Peeples Valley/Yarnell Historical Society
Local residents including two sisters, Ella Dean Bittner, the current president, and Margaret Rigden, established the Peeples Valley/Yarnell Historical Society in the early 1990s. Because it is still very young, the Historical Society is working hard to establish a museum in the schoolhouse it owns. Once the museum is established, members of the historical society feel that many area residents will donate archival materials and artifacts. All that has been missing is a secure place in which to preserve and present the materials.
History of Peeples Valley
Peeples Valley is located among a string of valleys that extend from Ferguson Valley through Skull Valley and down to Antelope Valley. The Sierra Prieta, and the Kendrick, Ritter, and Weaver Mountains ring the valleys.
According to local sources, Abraham Harlow Peeples was among a party of prospectors led to the central Arizona region by the legendary mountain man, Pauline Weaver in 1863. The group was going from Yuma to Antelope Peak, but Peeples, who split off from the group, discovered gold in an area soon to be called "Rich Hill."
Although his strike was obviously a good one, Peeples did not stay in the valley that was to retain his name. This behavior was in accordance with the pattern of settlement in the West: some stayed temporarily and then went on to what they felt were better opportunities elsewhere. As they left, others came, attracted by the possibility of making a fortune or at least getting a new start. But life in the valley was not easy.
In the early days, white settlers were vulnerable to Indian attack. The Prescott Miner reported in 1870 that Indians had killed 300 white people in the area. The report was probably exaggerated; the high estimate may have been calculated to push the government toward actions that would protect settlers. And although we cannot be certain about how many were killed prior to 1870, we know that after 1875, when most of the local bands of Native Americans were removed to the San Carlos Reservation, the situation for whites was less dangerous.
When the dust settled in 1875, the first post office in the area was opened near the site of the Ranch House Restaurant. The post office served both Peeples Valley and Yarnell, and, perhaps because of this, there was a long series of openings and closings of post offices, as the honor moved back and forth between the two settlements. Neither was large; the population in both places probably totaled about 25 in 1900.
In addition to the Post Office, Peeples Valley had a gristmill and a stage stop for freight haulers and travelers moving along the valley from Wickenburg to Prescott. But the area was not famous for its settlements; it was known for ranching and mining, with mines like the Model and Monarch gold mines, and its old and respected ranching families including the Roy D. Hays family.
The nature of the area undoubtedly changed with the construction of a road from Yarnell to Prescott in 1922 and the paving of a road all the way from Congress to Prescott in 1933. But the valley is still remarkably serene, and area residents hope it will remain that way, even as some of the large, old ranches go on the market.
History of Peeples Valley/Yarnell Historical Society
The Peeples Valley/Yarnell Historical Society is quite new, having been established in the early 1990s.
Interested in preserving the history of the area, the Society concentrates on mining and ranching. Each year, generally in the late fall, they hold a Ranching and Mining Day. Similar to Territorial Days held in Prescott, the Peeples Valley Ranching and Mining Day celebration features mountain men and pioneer women engaging in activities that include outdoor biscuit making, candle making, and quilting.
In 1998, the Historical Society obtained a grant to fund the residency of a storyteller who interviewed a number of area old timers. He followed up by writing a story about the local schoolhouse and a play about the people whom he had interviewed. When the play was performed, local children played the parts of their elders, and the audience, which included the older people on whose lives the play had been based, loved it.
The society does own one significant artifact-a unique school building. Members, who want to preserve and restore the building, are concentrating on efforts to raise money through membership dues, yearly activities, donations, and grants. After they complete the necessary repairs, they will use the school to house the many artifacts that members and other area residents have been collecting over the years.
ARTIFACTS
Structure
Schoolhouse: The school was built in 1928 and fell into disuse in the 1960s when a school was built in Yarnell. What makes it unique is that the building contains not only the standard room for a school, but it also has a teacherage-the teacher's living space comprised of a parlor, bedroom, and kitchen,
