By Tom Collins

It was June 1875, and the Arizona Territory was in an uproar.  Why?  Because public schools were under attack.   Edmund Francis Dunne, recently appointed Chief Justice of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court, was urging Catholics to stop paying taxes that supported public schools.  Public schools were too secular, in his view. Administrators were holding fast to their belief that pupils should not be required to start the school day with prayer.  Dunne denounced the Common School system and condemned the action of the Territorial Legislature in defeating a bill to give the Catholic Schools a part of the money raised for Common Schools.  A staunch Catholic and believer in religious education, he proposed the abolishment of public schools.

By Jim Turner

It was late February 1851.  Royce Oatman and his family struggled to push their wagon up a steep bank along the Gila River near present day Gila Bend.  Around sunset about a dozen Yavapai men came up from the river.  They asked for meat and tobacco.  Royce gave them some bread, and told them sternly to go away.  He said he did not have enough food to feed his family.  The Yavapai backed off several paces and stood in a circle, talking.  Then all at once they rushed the Oatmans, swinging their war clubs. In a matter of minutes they killed Royce, his wife, and four of his seven children.  They hit fourteen-year-old Lorenzo on the head and threw him over a cliff.  The Yavapai spared Olive Oatman, age thirteen, and her sister Mary Ann, eight.

By Al Bates

(This article is one of a series that will appear in this space during this year on historic events relating to the Arizona Territory’s Sesquicentennial and the founding and establishment of Prescott as the Territory’s first capital.)

After months of anticipation and speculation, the Arizona Miner of August 24, 1864, contained Governor John Goodwin’s proclamation that the Territorial Legislature would convene in Prescott on September 26.  His choice of location came as no surprise since the Miner had correctly predicted that outcome a month earlier.

By Carol A. Powell

Adapted by Carol A. Powell from the book “From Oxen to Oxide” by John Fletcher Fairchild Jr., 2013, Sedona Historical Society

One day early in the 20^th Century, young John Fletcher Fairchild Jr. was in his family home in Flagstaff when he heard chattering and laughter of other children.  Running to a window, he couldn’t believe his eyes as he viewed a small elaborate house on wheels.  It slowly and noiselessly glided by with several kids in hot pursuit.  He quickly joined the parade.

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 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 Al Bates

Prescott’s Arizona Miner is rightly known as Arizona Territory’s first newspaper with its beginning at Fort Whipple in early 1864, but it was not the first newspaper in what is now Arizona. 

Let me explain. 

by Jay Cravath

This article is a summary of a presentation Jay Cravath will give at the Eleventh Annual Western History Symposium that will be held at the Hassayampa Inn on Saturday, August 2nd.  The Symposium is co-sponsored by the Prescott Corral of Westerners and the Sharlot Hall Museum and is open to the public free of charge.  For more details, visit the Corral’s website at www.prescottcorral.org or call Fred Veil at 928-443-5580.

An ancient set of Native American paths and the natural flow of the Gila River created a major artery through pioneer Arizona. Born from the rain and snow of the Gila wilderness, this waterway carved a channel through New Mexico and along the southern edges of our state.  Its route became known as the California Trail—the southernmost version to hold that moniker.

by Phil M. Blacet, Ph.D

The old Hillside Mine located deep in Boulder Creek Canyon, four miles northwest of Bagdad in far western Yavapai County, has been ghostly silent for many years.  Dating back to the 1880’s, this remote site quickly became a bustling mining camp with its own school and post office.  This bonanza gold-quartz vein system produced metals valued today at approximately $116 million, including $77 million in gold and $27 million in silver.  During its 61-year lifespan, the price of gold never exceeded $35 an ounce.

By Al Bates

This article is one of a series that will appear in this space during this year on historic events relating to the Arizona Territory’s Sesquicentennial and the founding and establishment of Prescott as the Territory’s first capital.

With completion of the special territorial census in May 1864, the final impediment to the first territorial election was removed.  Details were set and the election date of July 18 was announced.  Up for grabs were seats in the bicameral legislature plus the big prize, selection of the territorial delegate to Congress.

By John P. Langellier, Ph.D.

(John Langellier is the Director of the Central Division of the Arizona Historical Society located in Tempe. This article is a summary of a presentation he will make at the Eleventh Annual Western History Symposium that will be held at the Hassayampa Inn on August 2, 2, 2014. The Symposium is co-sponsored by the Prescott Corral of Westerners and the Sharlot Hall Museum and is open to the public free of charge.  For more details, visit the Corral’s website atwww.precottscorral.org or call Fred Veil at 928-443-5580).