It was nearly 3:30 pm August 17, 1909 when engineer Joseph Reese put his hand on the throttle, and Engine No. 11 began to pull a heavy six car passenger train out from the Iron Springs Depot. Little did he know he was a mere two minutes from disaster.
January 3, 2021
1909: Passenger Train Boiler Explodes
December 27, 2020
The Old Courthouse Became a Living Wreck
As Yavapai county grew at the turn of last century, the Old Courthouse had become too small. At a cost of $6000 an addition was constructed, but the old building never had the structural integrity to support it.
December 20, 2020
Christmas Shopping in 1897 Prescott
The Christmas of 1897 was a bright one for Prescott. “It is only two days until Christmas, yet the very air breathes of the coming event,” the Journal-Miner noted.
After a nationwide economic slowdown, the economy was finally rebounding. The Postal Service reported that money orders “evidently intended as Christmas presents, [indicated] a tremendous increase… These conditions are accepted as a pronounced indication of the return of better times and improved financial affairs,” the paper reported.
Yet, there was something else that had recently transformed the downtown business district into a virtual box of consumer eye candy.
December 13, 2020
The Senator Highway
There was a time when Senator Highway was being considered as being a part of the north-south territorial highway, connecting Prescott to Phoenix, but it would never make it.
December 6, 2020
Yavapai Co's First Prohibition Sting
Prohibition went into effect January 1, 1915 and Sheriff Joe Young was intent on making it stick. It was the middle of May when he made his first big sting. Before all was said and done, however, one of the informants would be charged with soliciting a bribe.
November 22, 2020
The Chinese Den of Iniquity
No one knows what the business was actually named. A Sanborn-Perris mapmaker identified it only as “Chinese” in 1895.
This writer might have considered it “The Chinese Entertainment House,” but authors of the archeological report, "Celestials and Soiled Doves..." used biblical verbiage to describe it as a “den of iniquity.” Specifically, it was found to be a “gambling parlor/saloon/opium den/drugstore, [that] filled many needs.”