Rattlesnake Stories of Yavapai County

An Arizona Black Diamond Rattlesnake

Where there are rattlesnakes, there are bound to be some interesting and amazing stories, and Yavapai County is no exception.

1870 Christmas in Prescott

From Harpers Weekly, Dec. 1870

“The mountains back of Prescott contain many wild turkeys,” the Weekly Arizona Miner crowed just after Thanksgiving. However, by the time Christmas came, they must have scurried away. The price for a “good-sized” wild Christmas turkey cost a whopping $12 (or nearly $300 in today’s money). Despite this, the feature that best defined Christmas in 1870 was the numerous Christmas dinners that were held. On Christmas Day, “at nearly every home there was a Christmas dinner,” the paper explained. “At many places there was a Christmas tree, laden with gifts for the dear ones.” 

Christmas Celebrations in Isolated Mining Camps, 1903

Iron King Mine

Despite being isolated in the wilderness of Arizona, mining camps still enjoyed wondrous and touching Christmas celebrations in 1903.

8 lb. Gold Bar Awaits to be Found

Many lost treasure stories are based on lore and campfire stories. This one is based on newspaper accounts of a tragedy.

King Woolsey's 1864 Campaign for Revenge

King Woolsey was away from his Agua Fria ranch, which was located around present-day Dewey. Instead, he was with Governor John Goodwin along the Verde when a messenger came with disturbing news. Fifty Native Americans “made a descent on [his] herd at mid-day, and before the herders could alarm the men at the ranch, they succeeded in driving off all the animals but one or two, which they killed,” the Arizona Miner described. Except for three yoke of oxen that were actively plowing the land, 30 head of livestock were lost.

This was not the first large loss Woolsey experienced, and he vowed to wreak revenge. “He will organize a company to hunt and punish the thieves, and if it is as successful as the party he headed [previously], which slaughtered twenty or more of them, he will have a good revenge,” the paper continued. “He is one of our most daring and skilled Indian fighters, and believes fully…in the extermination policy. And in view of the importance of the expedition, the Governor has made Mr. Woolsey an aide upon his staff, with the rank of Lt. Colonel.” The chance of capturing the 50 Natives who actually made the raid was so slight, it was never even considered, so revenge it was.

Disaster! Four Yavapai County Banks Fail on 11/25/1925

November 25, 1925, was a disastrous day in Yavapai County. Four banks suddenly and permanently closed their doors, and people’s deposits were frozen and unavailable—a mere month before Christmas!