By Bob Harner

Despite considerable effort, John Jay Gosper experienced only thwarted ambition in his campaign to become Arizona Territorial Governor.

After losing his left leg in the Civil War, Gosper married a widow with a twelve-year-old son, earned a degree at Eastman Business College and tried farming and raising hogs. He first entered politics in Lincoln, Nebraska, as a member and later president of the city council. Continuing his political rise, he served as Nebraska’s secretary of state from 1873 to 1875.

By Worcester P. Bong

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the evacuation and internment of all persons from the West Coast deemed a threat to national security to internment centers further inland. The order gave the military broad powers to ban any citizen from the restricted zone known as Military Area 1, which encompassed the western half of Washington and Oregon, the southern half of Arizona, the western half of California from the Oregon border to Los Angeles and everything south of Los Angeles. The remainder of the U.S. made up Military Area 2.
 

By Marjory J. Sente

By 1902, with $250,000 of capital from the sale of stock, B-B Co. was considered the largest mercantile in the Arizona Territory. Reasons for growth included the local economy, railroads and an inexpensive means of communication. The B-B Co. boasted it had customers throughout the entire Rocky Mountains, Southwest and Arizona Territory.
 

By Marjory J. Sente

The Great Fire of July 14, 1900 destroyed B-B Co.’s three-story brick store on Gurley Street and nearby warehouses, as well as stock and fixtures. The warehouses on the Hill and Gooseflat were saved, according to a telegram Fredericks sent to Weeks (who was in Chicago). During early stages of the fire, Secretary Aitken entered the store, opened the safe and saved the cash and books. He reported he had sufficient records of B-B’s accounts to continue business.

By Marjory J. Sente

The Bashford-Burmister Co., or B-B Co., had a long history in Prescott before becoming the largest mercantile in the Arizona Territory. Carrying supplies from barbed wire and canned salmon to ready-made clothes, it met the needs of people on the frontier.  

In 1863 Lincoln appointed Levi Bashford as Surveyor General of the Arizona Territory. In January 1864, he and his brother Coles, who had been appointed Territorial Attorney-General, arrived in Governor Goodwin’s party. Soon Levi set up the first store, described as a small trading hut, in response to the needs of miners and the Goodwin party. Miners used gold dust to buy a limited variety of food and supplies.

By Eric Jacobson

George Emory Goodfellow (1855-1910) was a frontier physician who became the United States’ foremost expert on the treatment of gunshot wounds.

Goodfellow attended Wooster University Medical School in Cleveland, Ohio, graduating in 1876.  That same year, George joined his father Milton in Yavapai County, Arizona, where Milton was a mining executive with the Peck Mine Company.  The mine in the Bradshaw Mountains produced $1.5 Million dollars in silver (approximately $37 million dollars today) between 1875-1885.  For two years George was the Peck Mine Company doctor.

By Marjory J. Sente

Today, New Year’s Day is often spent watching the Rose Parade, bowl games, or even taking a Polar Bear Splash. In territorial Prescott, however, the custom of calling was a popular way to spend the afternoon and evening of the year’s first day.

Some say calling on New Year’s Day was a Dutch custom; others attribute it to the Scottish custom of Hogmanay. Whatever the origin, it had specific elements: women, and frequently their single daughters, held open houses; men, usually young, did the calling; refreshments were served and men’s calling cards were a must.

By Bob Baker

The Yavapai County Courthouse and plaza in Prescott have been the focus of Christmas celebrations since early in the town’s history. The Dec 28, 1867 Arizona Miner reported that on Dec 24th a Christmas Eve celebration was held in the “new Court House” on Cortez St. just north of Gurley and that “A tree had been erected and covered with everything imaginable that was obtainable in Prescott.” On December 31, 1874, the newspaper reported that hundreds of people entered the Courtroom on Christmas Eve where they saw the public-school children seated by a row of Christmas trees singing Christmas carols. Later, Santa Claus arrived and gifts were given to the children.

By Mick Woodcock

Herbert Bowers secured the appointment as post trader, or sutler, at the newly established military post of Camp Whipple before it was moved to the banks of Granite Creek in May 1864. By that time, he was headed to California, via La Paz, to bring back goods for his new store. By August, he was back with his brother Nathan to establish their business.

By Mick Woodcock

When Herbert and Phoebe Bowers were raising their family of twelve children in Greenfield, New Hampshire in the 1820s and 1830s, they had no idea that six of their sons would have an impact on America’s westward expansion. Bowers was a stonemason by occupation. He was afflicted with consumption, known today as tuberculosis, which caused his death in 1860.