by Laura Clonts

It was June 18, 1910 and President William H. Taft had just signed the Enabling Act for Arizona. By this act, Congress authorized the people of the Territory of Arizona to frame a constitution and meet all the prerequisites for statehood. It was announced that official declaration of statehood would occur in February of 1912. After decades of waiting for this day, the people all over the territory were ecstatic.

By Laura Clonts

(Days Past Editor’s note: Many Arizonans do not know what a long and arduous struggle Arizona had in order to go from "Territory" to "State." Way back in 1877, then Territorial Governor A. P. K Safford predicted, "Arizona will soon be a state." Little did he realize it would take another 35 years! This ambition to be a state did not even attract attention of the U.S. Congress until 1889 when the first bill was proposed and dropped. In 1891, the First Constitutional Convention met in Phoenix and another bill was presented to Congress but, again, no action was taken.

By Terry Munderloh

Edited and expanded by Kathy Krause

On Saturday morning, June 19, 1915, 17-year-old Esther Ross of Prescott and the Arizona entourage of dignitaries arrived at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York for the launching of the USS Arizona super dreadnaught.

By Terry Munderloh

The USS Arizona, sunk at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was launched from the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York on June 19, 1915. Next Saturday will be the 95th anniversary of the event. She would be the third ship to bear the Arizona name.

By Lane Burkitt

A military encampment in Chino Valley in 1863 for the purpose of protecting what many hoped would be the richest gold fields in the West, led to the founding of the town of Prescott. General James H Carleton, military commander of New Mexico Territory with authority over Arizona, was convinced of the mineral riches in this area by reports from the early "placers" (prospecting miners looking for loose gold in the creeks). He especially wished to secure the gold deposits for the Union, as the Civil War was being hard-fought in the East at the time. Carleton wrote several times of "extraordinary developments of gold and silver in Arizona," and it was this belief that prompted him to act with urgency to establish a fort near what would, within a year, become the town of Prescott.

By Kathy Krause

It was the summer of 1857 and two shipments of camels had arrived in Texas from the Middle East bringing the total number to about 75. Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale was in charge of the Camel Corps and was assigned to survey a route from Fort Defiance, NM (now Arizona) to the Colorado River with plans to build a wagon road and scout out a route for a southern transcontinental railroad.

By Kathy Krause

Many have heard tales of camels in our state, but few realize the significance they have in our history. Actually, the camel family originated in North America where fossils of many kinds of camel ‘prototypes’ have been discovered. Eventually, the American camels migrated; some into South America, where today they appear as llamas and alpacas; others migrated northwest towards Alaska and the ancient land bridge into Asia, gradually evolving into the camel of today. It wasn’t until the early 1700s that a few were re-introduced as curiosities in Massachusetts. Then came the real test of their usefulness in the United States.

By Tom Collins

At 9:40 on the evening of June 28, 1896, Bertha Hovey and her friend Cora – two "habituees of Granite Street" – were dining out in the rear of the Cabinet Saloon on Whiskey Row. Other customers were drinking and playing poker throughout the saloon. The employees were busy serving. Suddenly, a horrific explosion rocked the building. The vicinity of Bertha and Cora’s table was blown to shreds and the entire dining room demolished. Floor boards in the barroom were torn up, tables overturned, windows shattered and everything movable was wrecked. The force of the explosion brought hundreds of people rushing to the scene to discover the cause of the disaster.

By Charles Debrille Poston, 1864

(Edited by Parker Anderson)

(Charles D. Poston has been called by many historians as "the Father of Arizona" due to his efforts lobbying for creation of the territory. He was an explorer and prospector in the territory before the arrival of the first governor’s party (December 1863) and was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs by President Lincoln. He would also become the Territory of Arizona’s first Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives (1864-65). In 1864, he wrote a lengthy letter to his friend J. Ross Browne about his tour of the Territory shortly after the Capital was set up in Prescott. The townsite was named Prescott in May of 1864. The letter was published in the Miner on September 21, 1864 and October 5, 1864. Following are excerpts from that letter. -ed).

By Carol Powell

My mother-in-law, Clara Mae (Miller) Powell, was born in Prescott, Arizona in 1914 to William and Anna (Fairchild) Miller. She and her older sister, Pearl, loved to relate old family stories about their ancestors settling the Arizona territory. One family note passed down by them was simply "Aunt Florence – Madam in Holbrook, married George Laney." A madam in the family! What an interesting note!