By Nancy Burgess

This is a bit of the story of a rural western town and the men and women who put it on the map.  Mayer, Arizona is a small, unincorporated town in Yavapai County.  It is located near the center of the state in the foothills of the Bradshaw Mountains on Big Bug Creek.

Mayer was founded and named by Joseph (Joe) Mayer and his wife, Sarah (Sadie) Mayer, who purchased the Big Bug Stage Station on the Black Canyon Stage Line from Prescott to Phoenix in July of 1882 for $1,200 in gold. Sadie hid the gold in her darning basket for the move from Tip Top to Big Bug Station. Joe and Sadie Mayer then proceeded to found a town, where Joe was the major player until his death in 1909. Joe dreamed of making Mayer into the economic center of Yavapai County.

By Dan Bergan

When singer Trinity Seely takes the stage August 10 at the newly re-named Jim and Linda Lee Performing Arts Center on the campus of Yavapai College, her footsteps echo 35 years of one of Prescott’s most popular and long-standing traditions—the Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering.

By Bradley G. Courtney

In part 1, the question was raised regarding the veracity of the beloved legend of the Palace Saloon’s bar being pulled out to the Plaza and saved during Prescott’s Great Fire of 1900. We left off with the story of how the Palace experienced a fire in its interior in late 1897 and was destroyed only within, including its solid walnut wood bar that had been installed in 1884.

By Bradley G. Courtney

Prior to the release of the book Prescott’s Original Whiskey Row in 2015, there’d been some debate between local historians and Whiskey Row business owners and regulars as to whether Prescott’s most famous and cherished legend was true. That is, the story of Palace patrons pulling the saloon’s bar—the same bar used in the Palace today—out to the courthouse plaza while the inferno raced north up Montezuma Street. Some local historians concluded that it’s nothing more than a tall tale. 

By Karen Kamradt

Continued from Part 1 published on 7/2/2023

Throughout his five years as Chief and Tribal Leader, Sam traveled on many delegations to Washington on behalf of the Yavapai People. Sam and his wife Viola were also instrumental in organizing and lobbying Congress for Tribal recognition, working closely with national and local leaders including Grace M. Sparkes, Sharlot M. Hall, Grace L. (Genung) Chapman and Arizona’s senior Senator Carl Hayden. On June 7, 1935, the current Yavapai-Prescott Indian Reservation was established on 75 acres transferred from the Old Fort Whipple Military Reserve to the Interior Department. In 1956, 1,320 acres were added to the Reservation.

By Bob Baker

On October 5, 1869, James O. Grant, owner of the Arizona Stage Line, arrived in Prescott on his stagecoach pulled by six mules. His arrival heralded the first scheduled public passenger service from Prescott to San Bernardino, California. The stage route ran through Yavapai County and included stops at American Ranch, Skull Valley, Date Creek, Wickenburg and La Paz. Later, stage service to Phoenix was added. 

By Karen Kamradt

Eighty-eight years ago on May 9, 1935, Sam Jimulla (pronounced gee-mew-lah’) was appointed Chief of the Prescott Yavapai by the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, John Collier (1933-1945). At the same time, Sam was officially elected by his people to be their leader and Chief.

By Bradley G. Courtney

Dating back to 1874, the oldest saloon in Arizona began with the man who probably had more influence upon early Whiskey Row history than any other: Dan Conner (D.C.) Thorne. It takes some explaining, but D.C. Thorne must be considered the original founder of the Palace Saloon.
   
A New Yorker, he moved to Prescott in 1867 and quickly invested in several nearby mines. In the summer of 1874, Thorne began making his mark on Whiskey Row. He was seeing profits from his mining ventures in the early 1870s, which enabled him to explore other entrepreneurial endeavors. He, along with William Hutchinson, opened the Cabinet Saloon on lot 19, 118 Montezuma Street, where the northern portion of today’s Palace Restaurant and Saloon operates.

By Bradley G. Courtney

Prescott’s Palace Restaurant and Saloon is an iconic piece of Old and Wild West history. As time goes on and more of its history is revealed, its importance grows. Hence, it’s essential that its origin story is correctly told. 

In a Days Past column on September 12, 1999, it was stated that, “The exact age of the Palace Saloon is somewhat of a puzzle.” The historical plaque fastened in front of the Palace today uses these exact words. Happily, they’re no longer true. After a chronological study of every Prescott newspaper from the first one in 1864 through the rebuild that followed Prescott’s Great Fire of 1900, coupled with examining related documents and records along the way, the puzzle pieces have fallen into place. The Palace’s roots reach back to 1874.

by John L. Vankat

Repeat photography is an eye-catching way to bring history alive. It involves collecting historical photographs, finding the sites where the early photographers stood and reshooting the same scenes. Each repeat photograph is then compared to the historical photograph to reveal how the site has changed from the past to the present. This helps us understand both the past and present, as well as predict and plan for the future.

Over the last 8 years, I precisely repeated 125 historical photographs of landscapes on and around northern Arizona’s beautiful San Francisco Peaks. These pairings of historical and repeat photographs are presented in my recently published book, The San Francisco Peaks and Flagstaff Through the Lens of Time (Soulstice Publishing).