By C. Gilbert Storms

Soon after the Gadsden Purchase was ratified in April 1854, Americans began settling in the Santa Cruz and Sonoita Creek valleys of southern Arizona. Popular Western travel writer John Ross Browne wrote that by 1861 the Santa Cruz Valley was well populated between Tucson and the Calabasas ranch, fifteen miles south of Tubac. But when he visited the area just three years later, Browne found that the ranches and mine sites of the area were deserted and in ruins. The immediate cause of this sudden reversal was raiding by Western and Chiricahua Apaches.  But early relations between Apaches and Americans in the Southwest had been non-violent.  So how did American settlement in the region come to be wiped out by Apache raids?
 

By Dave Lewis

Previously:  By the late 1700s and into the early 1800s, Spaniards -- explorers, soldiers, priests and settlers -- had criss-crossed Arizona several times.  There were permanent Spanish settlements at Tubac and Tucson, nowhere else.  Spain had tried and failed to establish a foothold at the critical Colorado River crossing at Yuma.  Spanish progress in Arizona seems to have stopped.

Of this period, historian Edwin Corle wrote:

“From the death of Father Garces (1781) up to 1821. . . the history of all of Arizona is meager.  It was a land where nothing happened.”

By Cindy Vaughn

To coincide with the opening of the Sharlot Hall Museum's World War I Exhibit on March 24, it is fitting that we revisit the heroic saga of a remarkable young man, one of Prescott's well-loved sons, whose shining light was extinguished on September 15, 1918, in the skies over France.  While on duty as a pilot with the 147th Aero Squadron of the American Expeditionary Force, Lt. Ernest Love, flying his Spad XIII, was shot down over Tronville, France.  A French priest rescued the mortally wounded pilot, who died the following day and was buried in the Tronville Church Cemetery.  Red Cross records state that he suffered a shattered left knee, injury to his left hand and forearm and hemorrhages, but when his body was disinterred for its voyage to Arlington National Cemetery, it was noted that both of his legs had been shattered.  Love was reinterred at Arlington on June 30, 1921, with the following gravestone inscription, "If I am to give my life for this cause, I am satisfied.  There is no way I would rather go than serving my Country."

By Tom Schmidt

As one travels through northern Arizona, one of the first observations made might be the different types of rocks and physical landscapes. Indeed, the region is a land of geologic diversity, including the Grand Canyon and the red rock formations of Sedona. North of Prescott is the Granite Dells, an area of large boulders of eroded granite, while west of the city is Thumb Butte, a distinctive geological landmark. These awe-inspiring landscapes reflect Earth’s geological history that occurred not just in decades, but throughout millions of years.

By Dave Lewis

Previously:  Spain established its first permanent settlements in Arizona as missions at Tubac in 1752 and twenty years later at Tucson.  The name “Arizona” emerged in the 1730s, but it belonged to a small ranching community in Sonora. 

In the early 1700s, Spain’s optimism over its foothold in its newly-claimed lands was tempered by hard reality.  Native peoples, some of whom were initially friendly and curious, could be pushed only so far in giving up their beliefs and dominion over their lives and lands.  Most accommodating were the Pimas who lived alongside the Spaniards, but they rose up in bloody rebellion at times.  Apaches were unrelentingly hostile.

By Dave Lewis

Previously:  Spanish explorers first set foot in Arizona in 1539.  They saw the land and major rivers, encountered numerous native tribes, and moved on.  For the next 150 years, with a few exceptions, Spaniards made no attempt to remain in Arizona.

The exceptions: In 1629, Spanish missionaries from settlements along the Rio Grande came into the Hopi lands and established missions which were occupied intermittently for the next 50 years.  At Hopi and throughout New Mexico, Spanish soldiers and priests virtually enslaved native people even as they worked to convert them to Christianity.  In 1680, a rebellion was organized at Taos, and in a remarkably well-coordinated uprising on a single day in August, natives in several dozen far-flung pueblos and villages rebelled.  Four hundred Spaniards were killed, including most of the priests; several thousand settlers were routed and chased down the Rio Grande toward Mexico.  The few Spanish missions at Hopi were destroyed. Once again, Arizona belonged to the natives.

Previously:  While the Coronado Expedition was at Zuni in the summer of 1540, Pedro de Tovar made the first European contact with the Hopi.  Garcia Lopez de Cardenas became the first European to see the Grand Canyon.  The Hopi were no happier to see the Spaniards than the Zuni had been.

By October the expedition moved east toward native pueblos along the Rio Grande -- a province the Spaniards called Tiguex (tee-wish).  Coronado’s men again asserted their dominion over the natives, and Cardenas became notorious for brutal, murderous retaliation against any resistance.  Anger and frustration were rising among the Spaniards who had expected by this time to be dripping in gold and jewels.  Fray Marcos, whose fantasies sparked the expedition, was sent back to Mexico in disgrace.  The next man who promised to lead Coronado to cities of gold would be dealt with more harshly.

By Linda Ogo and Sandra Lynch

Many American Indians have been popularized in books, documentaries and provocative motion pictures.  The Yavapai Indians, however, have been largely absent from such published or dramatized history.  Much of this is the result of a tradition that enabled the Yavapai to survive from prehistoric times to the present—that of preserving their culture within family groups.
 

By Michael King

Last week’s Days Past article reviewed Prescott’s experience in establishing a reliable system of residential water storage and distribution. This week, we’ll examine Prescott’s current water supply and the celebration of “The Biggest Splash.”

In 1946, a comprehensive water study was completed for the City of Prescott.  This was during Mayor James Whetstine’s administration.  Plans included developing a series of wells, constructing pump stations, and installing a large holding tank facility in Chino Valley just north of the Chino Valley High School.  Mayor James Whetstine’s administration laid the ground work for new Mayor Hillard Brooke to carry out the project.  Brooke’s administration brought the issue before voters in April 1947, with an $800,000 bonding provision.  Out of the 858 ballots cast only 25 were opposed.  At that time, water was provided by surface water from the Goldwater Lakes and Hassayampa Lake (83%), the Sun Dog infiltration gallery (10%) and the Weston Well (7%).

By Michael King

May 14, 1948 Daily Courier Article:

“Let’s celebrate! Tomorrow will be one of the greatest days in the history of Prescott.  It marks the turning of the gurgling, bubbling, crystal clear water of the Del Rio artesian basin into the mains of a thirsty city to end, at least for some time to come, the long water famine through which the city has struggled and gasped, lo, these many months.”