By Warren Miller 

Left allemande and a right hand grand. 
Plant your taters in a sandy land, 
And promenade back to the same old stand. 

Square dancing, a distinctly American tradition with ancient roots in European and British Isles dancing, has been a part of the Prescott scene since its founding in 1864. It continues to provide fun, exercise, and a wonderfully pleasant opportunity to enjoy the company of friends to hundreds of Prescott area folks. The driving, toe-tapping fiddle music that it is danced to has also been with us since the earliest settlers came West.

By Elisabeth Ruffner 

This is the first of two articles regarding these City Recorder's Notes.  Please read "City Recorder Keeps Prescott Posted of Early Times - Part 2," published on November 22, 1997 and in the SHM Days Past Archives.  The notes for these articles are about the Prescott City Council, 1876 to 1885. The unknown writer of these minutes kept his journal on the back of the Bashford-Burmister Company's invoice forms.

It was ever thus.. 

In the spirit of poking a little gentle fun at ourselves, the following has been excerpted from the notes of an unknown diligent recorder who created a list of city council (or precedent body) actions typed on invoice forms of The Bashford-Burmister Company, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Groceries, Mining Supplies, Dry Goods, Hardware, Boots and Shoes, etc. The following excerpts are copied "as is" from the notes, including spelling errors: 

By Richard Gorby 

This is the second of two articles regarding Governor Conrad Zulick.  You may want to read "Territorial Governor Conrad Zulick had His Share of Trouble - Part 1," published on September 6, 1997 in the SHM Days Past Archives, before reading this article.

Conrad Meyer Zulick, the seventh Territorial Governor of Arizona and the first Democrat, arrived in Prescott, the capitol, in October of 1885, a few days after his dramatic midnight escape from jail in Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico.  He was greeted warmly. On October 24, from John Marion, editor of the Arizona Miner: 

By Richard Gorby 

This is the first of two articles regarding Governor Conrad Zulick.  Please also read "Arizona's Governor Zulick Fell into Political Disfavor - Part 2" published on September 13, 1997 in the SHM Days Past Archives.

Arizona has had its problems with governors recently, and it might help to know that it has happened before.  Conrad Meyer Zulick, the seventh Territorial Governor of Arizona, was removed from office before his term was over and was mentioned by the press in this, and many worse ways:

By Richard Gorby 

In 1864 Prescott, the capital of the new Territory of Arizona was surrounded by pine trees. However, the town's first real building, Michael Wormser's store at the southwest corner of Goodwin and Montezuma, was made of adobe. That paradox ended immediately with the arrival of Alfred Osgood Noyes and his sawmill.  Soon Prescott became a town of wood, not of adobe.

By Jody Drake and Michael Wurtz 

Vaudeville is as old as humanity, and in one form or another will endure as long as people seek laughter, good tunes, mystification and surprise. Often presented at the Elks Theater, it was a boost to the spirit and a temporary escape from fear, anxiety and pain. Prescott, like America, lost a rich mine of humor as vaudeville went from two-a-day to one daily showing, down to a weekly, and lastly, to a rare event presented by a local civic organization. 

By Sylvia Neely 

In the summer of 1973, Dr. Kenneth Walker, Superintendent of the Prescott Public Schools, suggested that an outdoor laboratory be incorporated into the design and construction of the new junior high school. The lovely twenty-two acre site was established on Williamson Valley Road, one-fourth mile north of Iron Springs Road, adjacent to what is now Granite Mountain Junior High. The property was purchased by the school district at a cost of $90,000.

By William Bork

A generation before Zane Grey and companions in the United States created historical tales and adventure novels about life in the American West, there appeared in serial form in 1877-78 in a German periodical publication, Frohe Stunden, translates to Happy Hours, an adventure tale set in Arizona Territory about 1868 Der Oelprinz, translates to The Oil Prince. Rewritten and published in book form in 1897, it has not gone out of print in the 100 years (minus one year) since that time. Further, it has been put on the stage, made into movies, and re-told in several comic book series.

By Warren Miller 

When the cowboy poets gather next weekend at the 10th Annual Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering, which opens Thursday evening, August 14, 1997 and runs through Saturday evening, August 16, 1997, they will be continuing a tradition that has been important in the ranching country around Prescott since before the turn of the century. Several of the best known and revered old-time cowboy poets lived and worked in this area in times past.

By Karla Burkitt 

STEP RIGHT UP, LADIES AND GENTS! 
Dr. Acker's English Elixir, Boker's Stomach Bitters, Cooper's Magic Balm, Kickapoo Cough Cure, Roback's Blood and Liver Pills... 

Before the FDA and truth-in-advertising there was a time when anyone with an imagination and a bathtub or washtub could create a wonder drug and put it on the market. Following the Civil War hundreds of 'doctors' and experts sprang up, each with their special 'blend' of secret ingredients, to cure everything from hair loss to cancer. Patent medicine sales soared between 1870 and 1930 and most of those products were never patented at all. In 1905 a writer for Collier's Weekly estimated that Americans would spend about seventy-five million dollars purchasing patent medicines in that year alone.