By Stan Brown 

(Last week we left General Crook and his small detachment of soldiers heading west over the Mongollon Rim towards Fort Verde on their way to Fort Whipple, blazing the General Crook Military Road through Central Arizona.)

Upon reaching Fort Whipple, Crook ordered work to begin, even though winter would soon be setting in. The road from Fort Whipple and Fort Verde needed improvement and re-routing in places. Late in 1871, a crew from Prescott began working on that section. When the snow melted in the spring of 1872, two larger crews began approaching each other from Verde and Apache, planning to meet half way at a place called Deadshot Canyon. Today this is on the border of the Coconino and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. 

By Carol Powell

In November of 2000 Parker Anderson, a local Prescott historian, wrote an article for Days Past about a notorious citizen and outlaw of old Prescott by the name of Louis C. Miller. He ended the article by stating, "The trail of Louis C. Miller stops there. I have no further information about the rest of his life, or when and where he died. Unlike today's media-saturated cases, notorious citizens in those days were often able to drift back into anonymity if they so desired. Louis C. Miller may be buried somewhere under his own name, but so far records have not been located. If anyone reading this has further data on Louis C. Miller, please contact either myself, or the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives."

By Arthur Ensign & H. G. Grey - Federal Writer's Project

As told by Mrs. Lillybelle Morshead to Arthur Ensign and H.G. Grey of the Federal Writer's Project 

When Governor Goodwin proclaimed Arizona a Territory of The United States and established its capital at Prescott, my father opened a store there, which gave the newly made capital a total of two well-made buildings. The other was the Governor's Mansion. 

By Arthur Ensign - Federal Writers' Project, 1935

The following account continues our series of stories written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration of depression era Arizona. The story was based on an oral history interview of Skull Valley "old timer" Joe Farrell (as is noted later in the text) as told to the FWP workers.

Skull Valley's old-timers tell, with much gusto, of an incident, which emphasizes the inadvisability of too close questioning, particularly when the one questioned happens to be of Hibernian extraction. As the story goes, William Howard Taft, while campaigning for the Presidency, addressed the citizens of Skull Valley from the rear platform of his special train.

By A.E. Ensign, Federal Writers Project, Yavapai County c. 1935 

"Note: The following is from the pen of Sharlot M. Hall, historian, writer, and curator of Sharlot Hall Museum. Its value rests upon the fact that she is the only living writer who can tell, from first-hand knowledge, the more intimate details of the history of Arizona's first 'Gubnatorial Mansion.'"

By Ann Hibner Koblitz 

When people think of mining, typically they conjure up images of the large enterprises of Virginia City in Nevada or Jerome and Globe in Arizona where prospectors and miners could become rich almost overnight, and millions of tons of high grade ores were extracted and processed during the course of decades-long operations.

By Marian Powell 

If you don't recognize the name, Solon Borglum, consider this scene: It's July 3, 1907. A parade with cavalry, a marching band, a troop of Rough Rider Veterans, Civil War Veterans, troops from Fort Whipple, the Territorial Governor, various prominent citizens and military officers, and the fire departments of Phoenix, Tucson, and Prescott proceed to the Courthouse Plaza in Prescott. Seven thousand people witness the unveiling of the statue of Prescott's own Buckey O'Neill.

Submitted by Ryan Flahive

The following poem was written by Sharlot M. Hall for Arthur Weslock Upson. The original is located in the Sharlot M. Hall Papers & Photographs Collection, MS-12 at the Sharlot Hall Museum Library & Archives.

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 Tom Collins

On the southeast corner of Cortez and Goodwin streets, the current site of the City of Prescott building, there once stood Howey's Hall, the cultural center of Prescott.

For some fifteen years, citizens gathered there for theatrical performances, orchestral concerts, socials and balls, lectures, magic shows, skating parties, graduation exercises, and even church services. Built in 1876 by E. I. Roberts for local blacksmith James Howey, it originally housed the Goldwater & Brothers Mercantile business on the first floor, and soon the Masonic Lodge on the second floor. It was one of the first brick buildings in town, a classically designed structure, 60 feet long and 33 feet wide, each story rising 14 feet between the joists.