Anecdotes of Prescott History Brought to Life From the Pages of Old Newspapers and Other Sources.
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| Dan Fain around the time of the incident. |
It was seven years before the Rafter 11 would brand its first bovine; when Norman Fain was just a lil’ cowpoke, at the mere age of 3. “Dan Fain was assaulted at Humboldt [May 31, 1910,] and escaped death solely through good fortune,” the Weekly Journal-Miner exclaimed.
It was the height of summer; late July 1912, when two railroad accidents occurred on the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix railway.
The genesis of White Horse City was the locating of three mines in the Walker district in the Spring of 1899. The original owners, GM Wright, CW VonWolfe, and R Horsecroft founded the Lone Pine, Hammer and White Horse mines. “The property is located only seven miles from [Prescott] in the mountains just east of Lynx creek and to the right of the McCabe road,” the Weekly Journal Miner described, These mines were located between the highly successful McCabe and Mudhole mines in the Walker district.
It was only 10 years after the first automobile, a 1903 “Curved-Dash” Oldsmobile from Jerome which actually only drove from Jerome Junction after taking the train there.
Still, “much interest [was] created” when the Frontier Days Committee announced that it was increasing the cash prize money for the automobile race to $250 for first, and $150 for second place, (approximately $8000 and $4800 in today’s money.) The Weekly Journal-Miner explained that the extra prize money would ‘guarantee the entry of at least two cars from Tucson, two cars from Phoenix, and one car from Jerome”; to race against a lone entry from Prescott.
The Weekly Journal-Miner of August 13, 1890 captured some of the unique language used around Yavapai County and Arizona in their earliest days. “Old Arizonans have tacked to the English language an addenda of colloquial phrases that are to the uninitiated wholly unintelligible,” the paper wrote, “but the old-timers express ideas in a manner that is both clear and succinct.”
How is it that the very heart of Prescott—its downtown Plaza—happen to become property of Yavapai County?
When queried, even local historians were unable to explain why. One former county supervisor suggested that the beautifully-shaded, rectangle-shaped parcel always belonged to Yavapai County. However, research shows that nothing could be further from the truth…
