Prescott Valley Historical Society
Every year the Prescott Valley Historical Society teams up with the city to present Gold Rush Days in Fain Park. The society itself is fairly new, as is the town in which it is located. It is, nevertheless, active in collecting and preserving the history, not only of the town, but also of the area. While their archival collection is extensive, they have not yet begun to collect artifacts.
History of the Prescott Valley Historical Society
Members of the Prescott Valley Historical Society occasionally have to do a bit of a sell in order to convince prospective members that their association has real material to work with. They can prove that it does.
Although the town of Prescott Valley is only thirty years old, the human history of the area goes back to the earliest inhabitants, the Native Americans who lived there. The town encompasses an ancient Indian site now known as the Fitzmaurice Ruin in honor of the man who once owned the land and authorized the archaeological dig in the mid 1930s. Over the centuries, other Native American groups have lived in the area, and in the nineteenth century, US settlers arrived.
Because Prescott Valley is located on the banks of Lynx Creek, it can also claim to have hosted many of the early gold miners in the area. The visitor can find evidence of prospecting by both Anglo and Chinese miners.
One man in particular, British-born Thomas Gibson Barlow-Massicks, developed mines and even founded a town he named Massicks, after his family. The town, which once had 100 residents and a post office, no longer exists. All that remains is the Barlow-Massicks Victorian-style house and a lone chimney, which may have been part of a local mercantile building that probably also housed the post office.
Early ranchers in the area, the Fain family, incorporated much of the land in this area into their extensive ranch in 1955. The family has been instrumental in helping the town and historical society preserve the history of the area.
Fain Park
Prescott Valley owns this 100-acre park, located on land donated to the city by the Fain family. However, over the years, the city has developed a close relationship with the Prescott Valley Historical Society as they have cooperated on park design and planning, operation and community/fund raising activities. The town is also indebted to the Arizona Department of Game and Fish for developing Fain Lake into a lovely, healthy environment for fish. The lake also provides a peaceful fishing and picnicking spot to hundreds of area residents.
Many different paths and trails run through the park. Yavapai Trails Association and various individuals designed and built them. They also provided the signage that identifies the trails, plants and animals. One trail, the Blind Trail, has its signs in Braille, and raised cutouts provide the blind with tactile descriptions of the animals identified. Dotted along these short loop trails are pleasant benches and old and new plantings that help to create shade along with a sense of privacy and peace.
Longer trails extend along Lynx Creek and continue back beyond the area where the now-derelict three-stamp mill lies in ruins. The hiker passes by Stone Ridge and old drainage ditches that carried water from high in the Bradshaws to mining operations in the Massicks area.
Within the park, the terrain is majestic. The huge cottonwoods, surrounding rocks, and cliffs give the visitor a sense of isolation in the midst of a rather busy commercial and residential area.
Incorporated into the park is the sixty-foot dam that creates Lynx Lake. Several damns have been built there over the years, the first by Barlow-Massicks himself, though this dam was destroyed even before it became operable. The present dam was constructed in 1927.
In the future, the city hopes to construct a chapel with funds provided through the late Johnny Lee Fain, who envisioned a place to display the European designed and built stained windows from the Sisters of Mercy Convent Chapel in Prescott.
ARTIFACTS LOCATED IN FAIN PARK
Structures
The Castle: Thomas Gibson Barlow-Massicks built this 13-room structure in 1895, and it is still in good condition. Recently the town obtained a grant enabling it to re-roof the building, remaining as true to its historical value as possible. Local residents have long referred to it as a "castle," probably because Mr. Barlow-Massicks had an English accent and reminded them of nobility. When its builder was alive, his home served as the social center of the area where he entertained business associates and local "society," including officers from Fort Whipple. The Castle is not open to the public because the Fain family agreed to insure the privacy of the caretakers who live there. City of Prescott Valley, Fain Park
Fitzmaurice Ruin, named for the man who owned the land and authorized excavations of the area in 1933: Identified by Franklin Barnett as having been constructed by the Prescott Indian Culture, this pueblo, located in Fain Park, was investigated by Mr. J. W. Simmons of Prescott under the sponsorship of the Federal Works Project in 1930. Later, in 1933, Mr. Louis P. Caywood excavated the site under the direction of Dr. Byron Cummings. This was done at the same time that several other excavations were done in the Prescott and Verde Valley area. The larger project was conducted under the auspices of the Archaeological Committee of the Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce. Over the years, many private parties pillaged the site, but this ceased when the Fain family acquired it in 1955. Barnett obtained permission to excavate in the area from 1968 to 1970. Ceramic dating places the culture some time between 1140 and 1300 CE. According to Barnett, the 27-room structure housed over 100 people, which was large for this area. Many of the artifacts found at this site are on display in Yavapai College Library in Cottonwood and at the Smoki Museum in Prescott. See those reports for further details. In addition to working with the evidence of the structure itself, archaeologists examined ceramic wares, decorative items, ceremonial items, working utensils, and 43 burial sites. There are also numerous petroglyphs in the vicinity, which according to Barnett, "are assumed to date during the same period as the ruin." City of Prescott Valley, Fain Park
Mining and Mineral Harvesting T&E
Three Stamp Mill: the Historical Society has a number of excellent photos of this mill when it was still intact. Unfortunately, fire destroyed its wooden structural components, so all that remains are portions of the wood supports and the metal components of the mill. City of Prescott Valley, Fain Park
