By Brad Courtney

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.

There are many marvelous Prescott legends that are a delight to read or hear and, of course, retell.  Some, when researched thoroughly, reveal themselves as spectacular yarns.  Others are part truth, part fable, often based on a true story, but along the way the temptation to embellish and throw in extra characters and events proved too strong to their tellers.  Perhaps some are culminations of oral history gone wild.  One endearing and enduring piece of Prescott folklore, however, is a combination of certain true, distinct, and even related events.  Such is the legend of the Quartz Rock Saloon.

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.

The year 1864 was to be a busy one for Arizona’s newly arrived territorial officers.  There was much to be done to establish a functioning government in what had been a sorely neglected part of New Mexico Territory.

By Jan MacKell Collins © 2014

In Part 1 of this article, Ruth Wallace Moritz recalled how her mother, Cora Wallace, toiled as a rancher’s wife in northern Arizona.  Through Ruth’s eyes, Cora’s caring for her family and cowboys for the famous Hash Knife outfit around Holbrook illustrated daily life on a working cattle ranch.  In Part two, Ruth’s narrative continues to describe how Cora and her family moved to various ranches, including the famed O W Ranch outside of Young, and the family’s involvement in ranching life.

By Jan MacKell Collins © 2014

“She was really the one who raised us as Papa was away so much of the time.” So said Ruth Wallace Moritz of her mother, Cora Wallace. Ruth’s father Frank, a well-known Arizona cattle rancher, was often absent from home. Like so many others, Cora found being a ranch wife demanding. These hearty women spent much time alone, performing such chores as tending the garden, curing meat, pickling and preserving food, washing laundry, sewing, cleaning house, raising children, feeding livestock and more.

By Brenda Taylor

“Oh Rhett – what will I do, I have no paintings, no photographs of you!” Scarlett said between sobs.  Rhett answered in a soft confident tone. “My dear Scarlett, do not fret.  Let me cut a lock of my hair for you.  You can keep it close to you while I am away.”  Scarlett cried out with excitement, “Oh Rhett I love you! I will place your hair into my locket and keep it close to me always – as God as my witness!”

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.

Western folklore is a curious thing.  Some pioneer reputations grow and are amplified to heroic status after death.  Other pioneers, if not completely forgotten, often suffer at the hands of writers who repeat—with no attempt at verification—rumor and innuendo that gradually become commonly accepted history.  This story tells what happened to the reputation of one such pioneer.

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 leaving Navajo Springs, Governor John Goodwin’s party of territorial officials and their military escort followed the Puerco River to the Little Colorado River, then past the Cosino Caves (now Walnut Canyon National Monument) and onward to Volunteer Springs (south of today’s Bellemont).  From there they turned further south, using records from Lt. Amiel Whipple’s 1853 exploration and more recent notes from Surveyor General John Clark (Days Past, August 18) for their guides.

By Sydney B. Brinckerhoff

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.

Of the many individuals who held political office in the Arizona Territory, few were as influential as Richard Cunningham McCormick, also known as “Slippery Dick.”  He came by this epithet as a result of many years of service to the Territory, years in which he made staunch friends, along with some very vocal and bitter enemies.  Slight of build, delicately featured with a perceptive, expressive face, McCormick may have given the impression that he was a man of thought rather than action. He was urbane, well-lettered, and a stylish dresser.

By Tom Collins

In July 1868 there was big news in Prescott.  The “Camp Whipple Dramatic Association” would perform at Elysian Hall.  “Messrs. O’Neill and Wortman, leading members of the company, wish us to state that no immoral or indecent word or act will be allowed on stage.” The plays were a light farce, “The Lottery Ticket,” and an opera spoof, “Bombastes Furioso.”

By Al Bates

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

Governor John Goodwin and his party left Fort Wingate, New Mexico, on December 20, 1863, after a wait for the heavy wagons to catch up and be readied.  In addition to the two companies of cavalry that served as their escort and their heavy freight wagons, they were accompanied by a number of freight wagons owned by New Mexican merchants and by their “500 steers, that always went ahead opening the road,” according to Captain Rafael Chacón of the escort.