By Al Bates

The first official census of Arizona as a separate political entity was conducted in the Spring of 1864 under orders from newly-arrived Territorial Governor John Goodwin. Today's Yavapai County was included in Judicial District Three (which covered almost all of Northern Arizona) and was counted by the Rev. Hiram Reed, Arizona's first postmaster.

By Sylvia Neely

Thirteen hundred girls and adults will be celebrating a birthday in the tri-city area this week. Every year since 1912, the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. celebrate that day with parties and special ceremonies or service projects.

The first Girl Guide Company was organized on this date in Savannah, Georgia. In 1913 the name was changed to Girl Scouts, this was also the year the first camp was held.

By Mona Lange McCroskey

Olaf Andrew (O.A.) and Louis Edward (L.E.) Hesla, sons of a Norwegian immigrant in Iowa, arrived in Prescott by different means, but their business endured for fifty years. Young Olaf contracted "consumption" (tuberculosis) in Chicago and came to Tucson in 1897 seeking relief. His condition worsened and in less than a week he was sent on the train to Phoenix, not expected to live. When Olaf didn't improve within a few days he was sent on to Prescott, where he became one of its earliest health seekers. He always claimed that he began to feel better as soon as the train got to Iron Springs, and he lived to be eighty-nine.

By Nancy Kirkpatrick Wright

Mark your calendar for June 8, 2004, just four years from now.  That's when our sister planet, Venus, will dance across the face of the sun for all the world to see. 

By Al Bates

By 1874, a single regiment of cavalry at Whipple handled routine patrols, Indian chases and police duty on the reservations.  The Army in the next decade was a combination of a constabulary keeping order on the Indian reservations, and a corps of laborers engaged in building military posts and roads, and stringing telegraph wire.

By Nancy Kirkpatrick Wright

In 1998, the Sharlot Hall Museum's San Juan River float trip enjoyed the adventures and the stunning scenery of Southeastern Utah.  Several adventuresome travelers gathered at Bluff and journeyed down to Mexican Hat.  Some continued on through the stratified wonders of the Goosenecks to Clay Hills.  It was an easy-going trip on that User Friendly River.  No heart-stopping cataracts, no boat-dunking rapids.  Rich colorful high desert scenery and gentle river meanders led them, with just enough white water here and there to add a bit of excitement.

By Richard Gorby

William Owen (Buckey) O'Neill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 2, 1860.  He was a brilliant pupil in college and in law school and developed special gifts and interests in newspaper work, resulting in a job as a law court reporter and stenographer.  This led him to Prescott in 1881, as court reporter for Judge DeForest Porter.

By Kathryn Reisdorfer

There's an intriguing exhibit opening at the Phippen Museum on January 8 that looks back at 100 years of art in Arizona.  Much of it originated in Prescott because artists have always been attracted to this region.  What is interesting but not surprising is that Sharlot Hall was acquainted with many of them. 
 

By Nancy Burgess

Official Census Day is April 1, 2000, about the time when every resident in the nation is to be counted.  Among the reasons for the head count is to ensure fair federal, state, and county government representation.  The population information gathered is also important in ensuring that our local communities receive their fair allocation of state-shared revenues and funding for programs that benefit Yavapai County citizens.

By James H. Riddle

There is a lot we now know about the heliograph stations that were established at Fort Whipple and Bald Mountain (Glassford Hill).  In May of 1890, the signal officer in charge of the Whipple station, 1st Lieut. L. D. Tyson, 9th Infantry, wrote that for the first three days of the heliograph practice he had a detachment of three corporals and five privates from a signal class at Whipple who helped in manning his station.  Their equipment included two heliographs, later reduced to one, a telescope and "the necessary" signal flags.