"Old Yavapai"

NORMAN G. WALLACE

The Yavapai County court house at Prescott, one of the most beautiful structures in the west, is picturesquely situated in a tree-filled square. This building is truly indicative of the spirit of progress of Yavapai's citizens.

Rising in the very heart of Arizona's broad expanse, hemmed in on all sides by sister counties, is Yavapai, long known in early days as "Mother of Counties." Then the largest of the four original Arizona counties, Yavapai has since been divided and new counties created until today, although a shell of her former self, she still remains one of the favored areas of wealth and great scenic beauty.

The pine-clothed hills of Yavapai, rolling in broken rhythm to the far-flung horizons, are old very old; yet the ever-refreshing fragrance of evergreen after frequent summer showers, spread over and through her two million acres of national forest by gentle cool breezes, exemplifies youth eternal and inspiration everlasting.

Untold wealth has been scooped from Yavapai's metal laden hillsides and creek beds, and aside from the countless tons brought up from the depths, buried deep are yet vast deposits of copper and other metals to match in values the great gold deposits for which this county has long been noted. Yavapai ranks first of Arizona's fourteen counties in the number of producing mines. Spread between the metal and tree-laden

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Prescott was selected as the site of the first territorial capital in 1864. This busy place is now the center of a great mining, livestock and vacation area. The first rodeo ever held was staged here.

The Old Governor's Mansion, built in 1864, is one of the interesting historical centers in Prescott. Now a museum, under the care of Sharlot Hall, distinguished Arizona pioneer, this building houses relics of Yavapai's illustrious past. hills are verdant valleys which the magic touch of gentle rains and irrigation waters have made both prosperous and beautiful. And there is the great sweep of grazing lands supporting many thousands of head of cattle, sheep, angora goats and other stock. The county ranks second in the state in range cattle and sheep, while first place is held in the production of mohair from the goats.

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Granite Dells, near Prescott, is traversed by U. S. Highway 89. A number of motion pictures have been made here in the past two years. The Dells is a popular recreational center.

The many archaeological, geological and botanical wonders of Yavapai county, blending into this grand array of natural resources, have made this a year-round vacationland of unsurpassed beauty and pleasure. The densely wooded section is the habitat of much wild game, lion, bear and smaller animals, and the crystal streams contain many fish to delight the angler. Spread out from Yavapai county on all sides are hundreds of additional attractions, sights and wonders in neighboring counties, easily accessible and worthy of a visit and the time spent.

Prescott, the hub and county seat of Yavapai, is known as Arizona's mile high city and appropriately called "Jewel of Arizona's Mountains." It was near here in 1864 that a temporary capital was established and where the first territorial legislature met. Prescott is the home of the renowned 4th of July Frontier Days celebration and the famed Smoki Dances. The Yavapai county court house here, a classical structure of white granite, is one of

Tuzigoot National Monument, near Clarkdale, is an interesting prehistoric ruin, one of Yavapai's many scenic attractions.

the most beautiful buildings in the Southwest, and the equestrian statue of the Rough Rider by Solon Borglum is a striking tribute to Arizona's sons fighting in the Spanish-American War. One of Prescott's outstanding attractions is the Old Governor's Mansion, a log structure built in 1864 and which now holds relics of Arizona's early days. Northeast of Prescott stands one of the unique cities of the world-Jerome great copper mining camp of the Phelps Dodge Corporation. Clinging to the steep sides of the rich copperladen Black Hills, Jerome's houses, supported in their precarious positions by props and stilts, appear as though they might collapse and crash to the canyon depths below. One can almost lean from the porch of his home and look down the chimney of his neighbor's house on the street below. Truly one of the most interesting sights in a wonder-strewn countryside is Jerome, and driving from the town at night the identity of the town is lost U. S. Highway 89, a ribbon of beauty through Granite Dells. Wide, modern highways through Yavapai county serve well the modern traveler.

Old Yavapai . . . land of mountains and plateaus . . . land of extensive ranches . . . real cow outfits, many accepting guests who aspire to a genuine taste of western life.

Except for the hundreds of blinking lights and they too are blended in with the starlit heavens.

A few miles along is the Company's Clarkdale Smelter, built here for lack of room at Jerome. Great clouds of smoke belch skyward from gigantic stacks day and night as the copper producing industry continues on and on in endless activity.

Skirting Yavapai county's northern boundary are the two railroad centers, Ashfork and Seligman. The first railroad to Prescott was built from Seligman in 1888, and now the magnificent streamliners streak across the Continent, the Santa Fe's Chief and Super-Chief, and from Ashfork, a Santa Fe branch line now slashes its way through passes and around scenic hills to Prescott and on to Phoenix. In other towns and camps, scattered throughout the hills and valleys and nestled high in the pines, live and work miners, stock-raisers, agriculturalists and vacationists. And here and there in the expansive hills are seen lone tents and huts of the prospector, his toils never ending and with each new day, hopes of making a strike are renewed.

As a vacationland, Yavapai, especially during the summertime draws many thousands Montezuma Well, on Granite Creek, is a crater-like depression, apparently without bottom. It has a flow of 2,000,000 gallons every 24 hours.

ands of pleasure seekers who come to enjoy the coolness of the great forest areas with their many splendidly equipped camping facilities. Also the dude ranches and working cow ranches attract their share of tourists. One of the striking features, welcomed by the motorist on his initial trip through Yavapai county, in fact in all of Arizona, is the vast network of sleek, smooth modern highways which lead to almost any point in mind. U. S. 89 stretches its hard-surfaced cushion from the Mexican border, through southern Arizona's so-called desertland, through Yavapai's fascinating hills and valleys, to northern Arizona's high mesaland and on to the Utah line. Skirting the northern rim of the county is Coast to Coast U. S. 66. Numerous paved and graveled auxiliary roads connect and reach out from these splendid arteries.

State Highway 79 wends its way from Prescott through the beautiful Granite Dells and Garden of the Gods region which is truly unique in itself.

Beyond Granite Dells, through Jerome and Clarkdale, new vistas are always coming into view. About a mile across the Verde River from Clarkdale is Tuzigoot.

Extensive range herds throughout the hills of Yavapai.

Tuzigoot National Monument, a group of prehistoric ruins. Constructed dur-ing the eleventh century and abandoned in the fourteenth century, the present excavations have revealed 87 living rooms on the slope of a rise in the valley.

A short distance from Tuzigoot and Clarkdale are two equally spectac-ular sights, Montezuma Well and Montezuma Castle National Monument. Montezuma Well is a crater-like depression, 470 feet in diameter, and con-taining fresh water, the depth of which has been sounded to 800 feet without striking bottom.

Montezuma Castle, built of adobe high up in the recess of a perpen-dicular cliff, is forty feet high and with five stories of seven rooms. The Castle, which is a few miles below the Well, is said to be the finest preserved and one of the most spectacular of all prehistoric structures.

A most interesting trip through Yavapai county is by way of the Black Canyon Road through the Bradshaw mountains. This road was formerly the old stagecoach line from Phoenix to Prescott, skirting old mining towns, many now only ghost towns, while others are still alive as metal producing centers.

The Joshua Tree-symbol of Yavapai's variety of terrain . . . from Joshua to pine.