By Linda Ludington

(This is the first part of a two-part article) 

"The wagons rumbled and rattled and squeaked; the hoofs of horses and mules clopped endlessly upon the hard surface of the rocky, winding road. On every hand were mountains, canyons, vast abysses that seemed unreachable by the foot of man. It was wild, vast, fearsome." Thus did Clarence Kelland describe the newly-declared Arizona Territory. But in spite of the challenges, hearty pioneers poured through the inhospitable terrain to Prescott, lured by a keen sense of adventure, unbounded enthusiasm, and endless energy.

By Mona Lange McCroskey

An important part of Yavapai County's agricultural history came to Prescott with the arrival of Swiss immigrant John William Bianconi. He arrived in Prescott in 1880 at age eighteen at the urging of a friend who said there was a job for him in the United States. He pulled in via stagecoach with fifty cents in his pocket, unable to speak a word of English.

By Jim Byrkit

Some years ago, when I was still a professor at Northern Arizona University teaching various subjects related to the American Southwest, a young graduate student said to me, "Prescott, Arizona, is my favorite Southwest town because it reminds me so much of my native New England." In my own mind, I forgave her for this ingenuous colonial attitude. As a native-born Arizonan I have had to put up with such insensitive comments for many years. 

By Goodwin "Goodie" Berquist

(This is the second part of a two-part article that began last Sunday)

Publicizing Prescott and Yavapai County took much of Grace Sparkes' time. In 1931 alone, 20,000 city booklets were disseminated. Fifteen thousand county maps were printed in 1932 and 30,000 folders published in 1933. As Grace herself put it in a report she prepared for the supervisors in 1937, "much of our time is spent in giving reliable and authentic information to the tourist and prospective investor. This data pertains to all roads and highways in Yavapai County, scenic points of interest, resorts, guest ranches, as well as, the mining, stock raising and farming resources of Yavapai County in its entirety.

By Goodwin "Goodie" Berquist

(This is the first part of a two-part article.  The second part will be published next week.)

The Prescott Chamber of Commerce held its first meeting November 18, 1910. Forty-one businessmen attended... and one woman, Grace Sparkes. The Chamber would change its name twice in the next twenty-eight years and sixteen men would serve as president, Grace Sparkes remained in one office or another forever, ... or so it seemed. Daughter of a local miner, she played a role in virtually every significant development in Prescott and Yavapai County for a generation. As one of her contemporaries put it, Grace was "a human dynamo...full of ideas, a person who welcomed new challenges, one committed to getting things done. To the press at the time, Yavapai County was "Grace Sparkes' territory."

By Mick Woodcock

Have you ever wondered what things cost back in the "Good Old Days"? Perhaps that's a question only museum curators ask, but it can be a difficult thing to find out. There is a very little information in the newspapers of the past regarding prices. Stores advertised types of goods for sale in their regular ads and occasionally would put in a special announcement if an important shipment came in. These tell us what was being offered for sale, but not the cost.

By Richard Sims

Readers who have followed this series on the institutional history of the Sharlot Hall Museum (a clip-and-save for all of us) are aware of this anniversary year, for 2003 marks 75 years of Museum service to the community and the region (on June 11, 1928 the first guest signed in). Sharlot Hall herself, the founding director, served for the first 15 years, or the first fifth, of the Museum's history, from 1928 to 1943, when she passed away at the Arizona Pioneers' Home. The second fifth, or 15-year period, 1943-1958, was a time when Sharlot's personal friends and other community leaders pulled together to keep the Museum running, sometimes barely.

By Bill Lynam

Thomas "Tommy" Starkey Eells came to Prescott, Arizona, in the early 1880's for the gold. Like others, not all who came made a fortune from mining nor returned home. Tommy was one of them.  Tommy was a carriage maker from San Francisco, California. He was also an accomplished tenor and guitarist, said to have accompanied Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," coloratura soprano, who toured the U.S. under the auspices of circus owner P.T. Barnum.

By Parker Anderson

In September of 1912, miner Robert Meador, who was working claims near the Senator Mine, was passing along a steep grade on the Hassayampa, about a quarter of a mile from the mine. Meador had been a long time pioneer resident of Yavapai County, and had long had a string of ill luck wherein he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

By Lester "Budge" Ruffner

Prescott's Frontier Days, the oldest cowboy contest in the world, has produced some of the most legendary rodeo contestants ever to ride in an arena. Men like Ed Bowman, Arthur Beloat, Doc Pardee, George and Lawton Champie, Loge Morris and many others were not just rodeo performers but working cowboys, at home on the range or in the arena.

One of the most dynamic of these old-timers was "Yaqui" Ordunez, a native of El Paso, Texas who claimed to be half-Mexican and half-Texas Ranger, a tough combination to beat. His real name, which he took great pride in signing, was Epifanio Alvarez Ordunez.