1885 Conflagration Changed Ash Fork Forever

“Saturday, April 25, 1885, 3:40 PM: The town of Ash Fork is now on fire,” the Albuquerque Evening Democrat proclaimed. “So far nine buildings are in ashes…” 

“A telegram was received at Fort Whipple announcing the almost entire destruction of the town of Ash Fork,” the Tulare County (California) newspaper pronounced.

“The greater part of the town was destroyed,” the Sacramento Union declared.

A Horrifying Tragedy on Pleasant Ave. (1898)

It was around 2:15 AM, September 7, 1898, and FS Davis was sound asleep in his residence on Pleasant Avenue when his faithful little dog suddenly jumped onto the bed and then onto his chest, barking alarmingly. “Davis found the room black with smoke,” the Prescott Weekly Courier described. The first thing he saved was his clothing, throwing them out a side door (which led to the loss of his watch). He then grabbed a pistol and ran out the door, only partially clad, firing his gun into the air to sound the alarm.

The First Granite Dells Resort 1888-1902

When whites first came to the Prescott area, the place known to us as the Granite Dells was first called Point of Rocks. The first newspaper mention of the Granite Dells was in 1887. It was the name given to James and Thomas Wing’s ranch. They knew they held some of the most beautiful land in the area, and they set out to turn it into the first Granite Dells Resort.

The Great Flood of 1891

One year after the terrible storm that caused the Walnut Grove dam disaster, an even worse, two-part storm flooded Yavapai County.

Jerome's Great Fire of 1898

One year before the fire;
almost all of this would be destroyed.

The Journal-Miner described it as “one of the greatest calamities in the loss of human lives and destruction of property that has ever occurred in the territory, and it may also be said in the West.”

1922: Prescott Turns the Page on the Old West

From its beginning and for the better part of a century, Prescott desired to be a modern city in stark contrast to the surrounding wilderness. Come 1922, people had grown weary of streets that were either dusty or muddy, and the desire was strong to dust off Prescott’s cowtown image and replace it with a modern, 20th-century city. As a result, 1922 would see the biggest infrastructure improvements the city would ever experience, as well as Prescott’s first big growth spurt.

Williamson Valley's Astonishing Duck Migrations

Prescott Journal-Miner, 2/9/1917 Pg. 6 Col. 5

They would usually appear in February after the harshest days of winter, and stayed until May. Reports of thousands upon thousands of ducks and other waterfowl were annually noted until the climate took a turn toward our more arid conditions today.

A report in the Prescott Journal-Miner in 1917 stated that “the sun was obscured for over five minutes” as a gigantic wave of migrating ducks was settling in for the Spring in Williamson Valley. One man who wanted to boost tourism via duck hunting proclaimed to the Weekly Journal-Miner: “It is safe to say that 80 percent of all waterfowl flying from the north to the south use Williamson Valley as their course.”

Yet despite these incredible numbers, is it really possible to bring down thirteen ducks with only two shots, as one pioneer rancher claimed?

Deep Well Ranch Hosted Annual Cowboy Camp Meetings

Before becoming a subdivision, Deep Well was a working ranch. It was also the site for Yavapai County’s cowboy camp meeting starting in 1945 and stretching into three decades.

Remembering the Mingus Mountain Inn

Mingus Mountain Inn, 1949.

In the 1920s, cars were far less dependable and, as a result, service stations were more numerous and spaced closer together. Particularly, the tops and bottoms of mountains were excellent locales for a motorist to take the necessary precautions of checking his water and brakes before traversing the steep grade.

It was from this need that the Mingus Mountain Inn was born on Forest Service land in 1925. Yet the Inn was far more than just a gas station; it also provided light groceries, camping and hunting supplies, and a sit-down restaurant.

1919: Growth Causes Prescott to Run Out of Water

Old City Dam, 1920s

By the time summer came along, water pressure had consistently fallen so low that everyone was required to boil it. Unfortunately, that did nothing to relieve its foul smell.