By Mona Lange McCroskey

Recently the community of Prescott community lost a very remarkable lady.  Services for Martha Yount Caldwell were held at the Congregational Church, a block from where she was born in 1912, soon after Arizona attained statehood.  Martha had deep roots in Prescott.  Her grandfather, John Criley, was a pioneer physician who came here in the 1890s, followed by her father, Dr. Clarence E. Yount, who emigrated to Arizona as a health seeker and married Dr. Criley's daughter Clara.  Dr. and Mrs. Yount established their first home on the corner of Marina and Gurley Streets next door to the Congress Hotel, where the Hassayampa Inn now stands.

By Parker Anderson

Every once in a while, someone will strike up a conversation with me regarding Prescott's various reputed "haunted" sites.  I enjoy the subject, but in reality, Prescott is probably one of the least haunted cities in America.  Whether you believe in ghosts or not, there are not that many purported hauntings in the Prescott area, so the same stories are told over and over again.

By Bill Lynam

On Oct. 13, 1895, The Arizona Journal Miner reported in a welcoming article that Virgil Earp relocated to Prescott, this time from Cripple Creek, Colorado.  It recalled some of his and his brothers past exploits in Prescott and Tombstone and their ridding these communities of outlaws.  Virgil started mining in the Hassayampa district in partnership with W.H. Harlon.  They leased the Grizzly mine owned by W.C. Hanson. 
 

By Bill Lynam

Like the rest of the Earps, Virgil, the second oldest of the Earp brothers by his father's second marriage, always seemed to wind up where his father or brothers were, but not for long.  The lure of new gold and silver discoveries in the West drove him to seek his fortune at the next bonanza, but more often as a lawman than as a miner.

By Mona Lange McCroskey

There is a document hanging on the wall at the Hassayampa Inn that is probably not even noticed by most of today's guests.  However, without those individuals and businesses named on the "Contributors to the Hotel" list, the Hassayampa would not be a reality.  From 1920, until it opened in 1927, there were concerted efforts, led by Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce Secretary Grace M. Sparkes to finance the building of a community-owned hotel.  The budding tourism industry in this country and the need for accommodations for business and mining men who visited Prescott prompted the formation of The Hassayampa Hotel Company in 1920.  The concept of a community-built hotel was popular at that time, and in Arizona the Gadsden in Douglas and the Copper Queen in Bisbee were already flourishing.  On the board of directors of the Hassayampa Hotel Company were Francis S. Viele, LeRoy Anderson, Harry W. Heap, M.B. Hazeltine, O.J. Faulkner, Dr. J.W. Flinn, James Whetstine, and C.C. Miller, Jr.

By Terry Munderloh

In 1913, ten years after Orville and Wilbur Wright launched the first successful flight of a gasoline powered airplane carrying a man, most of the residents of Arizona had never seen one of those new-fangled machines until they attended the first Northern Arizona State Fair.  Held in Prescott the Northern Arizona State Fair brought exhibitors and participants from the five northern counties together for a grand regional fair.  John Dougherty donated the use of his land for the fair grounds.  The Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce and community members laid out a racetrack, erected buildings and a grandstand.  The Santa Fe railroad ran special passenger trains from the downtown depot to the fair grounds for a fare of fifteen-cents a round trip. 

By William "Bill" Peck

I'm not starting out declaring how good or bad the "good old days" were.  It suffices to state that they are apples and oranges.  It remains for us as individuals to judge whether our present creature comforts come at a price of social loss when compared to the past. 

By Tom Brodersen

Sometimes "days past" leave traces that cannot be forgotten.  This year marked the 50th anniversary of nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site and many still suffer from cancer and other diseases caused by fallout from the United States atomic testing program half a century later.  It may come as a surprise that Yavapai County residents are included in the official list of people affected.  The areas in Arizona recognized by the government as affected by fallout are Yavapai, Coconino, Apache, Gila, and Navajo counties.  One out of every seven tests dumped radioactive fallout on northern Arizona. 
 

By Marie Slayton

Having worked at the Gurley Street Grill for the better part of the last six years, I am quite familiar with the folkloric history associated with the building.  However, as most people know, folklore and stories that are passed down through generations can bear little if any resemblance to history.

By Anne Foster

Sometimes, local legends are actually true.  Proving it, however, can be quite another story.  Just like the childhood game of "Gossip," where a whispered sentence is slowly transformed from one end of the line to other, the original tale is slowly lost in the retelling.  The essence of the story is there, but it takes some creative thinking and a great deal of research to find the truth behind the legend.