#PrescottAZHistory: 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.

First, a bridge needed to be built over Granite Creek. Twenty men started work in late 1920, but were temporarily halted in February, 1921 due to delays in receiving tax revenues to pay for the project.

As piles for the bridge were being installed, “great depth was encountered in the creek bed, compared with the expected depth of the bedrock,” the Journal-Miner disclosed. “Peculiar ground has been encountered in the course of the digging. At one place…there was found a cottonwood tree trunk 21 feet below the [present] creek bed, but in such perfect state of preservation that the bark remained almost intact. The log was nearly a yard in diameter, and so dry that most of it has been used for firewood.”

“At another place,” the paper continued, “there was an 18 inch plank laid diagonally across the course of the creek and, evidently a part of some ancient scheme of fluming [sic], traces being found of a runway for water, the whole being far below the surface of the present creek.”

One piling hole had “a million gallons of water a day…pumped out of [it], and still it seemed impossible to dry it enough to proceed with the work,” the paper stated. Even before the bridge was completed, other workers would begin the first widening of the road through the Dells.

ALSO ENJOY: 1903: Ed Shumate Opens the Granite Dells Resort

The story of the first successful attempt at making the Granite Dells a recreational attraction. It was also the first waterpark in Arizona.

Plans for blasting were made In July 1921. “A man-made volcano, a human earthquake, a blast of TNT of a size that will make previous ones puny by comparison, is the plan,” the Journal-Miner detailed. The blast would extend over 600 feet and would “leave the Narrows much less narrow.” A number of smaller blasts were taking place “every few hours, and passersby [were] asked to keep their eyes open for signs, and watch [for] anyone who may be signaling.”

“At present the crews are engaged in drilling holes along a front of about 600 feet,” the paper continued. “It will be the purpose of the engineers to shoot the entire face of the cliff at one blast. Enough TNT will be used to shatter the granite and decrease the amount of mucking.”

Meanwhile, traffic was routed over a road on the Bianconi ranch. “Through the courtesy of Mr. Bianconi,” an understanding was reached that travelers passing through his ranch land would close the gates behind them. “Those failing to see that this is done…will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” the paper warned. The fine was $50 (or nearly $900 in today’s money.)

However, before the big blast, a freak accident occurred. As crews were wiring fifty charges, “lightening struck wires connecting two of the charges, and they exploded,” the paper described. Fortunately, although workers were all around, no one was hurt. Everyone knew that it would have been a major disaster had all fifty of the charges been wired at time of the lightning strike.

ALSO ENJOY: Brave Woman Fights Off Indians in Granite Dells

True episode of a raid during the Indian Conflicts near Prescott, AZ where a woman and a hired hand fended off 20 warriors in Sept., 1867.

By the end of August, crews were still breaking the large boulders into smaller ones and clearing them out “preparing the way for a wide, straight, thoroughfare,” the paper related. “The hard rock men are continually blasting away portions of the side walls in an effort to widen the road and make room for drainage.”

Despite this, progress on this portion of the highway proceeded posthaste. “Completion in two-thirds of the allotted time of the Granite Dells section of the Prescott-Jerome Highway seems to be purely a matter of morale,” the paper believed. At the outset, an engineer estimated that the 4200 foot cut would require 90 days work.

At noon on September 15, 1921, the first two cars, driven by Bob Burns and Dr. Yount made the journey. An hour later it was opened to the general public. Grace Sparkes, who was apprehensive from the start, was one of the first to look the new road over. She was “both surprised and delighted to find that although a good deal of [blasting] had been done, there remained quite a quantity of scenery…” Some signs of black discoloration from the powder burns were visible, but after a few monsoon seasons, those were washed away, leaving the scenery that is so cherished today.

The gravel produced from the widening was used as surface material for the road as it ran through Lonesome Valley toward Mingus Mountain and Jerome. At this time the turn east was located just south of where the Three Sisters store is located today. It would be known as US Highway 79 until the state took it over and renamed it Arizona Highway 89A.

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