Early Arizona Slang

 

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.”

The Mammoth Senator Tunnel

In the early prospecting days of the 19th century, the Senator and other adjacent mines were thought to be a bonanza of gold ore. They worked down until they reached water, and work was given up. However, in early 1905, a plan was announced that would completely revive the Mt. Union section of the Hassayampa mining district.

The History of the Horribles

Due to their over-the-top, Mardi Gras-quality costumes, pictures of “The Horribles” often appear around Halloween in Prescott. However, their activities actually surrounded the Fourth of July as a comedic alternative to Independence Day with hints of Confederate sympathy and mourning.

Harrison Yarnell and the Mystery of Rich Hill

“It was a piteous scene and remarkable in the extreme,” the Journal-Miner observed. Harrison Yarnell (for whom Yarnell, Arizona, is named) stood before Judge Frank O Smith, a broken man. He was applying for admission to the Pioneers’ Home in Prescott—something reserved only for the destitute. “I’ve tried hard to keep from this,” he told the judge, “but I’ve fought my battle, and I’m through.”

At the very least, it was bitterly ironic. His namesake mine, which he founded, had yielded $12,000,000 worth of gold at that point. "All the money, however, went back into the ground in an attempt to find the big deposit of gold which he believed was to be found within a space of five miles square around the Yarnell mine,” the Hassayampa Miner described, but it was his attempt to solve one burning mystery that took his last dollars.

The Mysterious Figurine-Making Forest People

Were these 1000-year-old artifacts tokens of black magic?

Much mystery surrounds the small, clay figurines found in the forest south of Prescott, as well as the people who made them.

The Indian Uprising of 1872

The ruins of Camp Date Creek

From February through June 1872, Native Americans launched raiding attacks around and surprisingly close to Prescott. The newspapers were filled with accounts of Indian depredations during this time, and the citizenry was both frightened and filled with consternation.

Orders came from Washington to change the practice of largely shooting Indians on sight to one of feeding and educating them instead. Initially, however,  the Indians, many of whom were starving, became emboldened and started to attack.