By Jean Cross

Before the roaring and scraping of backhoes, bulldozers and other earth moving equipment leveled the area once known as Jackass Flats for the StoneRidge Development, Crews leveled select areas of the region to unearth the remains of previous dwellings. These were the habitation sites of the prehistoric people who chose this wind-swept plateau as their domain. It was an ideal location as the necessities of life were readily available here: water, game, and wood. So the "living was easy", or as easy as it could be in the prehistoric times.

By Fred B. Nelson

Easter of 2004 will mark the 50th anniversary of my first visit to Prescott. At the age of 15, I was a member of the Methodist Youth Fellowship of Alhambra, California. That group contracted with a church in Prescott (Mission San Lucas Iglesia Metodista) to refurbish certain aspects of the building and surroundings of that church during the week before Easter in 1954.

By Fred Veil

(This is the second part of a two part series.  First part is titled, "A Soldier's Recollections of the Civil War and Arizona".)

Charles Veil's service in the Army ended abruptly in February 1871, when he was involuntarily mustered out of the service pursuant to an Act of Congress mandating a general reduction in the size and strength of the Army. Upon his discharge, Veil traveled to Prescott where by chance he happened upon a business opportunity that enabled him to make an easy $5000 (not an insubstantial amount of money in those days) by brokering the sale of some grain to Ft. Whipple.

By Parker Anderson

In days past, the town of Ash Fork had a reputation as an unsavory place-a place where the worst elements of society congregated to ply their questionable trades, and where seekers of vice went to entertain their wants. Contrary to popular belief, much vice was legal in those days, and law enforcement personnel were unable to do much about it unless provoked by specific incidents. The day came when this happened in Ash Fork, and Yavapai County Attorney Patrick W. O'Sullivan vowed to clean up the town.

By Michael Wurtz

In 1876 Samuel Baker and his crew began to build a modest house on the southeast corner of Gurley and Pleasant Streets. Almost 100 years later that same house, which had blossomed into a beautiful Victorian home, was raised up on to a truck and slowly rolled down Gurley Street to its new home as a museum artifact. On April 19, 1974, 30 years ago, the William Coles Bashford House was moved to the Sharlot Hall Museum.

By Fred Veil

(This is part one of a two part series.  Second part is titled, "Flour and Grain Supplier Influenced Course of Early Arizona".)

Charles Henry Veil was typical of the early pioneers who settled the vast frontier known as the Arizona Territory in the mid to late 1800s. He was a first generation American, born in the East and a Civil War veteran. He came to Arizona not by choice but rather as a U.S.

By Terry Munderloh

The age of electricity began in the United States when the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York went into operation on September 4, 1882. In Arizona Territory, the little town of Prescott would not become electrified until Frank Lowell Wright came to town.

Frank Wright came to Arizona in the 1870s and worked the steam driven stamp mill at the Tip Top Mine. He later moved to Chaparral Gulch (south of Humboldt) where he managed several developing mines in that area using boiler and steam operated engines.

By Jim Byrkit

In February 1863, at the height of the United States' Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill making Arizona a territory separate from New Mexico. Three months later, renowned frontiersman Joseph R. Walker wrote a letter to Gen. James Carleton, whose U.S. Army command, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, included the new Arizona Territory. Walker told how he with a party of other men had found gold on the Hassayampa River about six miles south of today's Prescott. Carleton immediately decided to send an army detail to the diggings to protect Americans there from Indian attacks. He chose Robert Groom to guide the army expedition to the gold fields.

By Dr. Ted Finkelston

(This is the second part of a two-part article written by Ted Finkelston to honor Sharlot Hall Museum volunteer Art Park.  The first part is titled, "Transportation Building is a Colorful and Utilitarian Place.")

In March 1974 the Historical Society began its renovation of the new Sharlot Hall Museum's Transportation Building. At that time the rather grandiose plans for renovation were set aside because of budget restraints. Instead, the Board decided to have the lower half of the side windows blocked up for security reasons, repair the roof, and paint the outside of the building.

By Dana Sharp

(This is the second part of a two-part article that was first published in its entirety in the courier in 1975) 

A walk through Mint Valley on a quiet autumn day gives you the feeling of going back in time, of almost being with the people who once lived and worked there. People with hopes and dreams, people who built homes, planted orchards and raised children and left remnants of their living for us to find. Shards of purple glass that once were whole, gracing the Sunday table, a few pieces of old silverware, broken crocks, steps barely showing through the grass leading to nowhere, but must have once lead into a warm kitchen filled with the smell of rising bread and the sound of laughter.