22 minute read
Video Brings Whiskey Row to Old West Life
Arizona Territorial Society. Ruth Clinnick, Joanie Vancore, Ray Herbeck, Barbara Rangel, Christa and Bon Hoffman, Shirley Sibson, Susanne Hutchinson, Trish and Mike Bateman, Mary and Roger Toews, Barbara Palguta, Pam Kellogg-Merkel.
ROW to Old West Life
by Staff Reports | Photography by Blushing Cactus Photography
Brad Courtney is best known around these parts as the “Whiskey Row Historian,” with several books and scholarly articles under his belt buckle. But it’s one of many hats he wears or has worn.
He stepped away from a successful musical career three decades ago to focus on learning and teaching history, but he’s now starring with nearly 100 of his Old West-reenacting friends in the music video for a song he co-wrote, “Down To Whiskey Road.”
“However, the song is not what I am promoting; it is not the story upon which I wish to focus,” he said in a note to Prescott LIVING. “Rather, I want to draw your attention to something of which I believe Prescott should be truly proud. The song and the music video are dedicated to those who add to the true west culture belonging to Prescott.”
The footage was fi lmed in May 2021 at the iconic Palace bar/restaurant on Montezuma Street near the intersection of Gurley Street, the heart of historic downtown Prescott. The complete video is available on YouTube.
He noted that True West magazine named Prescott as the nation’s No. 1 True West Town last year, citing, in part, the many local clubs involved in preserving and re-enacting the area’s frontier past.
Courtney said, “These groups consist of members who are veterans of war and others who have served in the military, law enforcement people both active and retired, fi remen and women, search and rescue personnel, teachers, real estate brokers and agents, hairdressers, engineers, businessmen and women, artists and actors, entrepreneurs and more.”
The Story Behind the Song
Courtney wrote the chorus to “Down to Whiskey Row” in 2013 while working on his fi rst history book, Prescott’s Original Whiskey Row. While the book was a success followed up by The Whiskey Row Fire of 1900 and others, he struggled for years to write verses to go with the chorus, even as he opened many of his in-person talks by singing it.
After Courtney’s wife Holly died from a rare form of cancer in January 2018, “I had this continual feeling of being stranded here on earth after I lost her,” he said. He would often come to Whiskey Row seeking solace and started meeting with some friends at the Palace’s front table on Friday nights.
He met local Realtor Wendi Roudybush in the aftermath of February 2019’s major snowstorm, and they began spending time together on Whiskey Row and elsewhere, including Tombstone’s Helldorado Days, which gave Roudybush the idea of dressing in Old West outfi ts with their Palace friends back home every Friday night.
This was the spark Courtney needed to fi nish his song, with help from the son of his next-door neighbors in Ponderosa Park, Sugar and the Mint co-founder Johan Glidden. The fi nished song was recorded in the studio Glidden himself built.
“I personally know people who have moved to Prescott just to be a part of the Old West groups I have listed. It is a lifestyle of which they want to be part,” Courtney said.
Watch Party
View the video at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tHiq9pDHeb4. Bradley G. Courtney’s books can be purchased in local shops and online.
I Will Fly
by Tod Christensen
The ground slowly fades and I can feel the wind on my face I don’t rush to escape because this isn’t a race. The clouds start to get closer with every passing second my fears and worries fade as hope and happiness beckon.
To my left is an eagle who winks with a knowing nod high up above I see an angel who personally knows God. Far below are lush fi elds of green teeming with life the moment is not lost on me and cuts like a knife.
For too long I’ve allowed my fears to control me, now I leave them behind and into the arms of happiness I fl ee. I know that things that controlled me never really did I just accepted lies and untruths and into the darkness I slid.
Now I feel the wind on my face and the warmth of the sun, for all too many the only way to stop the pain is to become numb. But that’s not the best way because then you also stop feeling the things you love you can’t really see the big picture unless you look at it from above.
So I choose to fl y, no I CHOOSE TO SOAR, my SPIRIT WILL NEVER BE TAMED AND FOREVER I WILL ROAR. I will not be a slave to the things in the shadows and the dark my soul will forever look toward that heavenly park.
The doubts and the pain sting but also make me feel awake and alive I will choose to live even if others just want to survive. Into the future I now travel and I go without fear I look toward new memories and new people who I will also hold dear.
I wake up and wonder if this is all just a dream, Is life what we make it or is it just what it seems? We all must choose how we live because surely all will die but as for me I know what I must do now, I WILL FLY.
It’s Once Again Time to Time to Camp Out by Blake Herzog
Spring in Greater Prescott is the best anywhere, and it’s also the gateway to summer and even more outdoor frolicking as months of sunshine, piney warmth and cooled-down evenings unroll ahead of us.
It’s time to start parking our RVs and pitching our tents at Lynx or Watson Lakes, White Spar or any of the other magnetic campgrounds we have to choose from here.
Most campgrounds in and around Prescott that shut down for the winter reopen in April, making this a great time to check out the major campgrounds being put back into service for the balmy months. These four have onsite restrooms, with dry camping only, since none have RV hookups. Q
WATSON LAKE PARK
Campground opens fi rst weekend of April through fi rst weekend in October • Fee: $20/night • www.prescott-az.gov/recreation-events/recreationservices/facility-rentals/campsite-rentals Note: The 2022 opening of these campgrounds may be delayed by repairs to the recreation area’s potable water system
This small but very convenient campground has 19 sites that can be reserved and another 15 set aside on a fi rst-come, fi rst-serve basis. They’re near the park’s main entrance off state Route 89 and a short hike from the water. This City-run campsite off ers dry camping and is open Thursday through Monday nights. Visitors praise its spectacular Granite Dells scenery, spacious sites, convenience to boat ramps and fi shing and restroom facilities.
GRANITE BASIN RECREATION AREA
Campground open April 1-Oct. 31 • Fee: $18-$36, plus $5 for each extra vehicle • www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/prescott/recreation/ camping-cabins/recarea/?recid=67185&actid=29
LYNX LAKE RECREATION AREA
Campgrounds scheduled to be open April 1-Oct. 31 • Fee: $18-$36/night, plus $5 for each extra vehicle (for both Lynx and Hilltop campgrounds) • www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/prescott/recreation/ camping-cabins/recarea/?recid=75178&actid=29
This wooded lake on Prescott’s southeast edge is just south of the Highlands Center for Natural History and home to a network of forest trails, day-use areas for picnicking and wildlife viewing, a group campground, along with the two for use by individual tents and RVs.
The Hilltop campground has 38 single spaces and can accommodate RVs up to 40 feet long, while the Lynx has 35 single spaces and four double spaces, and can accommodate RVs 22 feet long up to 35 feet long.
Campers enjoy the area’s remote air while it sits just 2 ½ miles south of Costco, though the weekend crowds are too much for some. The Yavapai Campground here has 21 campsites with picnic tables, grills and fi re pits and a maximum vehicle length of 40 feet. It’s convenient for day users at Granite Basin Lake and those venturing into the Granite Mountain Wilderness, and because it’s nestled within pinyon pines and junipers rather than ponderosas, it’s a bit warmer for those sun worshippers who’ve reeeeally been anticipating winter’s end!
GROOM CREEK RECREATION AREA
Campground open April 1-Oct. 1 • Fee: $10, plus $5 for each extra vehicle • www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/prescott/recreation/ camping-cabins/recarea/?recid=67167&actid=29
Lower Wolf Creek campground in this recreation area has 20 campsites, and RVs up to 40 feet long can park there. More isolated and cheaper than the other National Forest Service campgrounds, it’s fi rst-come, fi rst-serve only, with exact change required for those paying with cash onsite. Campers enjoy the setting on Wolf Creek underneath ponderosas and live oaks, and some features remain from its original construction by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
Mighty Maggot Embrace the
by Sandy Stoecker, Naturalist, Highlands Center for Natural History
People of a certain age may remember a comedian named Rodney Dangerfi eld whose famous line was: “I don’t get no respect.”
This article, and some to follow, will explore some critters who, like Mr. Dangerfi eld, also get no respect — nature’s clean-up squad, scavengers, carrion eaters, decomposers, the “ick factor” of the circle of life.
Whatever we want to call them, most of us would rather not think about them. Imagine, though, what life on Earth would be without them. Or maybe it wouldn’t be, having already been overwhelmed by millions of years of waste: human, animal, plant; dead bodies, skeletons; detritus of all kinds of organisms.
Our fi rst critter of interest will be the fl y, an annoying, disgusting, disease-carrying creature that plagues people and animals alike. More specifi cally, the larvae of various fl ies — the maggot!
Flies are attracted to foul smells such as excrement of any kind or anything rotting. They feed on the causes of these odors, but more importantly, this is where they will lay their eggs. When the maggots hatch, they, like all larval insects, have voracious appetites and will eat any organic thing in sight as long as it is rotting.
They can make short work of a dead animal, and their digestive system is so effi cient it fi lters out pathogens (harmful bacteria). The frass (insect poop) can be used to enrich the soil.
Maggots often are the “fi rst responders” to a crime scene where homicide has been committed. Their presence and knowledge of age and species of the maggots help crime scene investigators pinpoint the time and place of death. Maggots also serve as a source of food for birds, fi sh and chickens.
Flies have been known to lay eggs on open wounds in humans and animals. Undisturbed, the maggots will hatch in a short time and will go to work consuming the dead and dying tissue, leaving behind clean, healing, healthy tissue.
This has been observed and used by folk medicine practitioners for probably centuries. It even has modern applications. Today, maggots that have been raised under sterile conditions are sometimes used to treat particularly nasty wounds. Of course, one has to get past the “ick factor,” but hey, if it works, don’t knock it. Like the rest of nature’s creatures, maggots have an important place in their various ecosystems.
The enthusiasm with which they go about their assigned duties belies their tiny size and makes their accomplishments truly impressive. So, try to get beyond the “ick factor” and think of them more generously.
Appreciate them for their vital contributions to the circle of life!
by Chris Hosking, Trails/Natural Parklands Coordinator, City of Prescott
Prescott’s most popular trail has an interesting history that continues to unfold as the trail expands. Trail construction connecting the Peavine in Prescott to Chino Valley has begun.
Currently, there are 6.7 miles of the Peavine in Prescott and 5.3 miles in Chino Valley. This connector between the two trails will add 6.5 miles to create an 18.5 mile one-way trip featuring wide and relatively fl at terrain.
The new trail will deviate from the original railroad route due to many factors including private property, airport extensions and collapsing bridges. The new alignment will be mostly east of Granite Creek, with the last mile crossing the creek to join the Chino Valley section.
The existing Peavine Trail follows the old railroad grade that was once the Santa Fe Prescott and Phoenix Railroad that connected Prescott to the main line in Ash Fork in 1893. The last passenger train from Prescott to Phoenix departed on April 16, 1962, and the last freight train on Sept. 22, 1983.
In the 1980s, storm damage washed out the line, and the railroad right of way was purchased in 1998.
The Peavine Trail, a national recreation trail, was opened in 1999 and built by the City of Prescott Parks and Recreation Services. Volunteers removed the railroad ties, cut back weeds, and completed extensive repairs to the railroad grade.
Since, extensions in 2007, 2011, 2014 and 2017 have made the trail in Prescott 6.7 miles with trail counts upward of 100,000 visitors per year.
In 2021, 5.2 miles of the newly opened Peavine Trail section in Chino Valley has had good visitorship of around 40,000 trail users per year.
The new section of the Peavine has been made possible by a development agreement with Arizona Economic Development. The trail to Chino Valley will go through 1 mile of state land, and negotiations are going well to purchase the easement for that land.
I will be designing and constructing the trail with the Over-the-Hill Gang, and it probably will take two to three months.
With Prescott and Prescott Valley connected by the Iron King Trail and the extension of the Peavine Trail to Chino Valley, this 22.5 miles of trails now opens up possibilities for marathon races, hike, bike and horse events, as well as daily recreational opportunities for quad city residents. Plans also are underway to extend the trail north of Chino in the coming years.
Birds Love Watson and Willow Lakes
by Blake Herzog
Given how few lakes there are in Arizona, each one is going to be important for local and migratory birds. But then there are Important Bird Areas (IBAs), such as Willow and Watson lakes, designated by the National Audubon Society.
These lakes and the surrounding woodlands and Granite Dells are at the heart of much of Prescott’s outdoor life, drawing hikers, kayakers, rock climbers and many more outdoor enthusiasts.
Then there are the birds and the birdwatchers, which most of us become at least momentarily while we’re there.
In the spring and summer, Watson Woods on the southeastern shore of Watson Lake is alive with birds’ chattering and movement, while the water is relatively quiet until the ducks in the fall and winter, says Sue Drown, president of the Prescott Audubon Society: “You can move with the birds with the seasons.”
Right now, the Watson Woods area just south of Watson Lake, plus any stands of cottonwoods or willows on the lakes’ shore, are teeming with avian activity.
“For spring you want to talk about the breeding songbirds, which we call passerines, in Watson Woods, and anyplace where there’ s cottonwoods around the willows, and in the Dells. That’s the time of year when they sing; in the winter there’s not that much song going on,” she says.
“But in the summer they sing to announce their territories, and they’re in their very brightest plumage, and you can listen to them and spot them because they’re busy setting up their real estate and fi nding their partner for the season,” Drown says. “So it’s a really fun time to watch for the smaller birds, the warblers, the grosbeak, the tanagers, titmice, all those little ones. Swallows are dancing around out there.”
CRITICAL WINTER HABITAT
Later in the year the waterfowl take over the lake surface, up to 5,000 birds at a time during wet years, and the lakes take on the role that earned the Important Bird Area designation, Drown says, providing habitat for species that mostly breed farther north in the upper Midwest, Pacifi c Northwest or Canada.
There are no other lakes as signifi cant as these two within 200 to 300 miles to the east or west, making them a crucial pit stop.
“They don’t spend the summer here, but because it’s such an important place for them to gather and stay fed and healthy over the winter, that’s why it’s an IBA,” Drown says. Many of them begin to exhibit their breeding behaviors in the late winter before they head north, making February and March an entertaining time to observe them: “This is all about getting ready, getting those hormones going and heading north.”
In 2011 Audubon designated the two lakes as one IBA — a distinct ecosystem large enough to provide essential habitat for at least one bird species, yet small enough to be preserved in its entirety.
Prescott’s Audubon chapter has about 550 members, Drown says, and is the designated steward for the IBA. For more information visit www.prescottaudubon.org.
To learn more about the Watson/Willow lakes IBA visit www.audubon.org/important-bird-areas/watsonand-willow-lakes-ecosystem#:~:text=Ornithological%20 Summary,shorebirds%20during%20 the%20fall%20passage.
Photography by Atomic Dronez “The wor ld is your playground – play with a sense of destiny.” - Edward Boyden
Continued from page 143 Q
Prescott LIVING: They’re in Colorado. Utah? Wyoming? Oklahoma and Texas? All over the map?
Jim Dewey Brown: They’re everywhere. And those don’t even count the amateur ones going on.
Prescott LIVING: When you were professionally rodeoing, did you ever get any sleep?
Jim Dewey Brown: (laughing) While driving. You sleep with one eye opened.
Prescott LIVING: Tell us — how big of a rodeo staff do you have?
Jim Dewey Brown: Seven professionals, counting me.
Prescott LIVING: How many volunteers?
Jim Dewey Brown: There’s about 200 to 300 standing members of Prescott Frontier Days. But then our volunteers swell during the rodeo to 400, 500, 600 folks.
You got bartenders, you got parking folks, ticket ushers, ticket takers and program sales. And then we’ve got folks loading cattle and sorting, derigging, shoveling. It takes the whole team to do this. And there’s a lot of them.
Prescott LIVING: And you get a lot of people here in town who just love it.
Jim Dewey Brown: It’s great. And we can always use more.
Prescott LIVING: You recently accepted a new opportunity. You’re now the commissioner for the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA). What do you do?
manager, the CEO of college rodeo. We’ve got about 3,500 student athletes in college rodeo. I don’t know what the exact number is these days, but it’s like 120 member schools. There are 11 regions in college rodeo.
Prescott LIVING: What’s your role?
Jim Dewey Brown: I make sure we attract national sponsors, run the college national fi nals, make sure that’s going on schedule and make sure the kids have every opportunity to compete. But students have to do their due diligence, and they have every opportunity to get an education, too.
Prescott LIVING: Does this mean you’re going to be traveling nationally? Prescott LIVING: Is rodeo growing in numbers and popularity?
Jim Dewey Brown: That’s the fun part, I guess, of this job. I have to go to one rodeo in each region, a diff erent rodeo in each region every year. So that’s 11 rodeos. And I need to go to Casper, Wyoming once a month for the local committee, CNFR committee meetings. And that’s just one day. So it’s lots of traveling. Lots of fl ying. But this was something that I had set my sights on 20 years ago. It just happened to be odd timing. The Prescott Frontier Days® job opening came before that NIRA did, but PFD is glad I have it because it’s a gateway to the future World’s Oldest Rodeo® contestants. Jim Dewey Brown: I think so. It’s peaks and valleys. You’re going to see it every year. Much depends on which association you’re talking about. Obviously, we’re growing compared to last year because there were few rodeos to go to. Obviously, this year’s going to look great. The World’s Oldest Rodeo® is now considered one of the best in the country. I’m proud to be a part of it.
The World’s Oldest Rodeo® Performance Schedule
Eight performances are scheduled at the rodeo grounds beginning Tuesday, June 28 and ending Monday, July 4. Gates will open two hours in advance of performances so fans can shop, eat and enjoy live music.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday performances begin at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday performances are 1:30 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. The Monday, July 4 performance is at 1:30 p.m.
