By Ed T. Nesdill

Last week, Part I dealt with the 1884 homestead claim of Frederich Barth, (today known as Ponderosa Park) and some of the many owners of the divided property down through the years. Part II, presented here, tells the geology and some of the mining history of the area.

By William Peck

The Hillside Store and Bar has passed through several owners over the years and history shows that eventually they all resorted to the sale of liquor to stay in business, which just as regularly brought them down since they invariably ended up as a bar. 

Are you old enough to remember when you could enter any bar and other establishments in Yavapai County and play the slots? It was about 1946, (don't hold me to the exact date), when Jerry Butler was Sheriff.

By Ed T. Nesdill

The first European contact in what is now Arizona is believed to be by the Spanish explorer, Coronado, in 1541. Another Spanish explorer, Espajo, has been credited to be the first European in what is now known as Yavapai County in 1581. About 300 years later, in 1848, travel across northern Arizona and southern Arizona was frequent with traffic to California because of the gold rush and the end of the Mexican War. The ceding of the Arizona territory north of the Gila River by Mexico and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 brought all of present Arizona into the United States, with Statehood coming 59 years later, in 1912.

By Stan Brown

This is Part 3 of a three part article.  Part 1 was published on June 21, 2008 and Part 2 was published June 28, 2008 and all are in the SHM L&A Days Past Archives.

In Part 2 last week, we ended with the establishment of the Lone Star Baptist Church (now First Baptist Church) by the Rev. Romulus Windes, a Baptist Missionary who had arrived in Prescott in 1879. Soon after his arrival, he was teaching school in the Mosher cabin at the present day Las Fuentes location and was instrumental in having a new schoolhouse built the following year on Iron Springs Road. Part 3 concludes this series.

By Arizona Cowboy Poets Assocation Committee 

Whoever named the Las Vegas Ranch knew what they were talking about. In Spanish, Las Vegas means "the meadows." At one time, the ranch extended from Williamson Valley west to Camp Wood and was known as the Otis and York Cattle Company. It covered many sections of the most beautiful land in northern Arizona.

By Stan Brown

 This is Part 2 of a three part article.  Part 1 was published on June 21, 2008 and Part 3 was published July 12, 2008 and all are in the SHM L&A Days Past Archives.

We left off last time with Tom Sanders returning from a trip to California to help settle his sister there. Soon after returning to Prescott, Tom married Cynthia Miller, thus further uniting two of the original settler families of Miller Valley.

By Stan Brown

 This is Part 1 of a three part article.  Part 2 was published on June 28, 2008 and Part 3 was published July 12, 2008 and all are in the SHM L&A Days Past Archives.

The Las Fuentes Resort Village in Prescott, off Ruth Street, comes by its name naturally, which is Spanish for "springs" or "fountains." It is situated on the site of several artesian springs that bubble out of their granite prisons at the northern end of Miller Valley. The area was originally called "West Prescott." The springs form headwaters for the North Fork of Granite Creek, the primary drainage for the Prescott area and the uppermost tributary of the Verde River.

By Carol A. Powell 

On the night of May 29, 1897, officers of Yavapai County were returning to Prescott by rail from Flagstaff with two outlaw prisoners, James Fleming Parker and Louis Clair Miller. A large mob had gathered at the Prescott depot awaiting the train and there was great fear that they would do bodily harm to the prisoners, carrying out their threats to lynch the two. The mob, with cries of “hang them,” was restrained by the County Sheriff and five or six deputies well armed with Winchester rifles and six-shooters. However, the train stopped outside of Prescott, well away from the depot, and the prisoners were taken off the train and transported to the county jail by carriage, avoiding any confrontation at the depot.

By Parker Anderson

For many years, visitors to the Sharlot Hall Museum have admired the Territorial Women's Memorial Rose Garden as one of the most colorful areas on the museum grounds. It is especially brilliant during the summer when the roses are in full bloom.

The rose garden is a tribute to the pioneer women of Arizona and all they accomplished, much of which is too-often forgotten in the popular male-dominated histories of yore. Originally, the plan was for one rose bush in memory of each woman inducted into the rose garden memorial roster. With the passing of time, the number of women inducted surpassed the area available for planting. Now the garden, as a whole, is in tribute to these courageous women in our history whose indomitable spirit lives on.

By Tom Collins

It was September 2, 1873, and a huge crowd of citizens and soldiers alike had assembled at Fort Whipple. The ladies from the post made the occasion festive with their presence and the 23rd Infantry Band was on hand in full uniform, adding the charms of music to the already joyful scene. At 10:00 a.m., the wife of General Crook took up a shovel and turned the sod while the wife of General Dana performed the baptism by braking a bottle of champagne over the first telegraph pole in Prescott.