By Stan Brown

 (This is the third and final installment of "A Day Trip..." We pick up for the final segment of the journey at the Walnut Creek Bridge at milepost 35.8.)

As you cross the bridge, look up and slightly to the left (northwest) and you will see the Juniper Mesa Wilderness area. You are in the Juniper Mountains that span many miles to the north and west from here. Soon after crossing the bridge, County Road 125 (Walnut Creek Road) branches to the west. Turn here to explore the area.
 

By Stan Brown

This day trip will take you from Prescott to Seligman on the Williamson Valley Road, and is being presented in three parts. We pick up this week, Part 2, on our day trip with historical spots along Williamson Valley Road beginning at milepost 20.6.
 

At milepost 20.6 is the Crossroads Ranch development on the right. This area was originally known as "the crossing" where stage, wagon trains and freight wagons crossed the wash on the route between Prescott and Hardyville (now Bullhead City). There are several things to note in this area. Dillon Wash (aka Williamson Valley Wash) was named for the John Dillon family who had a house in the settlement of Simmons. The large trees on your left, 100 yards or so in from the road, was the location of this small settlement and stage stop named for John A. Simmons, who settled here in 1880.
 

By Stan Brown

This is part 1 of a 3-part historical backroad trip adventure from Prescott to Seligman. Wait until you have all 3 parts to make the trip come alive. In the meantime, pick up a Prescott National Forest map at 344 S. Cortez or at Granite Mountain Outfitters.
 

One of Yavapai County's many beautiful drives, and a good one for entertaining guests, is the Williamson Valley Road out of Prescott northward to Seligman. Not only is this a scenic drive, but these 70 miles have many stories to tell from Arizona's Territorial days.
 

By Judy Stoycheff

John Stemmer had, by 1875, established a way station on what would later be known as the General Crook Trail at a location just east of Dewey along Ash Creek. He maintained a fully supplied inn, stables and corrals built of stone, a bar, store and dining room

In December of 1882, John paid the sum of $8 for Homestead Application #197 for the 160 acres where his station was located, made easier by dint of his being a military veteran. deed.

By Judy Stoycheff

A favorite summer hike and picnic area is on trail #64 to the Stone Corral north of State Highway 169 east of Dewey. This site, shaded by huge ancient Cottonwood trees, watered by Ash Creek and guarded in the past by long-horn cattle, consists of two large stone wall circular structures, obviously meant to be used as corrals. In the 1870s, General George Crook was stationed at Fort Whipple in Prescott and frequently traveled between there and Fort Verde, possibly using this portion of the trail that may have been an existing freight line. It has become part of what was later named the "General Crook Trail" between Prescott, Fort Verde and Fort Apache.

Originally written by Morris Goldwater and edited by Parker Anderson

Editor's Note: At an 1891 celebration marking the 25th Anniversary of the Aztlan Masonic Lodge in Prescott, Morris Goldwater spoke at length about the early days of the lodge. This is the second installment of his remarks.

“On September 30th, 1865, the first work was done by the new Lodge. The Degree of Entered Apprentice was conferred on Bro. A. O. Noyes and J. G. Mitchell, and Bro. Barr was raised to the degree of Master Mason.

Originally written by Morris Goldwater and edited by Parker Anderson

Editor's note: On June 23, 1891, at the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Aztlan Lodge in Prescott, Morris Goldwater (1852-1939) delivered a lengthy address on the history of Freemasonry in Arizona. While he spoke of many of the lodges in the Arizona Territory, the following extracts from his speech deal with the Prescott Lodge, the first in the territory.

"The first mention I can find of an effort to start a lodge is in a letter written by our lately deceased brother, Alexander G. Abell, very worshipful grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of California. It is dated July 29, 1864, and is in reply to a letter written by Brother John Howard, now mayor of our city. In order to insure its delivery, it was addressed to Fort Whipple.

By Bob Cornett

Sharlot Mabridth Hall was born in Kansas in 1870 and came to Prescott with her parents and brother when she was twelve years old. Her life from 1870 to her death in 1943 followed many twists and turns. Before 1895, her life consisted of pigs, horses, cattle, vegetables, apples and pears at her parent’s Orchard Ranch in Dewey. With little formal schooling, she began writing simple poetry about the things she knew and loved. She wrote about her life experiences as well as life on the frontier and, in the fifteen year period after 1895, she rapidly increased her stature in literary and public recognition as a natural poet and free lance writer.

(The following account of the first Christmas tree in Arizona comes from Orick Jackson’s "The White Conquest of Arizona" as presented in "History of Arizona" by Thomas Edwin Farish, Arizona Historian, Volume IV, Filmer Brothers, San Francisco 1916, pp 89-92.)

"There is one Arizonan alive to-day (1916) who holds a unique station among men, and who enjoys a distinction that is beautiful and praiseworthy. His name is J. N. Rodenburg, and to him belongs the honor of being the first man who conceived the idea of zealously and fervently observing the birth of the Savior in a wild land, and providing the first Christmas tree to be erected in Arizona. This tribute to Christianity was initiated by him under conditions that would seem in this day of peace and plenty as difficult of execution, but those who are yet alive bear evidence to it in its every detail.

By Carol Powell

Clara S. Olmstead was born in November of 1839 in Elkader, Iowa. Her father, Samuel Baldwin Olmstead, was an enterprising farmer with an extensive dairy farm from which he realized a handsome profit. They were the third white family to settle in Clayton County, Iowa on the west side of the Mississippi River during the time of the stone rebuilding of Fort Crawford (1829-1831) east of the river near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Baldwin, as he was known, was supplying his butter and cheese to both Fort Crawford and up-river at Fort Snelling (present day St. Paul).