By Rob Bates

Deep within the archives of our regional history lies an itinerant pioneer soul named Albert Franklin Banta.  During a full and varied life, he came to Prescott, Arizona in 1863 from New Mexico territory, where he had joined the First California Volunteers under Major E. B. Willis, in Albuquerque, in the humble capacity of bullwhacker.  Arriving in central Arizona, they established Ft. Whipple near present-day Chino Valley.  In January 1864, Richard C. McCormick, Territorial Secretary, came to Ft. Whipple as part of Governor Goodwin's party, bringing with him a printing outfit which he had procured in Santa Fe.

By Terry Munderloh

(This is the second in a two part series) 

Not content to remain long in one place, William Bradshaw left the management of the ferry business to his older brother Isaac and gravitated to the Weaver mining district where the discoveries of fabulous gold strikes on Rich Hill were being reported.  Missing the opportunity to stake a claim on Rich Hill, he moved on to the unexplored southern portion of the Silver Mountains to prospect.

By Terry Munderloh

(This is the second part of a two part article regarding William Bradshaw.)

Not content to remain long in one place, William Bradshaw left the management of the ferry business to his older brother Isaac and gravitated to the Weaver mining district where the discoveries of fabulous gold strikes on Rich Hill were being reported.  Missing the opportunity to stake a claim on Rich Hill, he moved on to the unexplored southern portion of the Silver Mountains to prospect.

By Terry Munderloh

(This is the first of a two-part story of William Bradshaw) 

William David Bradshaw's exploits were well known in the mining districts of California long before he discovered the Arizona mountain, and later "mountains", which bear his name. 

By Parker Anderson

The murder trial of James Parker was one of the most notorious criminal cases in late 19th-century Prescott.  To this day, the story of Parker (no relation to the present author) is still told and retold, with varying degrees of accuracy, by old-timers and magazines devoted to Western lore.  James Parker, commonly referred to as Fleming Parker in more recent times, was born in 1865 in Visalia, California.  He had three sisters.  His mother died while he was still a child, and his father reportedly went insane a few years later.  Parker was then raised by his grandfather, who valiantly carried on the impossible task of keeping the wild young man out of trouble. 

By Anne Foster

Add one more to the list of Prescott's "World's Oldest" accomplishments.  Prescott may have held the World's Oldest Rodeo Queen contest!  Certainly, Prescott's Frontier Days was one of the first (if not the first) to include women in a rodeo event.

By Al Bates

Two men, one a Union Army General and the other a Confederate Army deserter, had critical roles in the decision to found Arizona Territory's first capital at Prescott.  The ex-rebel also started the events that lead to Prescott losing the capital permanently.

By William Bork

The "Balentine building" on the northwest corner of Montezuma and Gurley streets in downtown Prescott is currently occupied by the Christian Book Store and adjacent businesses.  However, from the mid-teens to the mid-1940s the "Owl Drugstore" perched on that corner and watched Prescott change.

By Richard Gorby

Early in 1863, the new Arizona Territory had been signed into law by President Lincoln.  By March of 1864, the territorial officers, headed by Governor John Goodwin, had arrived in the new territory and had picked this site for the first capital.  A few other young men, mostly seeking after mining wealth, were already there.  Joseph Reddeford Walker and his Walker Party had moved into the "Links" Creek area and were mining with some success.  Van C. Smith, a young adventurer from California, had built a small cabin and was accepting the stock on immigrants to graze and to care for at one dollar and fifty cents per head per month, and had been elected Recorder of the Walker Mining District.  And he spelled the name of the area "Lynx"

By Al Bates

Whipple Barracks remained headquarters of the Arizona Department during the Geronimo war, but with the removal of Geronimo and his band to Florida the most serious reason for retaining either an Arizona Department or a large garrison and depot at Prescott ceased to exist.

By Dorothy Chafin

My family was living on a ranch in the Peach Springs area at the time I was born.  Samuel Franklin Crozier and Lotti Grounds Crozier, my father and mother were both natives of Arizona.  When I was four they moved to Colorado.  My father and my uncle Bill Grounds were partners, they sold the Arizona property and bought Ora Haley's outfit consisting of a ranch on the Green River (near the Canyon of Lodore in Northwest Colorado), a ranch on the Snake River (also up in that part of Colorado) and a holding pasture in between.  The headquarters of these ranches were about 30 miles apart, so the cattle were gathered at the Green River ranch, shoved up to the Snake River ranch to add to the cattle there, and then on to summer range in California Park north of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.