 SUBSCRIBE TO DAYS PAST The Sharlot Hall Museum Archives department edits the weekly "Days Past" column for the local newspaper, providing an opportunity to share the rich history of Yavapai County and its surrounding region. Browse
a list of all articles |
Baseball in the Arizona Territory: 1863-1912 October 12, 2008 
(The following article was adapted from an article initially published by the Society for American Baseball Research in "Mining Towns to Major Leagues: A History of Arizona Baseball." It is re-printed by the author's permission.) In January 1873, a Prescott paper, the Arizona Miner, reported one of the first games played in the Arizona Territory, a Christmas day match at Camp Grant in southeastern Arizona. "In the afternoon, an exciting game of base ball took place. This occupied the attention, [of] both of the combatants, until one o'clock, when the welcome call to dinner was wafted to our ears, and readily responded to." No score or outcome of the game was reported. With the first professional league organized in the East in 1871, and baseball being played in the far corners of the Western Territories, the game of baseball was on its way to becoming ingrained in America's consciousness - and Arizona's - as the national pastime. more Squatting on the plaza: 1867 style October 01, 2008 
A squatter is an individual who settles on property belonging to someone else or to the government. After a certain period of occupancy he may claim the property as his own. In so doing, he is claiming squatters' rights or the right of adverse possession. The legal requirements for claiming a tract of land in this manner vary from state to state, but the laws are, in general, still on the books. In the early days of the United States and, in fact, in colonial days, squatting was very common. Most of the land in the young nation had not been surveyed, and squatting was a common way of acquiring property. Squatting was later largely supplanted by homesteading throughout the country.
moreLocal doctor, John Bryan McNally, shot by deranged prospector, 1898 September 22, 2008 
It was June 6, 1898. The dust had not yet settled from the hanging three days earlier of legendary Yavapai County outlaw James Parker, when the still of everyday Prescott life was shattered by the sound of gunfire on North Cortez Street. Soon, Dr. John Bryan McNally, one of Prescott's most prominent physicians (and remembered yet today as a great Prescott pioneer) staggered out into the street with a gunshot wound. It was nothing short of a miracle that McNally was alive, for, as the Arizona Journal-Miner reported: "The bullet struck a watch in Dr. McNally's pocket, glancing off and then passed through the fleshy part of the left arm between the elbow and wrist."
moreThe "Scythe": Spanish influenza in Northern Arizona, 1918, Part II September 17, 2008 
(In Part I, we learned that the 1918 Spanish flu arrived in Prescott on October 2nd and the spread of infection rose and fell like a scythe cutting ripe wheat.) By October 8th, Prescott was shut down but not yet officially quarantined. The newspaper warned that there should be "no public gatherings of any sort." In Jerome, approximately 20 cases of influenza were reported. In the predominately Mormon town of Snowflake, the only physician, Dr. Caldwell, became an early influenza fatality, causing the community of 900 people to put out a call for another doctor. more The "Scythe": Spanish influenza in Northern Arizona, 1918, Part I September 10, 2008 
Ninety years ago, the world, in the final throes of the Great War (known today as World War I), was confronted with an influenza pandemic that ended up killing more than 50,000,000 people worldwide; a number at least twice the number of those soldiers who died in battle during the war. Some called it the "plague" but most called this contagion the Spanish flu because it was first reported as a pandemic in Spain. War hysteria initially laid the blame on the Germans for concocting this pestilence. But, as research has now shown, the Spanish influenza originated in the United States, unknowingly incubated on Kansas farms by Kansas poultry, passed on to nearby army camps and then spread worldwide by American soldiers scattered to all parts of the U.S. and stepping off the boats in Europe. War always has unexpected consequences.
morePauline O'Neill remembers Buckey: In her own words August 27, 2008 
(Note: The following composition by the widow of Prescott's famed Buckey O'Neill first appeared in the San Francisco Examiner in 1898, shortly after Buckey's death in the Spanish-American War as one of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. The exact date it appeared is not currently known, although the data undoubtedly exists somewhere. -Ed.) "When the Maine was blown up and the whole nation was discussing the question of the war that might follow, Mr. O'Neill felt that his country would demand his services. A meeting was held here in the Court House on the evening following receipt of the news. Mr. O'Neill again declared that he was ready and willing to shed his heart's last drop for his flag, his country. He was then, as always, entirely devoid of fear. When the audience applauded his words, my heart sank, for I knew that in case of war, his honor would demand that he keep the promise so solemnly made to his fellowmen. more Ranch History: The Las Vegas Ranch July 31, 2008 
Whoever named the Las Vegas Ranch knew what they were talking about. In Spanish, Las Vegas means "the meadows." At one time, the ranch extended from Williamson Valley west to Camp Wood and was known as the Otis and York Cattle Company. It covered many sections of the most beautiful land in northern Arizona. Located 17 miles northwest of Prescott, at an elevation of 4,600 to 5,100 feet, the Las Vegas sits at the very heart of Williamson Valley, in a sub-irrigated bottom with shallow and artesian wells. Water and grass are abundant with a wide variety of flora and fauna. more An Annotated History of the area of the Ponderosa Park Subdivision: Part II July 29, 2008 
Last week, Part I dealt with the 1884 homestead claim of Frederich Barth, (today known as Ponderosa Park) and some of the many owners of the divided property down through the years. Part II, presented here, tells the geology and some of the mining history of the area. The Geology of the Ponderosa Park area is very interesting and complex. In summary, the Ponderosa Park area is composed of Proterozoic (Precambrian) "undifferentiated granites and schists". Located between the Chaparral Shear Zone on the south and the Mesa Butte Shear Zone on the north, there are light-colored granites (aplite to granidorite), diorite, gabbro, gneiss, schist, metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. On one tributary to Indian Creek to the east, over 15 different types of granite and metamorphic rocks can be found. These rocks were metamorphosed (altered by heat under tremendous pressure) about 1.75 to 1.8 billion years ago. The rocks themselves are older, in the order of 2.0 billion years. Considerable detail of the geology of the area is available in hard-to-find books by Waldemar Lingren and Charles Dunning. more An Annotated History of the area of the Ponderosa Park Subdivision: Part I July 24, 2008 
(A development of the Frederich Barth homestead) by Ed T. Nesdill The first European contact in what is now Arizona is believed to be by the Spanish explorer, Coronado, in 1541. Another Spanish explorer, Espajo, has been credited to be the first European in what is now known as Yavapai County in 1581. About 300 years later, in 1848, travel across northern Arizona and southern Arizona was frequent with traffic to California because of the gold rush and the end of the Mexican War. The ceding of the Arizona territory north of the Gila River by Mexico and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 brought all of present Arizona into the United States, with Statehood coming 59 years later, in 1912. more Memories of 1940s Hillside, AZ July 10, 2008 
The Hillside Store and Bar has passed through several owners over the years and history shows that eventually they all resorted to the sale of liquor to stay in business, which just as regularly brought them down since they invariably ended up as a bar. Are you old enough to remember when you could enter any bar and other establishments in Yavapai County and play the slots? It was about 1946, (don't hold me to the exact date), when Jerry Butler was Sheriff. more |