By James H. Riddle

There is a lot we now know about the heliograph stations that were established at Fort Whipple and Bald Mountain (Glassford Hill).  In May of 1890, the signal officer in charge of the Whipple station, 1st Lieut. L. D. Tyson, 9th Infantry, wrote that for the first three days of the heliograph practice he had a detachment of three corporals and five privates from a signal class at Whipple who helped in manning his station.  Their equipment included two heliographs, later reduced to one, a telescope and "the necessary" signal flags.

By James H. Riddle

The date was May 15th, 1890, and the Army's Department of Arizona had just completed a major heliograph practice; it was, in fact, the largest the world had ever seen.  I call it the "Volkmar Practice", after the man responsible for it, Col. Wm. J. Volkmar, the Assistant Adjutant General and Chief Signal Officer for the Department of Arizona.  Although the practice lasted only sixteen days, preparations for it took months of reconnaissance and preparation.

By Nancy Burgess

Official Census Day is April 1, 2000, about the time when every resident in the nation is to be counted.  Among the reasons for the head count is to ensure fair federal, state, and county government representation.  The population information gathered is also important in ensuring that our local communities receive their fair allocation of state-shared revenues and funding for programs that benefit Yavapai County citizens.

By Kathryn Reisdorfer

There's an intriguing exhibit opening at the Phippen Museum on January 8 that looks back at 100 years of art in Arizona.  Much of it originated in Prescott because artists have always been attracted to this region.  What is interesting but not surprising is that Sharlot Hall was acquainted with many of them. 
 

By Richard Gorby

On January 1, 1900, Prescott was thirty-six years old, and apparently not much interested in the arrival of a new century. In the Arizona Journal-Miner: 

"There will be midnight services in the Catholic church tomorrow night - - the last service of the old and the first of the new year." And: 

"On New Years day, at 2:30 p.m., there will be a football game played in Prescott between Black's team and the Prescott team." 

That was all.

By Linda Chase

December 1941 is the first time that I remember seeing a Christmas lighting in Prescott.

I was in the first grade at Miller Valley School, and we were barely learning to read about Dick, Jane and Baby Sally. Reading Christmas carols was beyond us, but somehow we were taught both verses of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” so that we could sing them from the steps of the courthouse.

By Nancy Kirkpatrick Wright

Have you seen any sun dogs recently?  Sun dogs or mock suns are rainbow-like spots of light and color which appear about 22 degrees to the left or right of the sun on days when whispy, cirrus clouds float near the sun at sun set or sun rise.  Ice crystals, too light to fall to the ground, work like prisms, reflecting and refracting the sunlight to produce glowing halos or arches of color.  When we see them, we usually experience small spasms of delight and a feeling of serendipity, along with a desire to share the experience with someone.

By Zach Hirsch

As audiences sit to view a play or listen to a concert at the Prescott Fine Arts Association theatre at 208 North Marina, they little realize the structure has a 104 year history.  It is a prime example of the renovation of an historically significant building with adaption for re-use for the benefit of the community.

By Erik Berg

That's right... oil boom.  Many people know about the rich gold discoveries that brought waves of early prospectors to Yavapai County, but few realize that the area was also the scene of a brief, but intensive, oil boom during the First World War.  For a couple years, the rolling hills of the Chino Valley were dotted with the wooden derricks of oil wells and the pages of local newspapers were filled with the advertisements of would-be oil barons.  Now largely forgotten, the Chino Valley oil boom remains as one of the more unusual stories from Arizona's mining history.

By Kate Robinson

The Depression settled more slowly and quietly into the West than the urban, industrial areas east of the Mississippi.  Folks were used to living at survival levels.  Arizona paid little attention to the crash of 1929, despite a significant decline in the mining industry.