The Surprising Adventures of Arizona's First Boy Scouts

The first Boy Scout troop in Arizona was organized in Prescott. Prescott adored her Boy Scouts, providing logistical support from all fronts. In return, scouts provided many services to the local community, including primitive archeology and fighting on the frontline of wildfires!

The True Victims of "Bloody Basin" Were the Yavapai

There are many stories surrounding how "Bloody Basin" got its name.

Some say that it's from a mass slaughter of sheep during the range wars.

Some say that seven Navajo virgins were sacrificed there by Geronimo.

Those who've done research find that it was due to a massacre at the Battle of Turret Peak. Yet, most of these have written that it was the Tonto-Apaches that were massacred there.

However, the oral history of the Yavapai tribe would vehemently disagree.

Sheriff's Exploits Were Hollywood; His Appearance Was Not

"Uncle" Jim Roberts

Jim Roberts wore a plain black, "eastern-sized" hat, with no band. He donned a plain white shirt and blue jeans; the side pocket was worn white from the outline of his old frontier model, single-action Colt. The gun looked as if it hadn't been shot in years and bore no notches. He had no holster and wore no boots. (*1)

But perhaps his greatest antithesis to the iconic image of the "Hollywood gunfighter" was Roberts' ironic relationship with horses. He developed a reputation for breeding some very fine ones, yet he would never ride one himself. So when one summoned the sheriff, instead of bolting in on a sweating steed, Roberts would mosey up on his mule! (*1)

He was a man of few words. "Jim never did say much," one old-timer related, "and when he was angry, he didn't say anything." (*1)

"He always returned your greeting. Question him, though, and he would shut up like a clam," another said. (*1)

 To the local law-abiders, he was fondly known as "Uncle Jim."

Appearances aside, Roberts was a highly respected and lethal gunfighter who kept some of the rawest of Arizona's frontier mining towns in lawful order.

1916: Man Kills Two Over a $2 Bet

Fred Marshall was a disturbed, angry man. Few in the area knew much about him or anything of his past. (*1)

Yet one warm June evening, Marshall would receive his "15 minutes of fame" in a most notorious way.

He and a local machinist named S.F. Wrenn "were shaking dice in (George G.) Casey's Poolroom and became involved in an argument over a $2 bet," which Marshall "refused to pay." (*2)

"During the argument, Wrenn knocked Marshall down." Incensed, "Marshall went across the street to his home and procured a revolver. He returned to the pool hall, [where he] was met outside the door by Wrenn.

"The two men grappled. Wrenn wrested the gun from Marshall, and during the struggle, one [shot fired]. Several witnesses testified to having heard Marshall scream that he was shot." As Marshall retreated, "Wrenn took the gun into the pool hall, tossed it across the bar to Casey and said laughingly: 'Here's a gun I just took away from that fellow.'" (*2)

But Fred Marshall was not done.

The Incredible Story of the 100 Million-Year-Old Frog

The Arizona Toad

Life is tenacious. But one frog,  found deep in a Prescott area mine, showed a tenacity to stay alive that many biologists would have considered impossible.

Although described in the title as a "million-year-old frog," the depth at which it was discovered suggests that this remarkable amphibian was tens or even a hundred times older than that!

Prescott Used to Have Countless Prairie Dogs

For a rodent, they are undeniably cute. But to farmers and ranchers, they're a horrible pest. Where there are prairie dogs, agricultural output decreases 25-85%. (*1)

Yavapai County once had 1.5 million acres "infested" with prairie dogs. (*2) When Prescott's airport was first being laid out, workers "went up and down both runways with shovels leveling the mounds and filling up the holes made by the hundreds of prairie dogs that infested the field."(*3)

So, what happened to them?