By Tom Collins 

It was Christmas Eve, 1879, and at the Prescott Theatre, a rowdy mix of miners, merchants, lawyers, judges, soldiers, saloonkeepers, and refined ladies were packed shoulder-to-shoulder as conductor Fr. Heydenrich raised his baton and Fort Whipple's12th Infantry Band struck up the opening strains of the overture.

By Sharlot M. Hall 

(Edited by Parker Anderson) 

(The following is reprinted from the Prescott Journal Miner of November 13, 1919. That newspaper had captured a Gila monster and had it on display in their office, which, for some reason, prompted a debate lasting several days over whether or not Gila monsters were poisonous.)

By Michael King 

(Last week's article outlined the evolution of the land use policies, laws and public sentiment, which provided the foundation for the national forest establishment. Today's article features the local context, including the early history of the City of Prescott's water supply challenges and the relationship to the Prescott Forest Reserve designation.)

by Michael King 

Prescott's early water supply issues are closely tied to the evolution of public land policies and the designation of the Prescott Forest Reserve. Following the Revolutionary War, lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River came under federal ownership. Due to the large military debt and financial needs of a fledgling nation these lands were viewed as important sources of revenue. 

By Richard Gorby 

Prescott in 1891 was twenty-four years old and the County Seat of Yavapai County. It boasted a population of nearly 3,000 people according to Jules Baumann, Prescott's bandmaster, photographer, and artist, on his 1891 lithograph of the city. 

by Fred Veil 

The Pleasant Valley, situated in the Tonto Basin in an area surrounding present-day Young, Arizona, was in the 1880s a bucolic land consisting of plentiful grass, clear mountain streams and sunny days. It was perfect for raising cattle, as well as the nemesis of the cattleman - sheep. It was also the site of one of the most infamous events of Arizona history - the Pleasant Valley War, or as it is often known, the Graham-Tewksbury Feud. 

By Al Bates 

To the true Civil War buff, the small part of that terrible war that was carried out in the west was just a short-lived sideshow. To the people who lived in Arizona it was real and often deadly even though there were no major battles between North and South in Arizona. 

By Tom Collins 

It was December 28, 1872, and more than one hundred Yavapai - aged grandparents, mothers, children, and several braves - had taken refuge in a cave in the Salt River Canyon in Maricopa County. At dawn, General Crook's 5th Cavalry let loose a hail of bullets that ricocheted off the walls and ceiling of the cave. The Yavapai fought back, but to no avail. After several hours, some 75 Indians lay lifeless on the floor of the cave. The rest were captured and packed off to a reservation. Today the battle is known as the Skeleton Cave Massacre.

By Karen Carlisle 

On September 15, 2007, Sharlot Hall Museum will present Prescott Book Festival: Sixth Edition. Since it is a history museum, I wondered: What is the history of bookselling in Prescott? To get to Prescott, we have to start at the beginning of bookselling in the Americas. 

by Kathryn Reisdorfer 

The relationship between Sharlot Hall and Charles F. Lummis was based on more than their shared love for literature. Both the Arizona ranch woman and the California celebrity were dedicated to preserving the history of the American Southwest; the activities each engaged in ranged from collecting stories and writing histories to acquiring and preserving historical artifacts, including buildings. Prescott's residents and visitors are direct beneficiaries of Hall's work and indirectly that of Lummis' as well. Hall learned a great deal from him.