The Mystery of Prescott’s Mineral Fountain

Before the Plaza fountain we know today was constructed in 1910, the Plaza had a “Mineral Fountain,” (pictured above.)  Along its outside boundary were a number of what the Weekly Arizona Journal-Miner described as “peculiar red rock[s]…about which there has been much speculation as to what [they are].”

“The rock is peculiar in that it is susceptible of a good polish and it contains practically no grit," the paper continued, and is very soft, as it can be whittled with a knife like a piece of chalk. When the fountain was being built this rock attracted general attention from all who saw it, but no one seemed able to classify it.”

Then in April, 1903, two investigators identified the source of these peculiar rocks, not too far from Prescott. They gathered samples to take to several different assayers and what they found was a great surprise to everyone.

1921: A Highway Through the Granite Dells

When it was announced that the narrow single lane trail through the Granite Dells would be widened into a highway, Grace Sparkes was not alone in harboring apprehension. She feared “that the rude, rough and uncouth men with the TNT would ruin a lot of marvelous rocks and leave the road running through a scene of devastation,” the Weekly Journal-Miner revealed. The road would be built through what was then known as the Granite Dells Narrows, and now it would become the second approach to Prescott from the north and the beginning of a “short-line” road to Jerome: US Highway 79.