By Michael Wurtz

Sharlot Mabridth Hall died on April 9, 1943 and accolades about her life achievements rolled in from across the state. Dwight B. Heard, co-founder of the Heard Museum in Phoenix said, "In Sharlot Hall this country found the unusual combination of the sturdiness of the pioneer with the beautiful spirit of the poet. She will be long remembered for both characteristics." For the previous sixteen years she exhibited those traits in the Museums she founded - the Old Governor's Mansion Museum and Sharlot Hall Museum that sat directly behind it. In the next thirty years the two Museums became one and created a history of its own.

By Parker Anderson

Following the capture of outlaw James (alias Fleming) Parker for the notorious Rock Cut Train Robbery near Peach Springs, Arizona, the Flagstaff Sun-Democrat described some of the problems facing Northern Arizona ranchers in its February 18, 1897 edition. "Bally Creighton, "Kid" Marvin and Abe Thompson together with Jim Parker had for several years terrorized the law-abiding ranchers in the vicinity of Peach Springs and kept up a continual round of pilfering and petty stealing, frequently breaking into the ranchers cabins thereabouts.

By George Hall

In May of 1929, just 6 months before the great Stock Market Crash, a California filmmaker named Furniss M. Tisdale came to Prescott to shoot a promotional movie for the Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Elks Theatre. It was titled "Things you ought to know about PRESCOTT". Grace Sparkes was the head of the C of C at the time and planned to use the film to promote the virtues of Prescott throughout the country.

By Terry Munderloh

"I came to Arizona seeking adventure," wrote William Harrison Hardy, "and brought with me some money and a store of merchandise. I crossed the Colorado River near Fort Mohave January 20, 1864 where a Company of California Volunteers were stationed under the command of Charles Atchison." 

Hardy was born in Allegany County, New York, on April 25, 1823. He settled in Wisconsin with an older brother for a short time before joining a wagon train for California in 1849. He was elected to head the migrating group and was thereafter known as Captain although he never held a military commission.

By Lorri Carlson

(This is the second part of a two part article that was published last week.)

Maie Bartlett Heard, co-founder of the Heard Museum and a friend of Sharlot's, admonished her, "How, in the name of wonder, do you mange to do so many things? Mrs. [Alice] Hewins has a better right than I to scold, but I do beg of you to save yourself as much as you can, for the sake of the state.

By Lorri Carlson 

(This is the first of a two-part article) 

Sharlot Mabridth Hall had longed for the day when she could display artifacts of Arizona's past, hoping to create a house of memories. From dream to reality, Miss Hall officially opened the old house to visitors in June 1928. Sharlot also needed support in order to establish her museum, from both the public and private sectors. Sharlot sought assistance as time and energy permitted but far more common others sought her, encouraging her effort to preserve the evidence of days past.

By Mona Lange McCroskey

Friends gathered yesterday morning at the Congregational Church to say goodbye to Danny Freeman, who passed away in Prescott on January 14, 2003. Born in the Texas Panhandle, he was raised in Swisher County. He was in college as a New Mexico Aggie during the Depression. His "first job" with the Soil Conservation Service lasted thirty-eight years. During that time he worked in range management, married schoolmarm Norita Voelker and raised three children, and served as an area conservationist for Northern Arizona, overseeing five counties and thirty-nine million acres of land.

By Nancy Wright

"Perhaps we will find gold, perhaps not," was the original name of Perhaps, a mining camp down on the east side of the Gila Bend Mountains. When I came across this intriguing entry in Will C. Barnes' Arizona Place Names, I couldn't stop browsing. Arizona Place Names is a mother-lode of interesting, romantic, names of cities, towns, mines, mountains, rivers, and other geographical features, combined with the kind of interesting, but obscure history that rarely makes it into history books.

By John Paulsen

(Seventy-five years ago this coming June 11 the first guest signed the Governor's Mansion register and the Sharlot Hall Museum began. Sharlot Hall Museum will be running a series of articles over the coming months that will explore the people and events that have shaped the Museum's long journey. This Sunday, and last, we will explore what life was like in Prescott in 1928)

Through June of 1928, the stock market continued its wild gyrations with abrupt up and down shifts, including some of record numbers. Buying frenzies alternated with equally wild sell-offs.

By John Paulsen

(Seventy-five years ago this coming June 11, the first guest signed the Governor's Mansion register and the Sharlot Hall Museum began. We are running a series of articles over the coming months that will explore the people and events that have shaped the museum's long journey. This Sunday, and next, we will explore what life was like in Prescott in 1928.)

In 1928, a year predicted by Washington to be "a banner year", two newspapers served Prescott's 5,517 citizens. Both the Prescott Journal-Miner and the Prescott Evening Courier were heavy on local news. The Courier, however, was usually more staid and formal, while the Miner leaned towards sensationalism, sporting big black headlines and multiple font changes.