By Drew Desmond
In 2017 Joan Bigley, now 101 years young, took a sentimental journey over Arizona Route 89A, remembering its history from bygone days. She shared her memories of a simpler, sparser time for us to enjoy today. When Joan was born, the route was known as US Highway 79, but in 1940, it received its current name when the state took over its maintenance.

From Prescott she drove through Lonesome Valley and started up Mingus Mountain. On her right was Yeager Canyon, named after Louis Yeager, one of the area’s largest wool growers in the early 1900s. At the summit and the rest area, Joan recalled the Mingus Mountain Inn, which at times was a gas station, motel, gift shop and a restaurant she fondly remembered. The Inn was purposely burned to the ground in 1986 by the Forest Service.

Turning right and following a dirt road eastward, turning off from one side of 89A, Joan came across a summer campsite. “There were cabins, a pond, stables, a large mess hall, etc.,” Joan related. “This was owned by the Dahlbergs.” Today it is known as the Mingus Mountain Camp and Retreat Center, or the United Methodist Camp Mingus. “Every year our Congregational church members were invited to an overnight campout,” she continued. “What a fun time for the families.”

Joan then turned around and crossed back over 89A, heading westward toward the Potato Patch campground and the Woodchute trail. She recalled the days when the trail was lonely. “It was a beautiful hike,” she recalled, “and the view from the top was breathtaking, with the whole panorama of the Verde Valley, Jerome, Oak Creek and Sedona.”

Marjory J. Sente

Called a woman of great talent and tremendous sense of humor, Claire (also spelled Clara) Dooner was born on January 31, 1887, into a wealthy Los Angeles family. 

Before making a fortune in real estate, her father, Pierton William Dooner, was a pioneer journalist and newspaper editor in Arizona. Along with John H. Marion and Benjamin H. Weaver, he owned The Arizona Miner and The Weekly Arizona Miner in 1871 and 1872. Selling his share of the newspaper, Dooner moved to California and was admitted to its bar.

Claire developed her artistic talents at Stanford University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1908. She was a charter member of the University’s Delta, Delta, Delta Sorority. Graduate work at Columbia University while studying with Arthur Wesley Dow followed, as well as classes at UC-Berkeley and traveling throughout Europe to study art. 

Claire co-founded the Laguna Beach Arts League in 1918. For several years, she taught art at Hollywood High School before moving to Prescott in 1922 after her mother’s passing the prior year.  

By Stuart Rosebrook

In 2026 the Centennial of Route 66 is an international event being celebrated in communities from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California. Beyond the hoopla around the nation’s most famous American road, we mustn’t overlook the significance of why the national U.S. Highway system, including 66, was a revolutionary moment in American transportation history. More importantly, how did the vision of one Prescott leader, Grace Sparkes, change Arizona history and its original territorial capital forever.

In 1926 the U. S. was in the midst of The Roaring Twenties, a tumultuous decade of economic and social change. While the automobile revolution was in full swing and the first American airline companies began offering regional and transcontinental passenger air service, train travel trumped all other forms of transportation. In 1926 federal records reveal that over 17.3 billion passengers traveled on urban trains and trollies, while passengers on intercity trains logged over 37 billion passenger miles. Nonetheless, train travel was waning in America, and automobiles were slowly becoming the favored transportation choice for Americans. The only problem was the lack of roads.

An automobile traveler who ventured outside of urban areas in 1926 would have discovered a national highway system more suited for wagons than cars. According to federal records, only 140,735 miles were paved in the U.S. in 1926, compared to 2.8 to 2.9 million miles a century later. Arizona had less than 2,000 miles of paved roads, compared to 77,252 miles in 2026.

By Parker Anderson

Saxton L. Power was a prominent Prescott businessman in the mid-20^th century. His influence in town was most notable on East Gurley Street, though Prescott was much smaller at the time, and the area was simply referred to in advertisements as part of East Highway 89.

In December 1948, Saxton Power and his wife Bertie opened the Auto Rest Motor Hotel at what would later become 1117 East Gurley. With 21 rooms, tiled showers and steam heat, Auto Rest was regarded as a luxurious motel for its era, and it was advertised in statewide newspapers. The Powers also opened an Auto Rest Dining Room next door, along with the Monte Vista Coffee Shop.

In 1952 the Powers sold the Auto Rest motel and dining rooms to their son Stanley and his wife Virginia. It became prominent enough that, in the 1950s and 1960s, various conventions meeting in Prescott headquartered at Auto Rest. Groups like Pilot International (an air pilots’ group), and the Arizona Federation of Junior Women’s Clubs were among the groups headquartering their meetings and conventions at Auto Rest Motor Hotel.

By Tom Brodersen

 “My parents were immigrants,” Fiorello La Guardia wrote. “My mother was born in Trieste, and father was born in Foggia, Italy.” His mother, Irene Coen Luzzatto, was a descendant of a prominent family of Italian-Jewish scholars and rabbis. His father, Achille LaGuardia, was raised Catholic but declared his religion to be “none.” Achille had been an Italian army musician, a military band leader in India, an Austrian band leader, and a hotel entertainer in New York before returning to Trieste. Irene & Achille met in Trieste and were married in a civil ceremony. They sailed for America on their wedding day, in 1880.

Irene and Achille LaGuardia settled in Greenwich Village. Their daughter Gemma was born there in 1881 and Fiorello followed in 1882. In 1885 Achille enlisted in the Army and was stationed in South Dakota as a member of the 11^th U.S. Infantry Band & Orchestra. Their third child, Richard, was born in 1887. They were transferred to Fort Huachuca in Arizona Territory just 15 miles from the Mexican border, in 1890.  In 1892, the LaGuardia family was transferred to Whipple Barracks near Prescott where Achille was the bandmaster.

By E.L. Foxx

Yavapai County is no stranger to ghost towns. It made a gracious host to prospectors looking to strike it rich during the Arizona territory’s gold rush, resulting in thousands of mines being dug. If a mine was successful, a town would spring up around it. Mining towns lasted 30 years on average, while smaller camps lasted as little as four years.

Bigbug was a small mining town founded in 1862 when gold was discovered along Big Bug Creek by Theodore Boggs. The area got its name when prospectors made note of the especially large beetles along the creek where they were mining. Like many mining camps, Bigbug saw its fair share of name changes. The “Bigbug” post office officially opened in March of 1879. The name only lasted for a few months; in November it was renamed “Red Rock.” This lasted a few years before being renamed “Big Bug” in 1881 and eventually as “Bigbug” again in 1895. Bigbug was known for its smelter services in the Bradshaw Mountains. reaching its peak population in 1890 with 115 residents. As time went on, the ore started to run dry. Miners began moving away to more productive mines in the area, causing the collapse of Bigbug. The post office closed in 1910. 

By Andrew Somerville with assistance from E.L. Foxx

Recipes and cooking practices tell us something about the creativity and adaptability of frontier people in early Yavapai County. Before the late 1880s, when the railroad connected to Prescott, food resources were limited or expensive.

In the 1860s and 1870s, most goods were sold by merchants who had government contracts with military outposts like Fort Verde and Fort Whipple. An economic depression in the mid-1870s likely didn’t make purchasing food any easier. According to Scott Fritz’ Ph.D. paper, Yavapai County Merchants: The Center of Arizona's Early Territorial Economy, 1863-1881, merchants sold local products like corn, wheat, vegetables, beef, veal and mutton, as well as imported goods like flour, sugar and coffee to forts and civilians.

George Barnard created the Juniper House, apparently Prescott’s first restaurant, named because it originally had no building or stove, so cooking and serving food was done from a campfire under a juniper tree. Its menu for July 4, 1864, published in the July 6, 1864, Arizona Miner newspaper, may indicate meals sometimes eaten by frontier people.

By Bob Baker
In September 1874, Theodore W. Otis (locally known as T.W.), wife Pamela and daughter Mary arrived in Prescott, Arizona Territory, from California with a wagon load of household goods and merchandise. By December T.W., along with his partner, H.V. Cram opened the Variety Store on the Courthouse Plaza. T.W. and Pamela sold groceries, fruits, confectionery, cigars and tobacco. 

On September 7, 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed T.W. as Prescott’s Postmaster, based on his Civil War service and reputation for honesty. T.W. scrupulously followed postal regulations even when dealing with the 12th Territorial Legislature. For example, he refused to accept their warrant (a promise to pay) for $250 worth of postage stamps, insisting on cash. He served as Postmaster until April 5, 1884, earning on average $2100 annually. T.W. proudly noted that, “I was known all over Arizona as the Psalm singing Postmaster of Prescott.” in his later memoranda.

By Ember Foxx

Once there was a prosperous town that hundreds of people called home, now lost and forgotten.

In 1875 a prospector named Edmund Peck was walking through the Bradshaw Mountains when he bent down to drink from a spring. As he drank, he noticed a shining rock near the water. Suspicions led him to get it tested; it was silver ore. He later returned to the spring and founded The Great Peck Mine. He began a partnership with C.C Bean, William Cole and his father-in-law, Thomas Alexander. The mine was extremely successful, producing over $1.2 million in silver in its time.

The success of the mine attracted prospectors from all over the territory. and a thriving community formed around the mine. Peck named the town “Alexandra,” after his mother-in-law, who was the first woman to visit the town. Within a few months, the town had a blacksmith, a school, a church, a barber shop, a billiard hall, two mercantiles, three hotels, three boarding houses, two stables, two restaurants, four saloons and at least 50 homes. In 1874 the Spence family built the Palace Station to serve as a stage stop between Prescott and Alexandra. By 1876 more than 60 men worked at the mine. In 1878 the town opened a post office, officially putting Alexandra on the map.

By Andrew Somerville
Ancient, traditional, handmade, and personal are rare attributes of material objects today. Hopi and Hopi-Tewa pottery fits this description. One family is famous for carrying this tradition with great skill and imagination: the descendants of Nampeyo of Hano.

Nampeyo of Hano was born in Hano village on the First Mesa. Her mother was White Corn (Qӧtsaqa ̉ӧ), a Tewa person of the Corn Clan, from the Hano village.  Her father, Qotsvema, a Hopi person of the Snake Clan, came from Walpi village on the First Mesa. According to Northern Arizona University's “Indigenous Voices of the Colorado Plateau” exhibit, First Mesa is one of several southward mesa projections protruding from one larger, finger-like geologic formation. Nampeyo was born during an unstable time for the Hopi mesa area. Disruptive visits from outsiders increased dramatically, the United States government was attempting forced assimilation of the Hopi, and commercial tourism reached into Hopi land via a Grand Canyon rail line and automobile routes.

According to Mary Ellen and Laurence Blair’s book, “The Legacy of a Master Potter — Nampeyo and Her Descendants,” it is likely that Nampeyo learned to make pottery from her Hopi grandmother, observing ceramics skills from an early age. The Blairs also state it is likely she didn’t begin to work seriously in pottery until 1883, after the birth of her child, Kwetcawe or Qotsawe, also known as Annie. But her most artistically prolific period was from about 1879 to 1912. Nampeyo is most known for her bold designs inspired by those on pottery or shards at abandoned prehistoric settlements around the Hopi mesas. Her husband, Lesou or Lesso, was very supportive of her work, copying prehistoric designs he found onto paper for her to study and helping her with obtaining raw materials. Her ornamentation combined the prehistoric with her own active imagination, full of fluid, energetic designs, and internationally recognized and re-popularized ancient themes or motifs. Nampeyo had glaucoma and continued to make incredible pottery while losing her eyesight, concentrating on the forms of her pottery rather than the painted designs. Eventually she became completely blind.