash, pumpkin and gourd cultivation in Arizona. Native bees are distinct from the now common honey bee species that came from Europe.

Apis mellifera (American Honeybee) came ashore with early colonists in Massachusetts Circa 1630. By 1800 honeybees were distributed as far west as the Mississippi River. Travel to Arizona was perilous for settlers, domestic animals and their bees, who were kept in straw hives called skeps. Early attempts to move bees by wagon failed due to the rigors of the trail. California had many established colonies by the 1850’s thanks to botanist Christopher Shelton who brought 12 hives from New York. Only one colony survived the trip. Arizona settlers brought bees from California for honey and crop pollination. Another migration route for Arizona’s bees was through feral swarms before white settlements began, leading to the nickname “white man’s fly”. 

 The pioneering Ehle family brought honey bees with them to Prescott in 1864. By the late 1870’s, settlers in our area used bees to pollinate crops and for income. Locals packaged their honey and wax and transported them to town for sale.  Mormon farmers in eastern Arizona were credited as the first organized beekeepers. They immediately saw increases in bee-pollinated crop yields, ensuring economic survival in harsh lands. Crude bee-keeping tools made collecting feral and domestic honey dangerous, as many painful stings were common. Burning sulfur to kill bees before extracting honey in the wild or climbing or cutting down  trees to harvest honey was risky. 

Keeping bees in crude containers like straw skeps meant the colony was destroyed after one harvest. In 1852 a minister named Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth changed bee keeping forever with the invention of a wooden hive box with removable frames. Now bee products could be removed safely, and frames reused without destroying the colony’s home. Modern beekeeping had arrived in the Arizona Territory! Bee keeping became so popular that, in 1912, Arizona appointed a state bee inspector. 

Bumble Bee, in our own county, got its name from a story Uncle Tom Saunders told in 1863. Tom and a group of other prospectors found nests full of honey in the cliffs along the nearby creek. Several in the party were severely stung collecting their sweet treats! The stream, and later the town, was named Bumble Bee. 

While experiencing nature, when you happen upon the sights or sounds of this mysterious, wonderful insect, listen closely…..maybe our bees are telling you a story of the ancient ones or a tale of the early Arizona Territory. 

Enjoy mead (a fermented honey beverage), beer, wine, delicious bites, and music at Sharlot’s Cellar, May 16, 4–7 p.m. at Sharlot Hall Museum. Visit sharlothallmuseum.org (Events) for more information. Adults 21 and older.

“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1. The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.