Wickenburg in 1870

Henry Wickenburg

In 1870, Wickenburg was a young, booming town. Founded in 1863, it wasn’t officially incorporated until 1909. The boom was largely due to Henry Wickenburg's discovery of the Vulture Mine—“The biggest and richest gold mine yet discovered on this continent [the Vulture] is yielding plenty of ore,” the Weekly Arizona Miner stated. Two mills were running at this time, one of which had a whopping 40 stamps to crush the ore.

The Forgotten Pioneer & His Lost Gold

Nathaniel S “Boston” Graves died January 12, 1911, at the age of 88. He was “one of the earliest arrivals in this section of the Territory and also one of the most popularly known miners,” the Weekly Journal Miner explained. “He was more familiarly known as Boston.” He took ill with the flu (or grippe as it was called back then) late in 1910, having spent that year searching for “a ‘pothole’ that contained a vast amount of free gold.”

The First President to Visit Yavapai County

The Weekly Journal-Miner and the residents of Yavapai County were absolutely enchanted. The President of the United States, William McKinley, would be visiting the Arizona Territory, and his first step upon the young territory’s soil would be in Yavapai County!

Prescott Was a Renowned Gambling Town

Several western towns were known for gambling: Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City, for example. But if one were able to go back in time and ask the “sporting men” of the West, Prescott would be among the very best places to play. Gambling was immensely popular in the early days of Prescott. An 1884 account in the Weekly Arizona Miner proclaimed, “Faro dealers say that Prescott is the best gambling town in the West.” 

The Forgotten Mining Town of White Horse City

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. 

The Mystery of Prescott’s Mineral Fountain

Before the Plaza fountain we know today was constructed in 1910, the Plaza had a “Mineral Fountain” (pictured above).  Along its outside boundary were a number of what the Weekly Arizona Journal-Miner described as “peculiar red rock[s]…about which there has been much speculation as to what [they are].”

“The rock is peculiar in that it is susceptible of a good polish and it contains practically no grit," the paper continued, and is very soft, as it can be whittled with a knife like a piece of chalk. When the fountain was being built, this rock attracted general attention from all who saw it, but no one seemed able to classify it.”

Then, in April 1903, two investigators identified the source of these peculiar rocks, not too far from Prescott. They gathered samples to take to several different assayers, and what they found was a great surprise to everyone.

Payson's 'Oldest Continuous Rodeo' Claim Proven False

Payson, Arizona, claims their rodeo is the "World's Oldest Continuous Rodeo since 1884." It's a contention that relies largely on oral legends. However, a review of the historical newspaper records refutes the assertion.

The Forgotten, Lost Town of Val Verde

 

The evening of September 24, 1904, was windy, and the smelter’s open building provided some relief from the heat of the furnace. Around 9pm, as part of their routine, workers wet down the furnace and began to remove, or “undrape” the liquid slag. This time, however, there was too much of the by-product, and the slag poured out of the furnace too quickly for the men to control it. 

“It spread over the floor, in front of the smelter,” the Weekly Journal-Miner explained, “and the molten slag, coming in contact with the water, caused [an] explosion, sending the hot metal all through the building; setting it on fire in a number of places.” While there was an abundance of water on hand, it was impossible to check the progress of the blaze as the strong winds fanned the flames. 

Not only was the building doomed, but so was the five-year-old town of Val Verde. 

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.

Robert Todd Lincoln Visited Prescott Thrice

It was early February 1894 when the announcement was made in the Journal-Miner that Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln, would be visiting Prescott the following month. Accompanying Lincoln were three millionaires from Chicago: Marshall Field, “the many times millionaire” department store mogul; NK Fairbanks, the millionaire meat-packer; and Norman Ream, a manufacturer of agricultural implements.

The trip was extremely important to Yavapai County at a time when capital was needed to develop both mines and railroads, and it would ultimately be the first of three visits by Lincoln.

A Day Trip to Historic Stanton (A Pictorial)

Stanton, Arizona, is not open to the public or tourists. Instead, it is owned, operated, and occupied by the Lost Dutchman's Mining Association (LDMA) and its members. However, in driving his friend Parker Anderson to the town for a book signing, this author had the opportunity to capture some photos of the historic town as it exists presently.

Prescott 1933: A Story in Pictures

Gurley Street, 1933

It was the poorest of times. It was the richest of times. Despite being in the depths of the Great Depression, Prescott would rise above its trials.

Here now are 24 more images that will give the reader a taste of what it was like to live in Prescott in 1933...

Story Behind the Place Name: Poland Mine, Creek & Junction

His name was Davis Robert Poland, and he was a true frontier placer miner. He came to Yavapai County early, when one could walk down a creek bed trail and find large gold veins, embedded in quartz ledges, glittering in the sun. Indeed, this happened to Poland several times.

Before Prescott Valley, There Was Massicks, AZ

The Barlow Massicks' "Castle on the Creek"

Thomas Gibson Barlow Massicks had just visited his Catoctin Mine and was riding back to Prescott in his buckboard, May 17, 1898. Although the road was especially rugged, Massicks made haste, bouncing about abruptly as the buckboard wheels dropped into a rut or launched off a bump. As he endured the ride, his six-shooter slowly made its way out of its scabbard and fell to the wagon floor. With the sheerest of bad luck, the gun landed on its hammer and fired, barely missing Massicks’ right kidney and coming to rest on his right lung.

Despite excruciating pain, Massicks drove his team even harder in hopes of reaching Bates’ Station, 4 miles away. When he arrived at the house, he “was so far gone from the loss of blood and from the shock, that he was almost in a state of collapse, and had to be assisted into the house,” the paper reported.

Mr. Bates immediately took Massicks’ buckboard and completed the trip to Prescott to summon a doctor who undoubtedly saved his life. However, the wound would slowly prove mortal both for Massicks the man and for the town of the same name, which was located in the Prescott Valley area on lower Lynx Creek.

Old Black Canyon Rd was a Stagecoach Robber's Paradise

When it comes to stage robberies in Yavapai County, the road from Prescott to Wickenburg may have had the most infamous heists, but the Old Black Canyon road was the route that was pinched with alarming regularity.

Gillette, AZ: Boom To Bust in 35 Years

Daniel B Gillette needed a mill for his Tip-Top mines, and the mill needed water. He found a spot 6 miles away on the Aqua Fria River. In a matter of months, not only was the mill in full operation, but a whole town, complete with stores, saloons, and hotels, had sprung up out of the wilderness. 

Just nine years later, the town, which some thought would rival Prescott, would be dealt a mortal wound.

Castle Creek Hot Springs in the 19th Century

The first Anglo to dwell at the Castle Creek Hot Springs was a miner by the name of George Monroe, who discovered it in the 1870s. “At that time, he was engaged as a government scout, employed in the numerous campaigns against the Apaches,” the paper recalled. “One evening, just as the sun was sinking, Monroe was traveling down the banks of Castle Creek. As night [fell], he began a search for a place to sleep, [avoiding] the Indians. His search brought him to the mouth of a canyon, through which a small stream wound its way to Castle Creek. Following it a few yards, he came upon the bodies of 12 Maricopas who had, from all indications, been slain (recently) by Apaches.”

Wild Wagoner AZ: Founded 1864

Wagoner, Arizona, was the kind of town that Hollywood loves portraying. There were outlaws, gold, guns, fights , and killings.  Like desert grass, Wagoner bloomed in the monsoon of its gold rush and quickly perished soon after.

The Lost Ghost Town of Zonia

Main Street in Zonia as seen in the 1960s

Place name books that cover Arizona show no listing for the small ghost town of Zonia. Google Maps can locate the Zonia mine, but not the town itself. Even off-roading clubs that are well familiar with Arizona's backroads and ghost towns show no listing.

Yet this old mining town did indeed exist and flourished from 1899-1922.

Kirkland's Early History

William H Kirkland

Bill Kirkland had a restless spirit, never wanting to stay too long in one place. At the age of 18 he left Missouri to make the long trek to California in 1850. He stayed there only five years before he relocated again, this time to Arizona.

There, the pioneer would be credited with many firsts. However, he is best known for a valley, creek, and town in central Arizona that would end up bearing his name.