Arizona republican., 1906-03-16
BIRDsRVE VIEW OF PRESCOTT

people. When the building is com pleted it will contain also a handsome home for the order and a large num-
 Der of rooms for rental
 The Yavapaf club occupies a large
 building on the corner of Gurley and Marina street, built for its use. which adds to the comforts of those fortunate enough to belong to the same, or share the hospitality of it's members, under its roof. There are something like 250 members of this club and its non-resi- dent membership contains the names of some of the most prominent men of finance in the United States The building is three stories high. The in teriOr of the first two floors is fin ished in oak. with hardwood floors and up -tO-date sanitary arrangements. This, like all the more prominent buildings and residences of the town. is heated by steam. It contains a cafe and buffet, billiard rooms, card rooms. bowling alley, smoking and reading rooms and a handsome ball room. in which the club members often enter tain their friends.
 Prescott has three strong financial institutions, two of them owning their own banking houses. The Bank of
 Arizona is the oldest bank in the ter
 ritory. The Prescott National Bank is an equally strong financial institu- ton and is a United States depository. The buildings occupied by these banks are handsome and solid structures, both. built of pressed yellow brick one with handsome and massive granite pillars and base. the other with trim mings of tufa, and both with hand ! int of of these two institutions are large and
 both are considered as strong and safe and carefully managed banking ! institutions as any of their size else where.
 Prescott has some large mercantile
 houses. most of them carrying inn | mense stocks of goods, which are sold Lat reasonable prices and profits. The
 trade Of some of these houses is very ! large, reaching into the millions. many of them shipping large quantities of goods to the regions surrounding the city for many miles.
 There are two daily morning papers ! published here-the Journal Miner and the Prescott Courier. The former pub fishes full Associated Press dispatches and is ably edited under the manage ment of J. w. Mines. a newcomer here l y I l.
 the Arizona Brewing Company sue i cessfully brewing brand of beer that i has become popular throughout the whole northern part of the territory. 1 The Arizona Sandstone Brick Com pany has been making large quantities of brick for the building of many i buildings here and at Fort Whipple. i This concern is now making all the brick for some twenty new buildings under construction at WhippIe bar I racks.
 ] The Crystal Ice Company manufac- ! lures good, clear ice and sells the same 1 at reasonable rates. 1 What has made Prescott and Yava- pal county what they are today is the i numerous railroad facilities through i out the county and the northern DOT
 tion Of the territory.
 When :n February 1891, a tax ex- emption bill was introduced in the 1 legislature at Phoenix granting tax | exemption for a term of years to any | one filing his declaration within the i borders of the territory and commence i ing the same within twelve months [ thereafter, there was a strong protest ! fEom the people of the territory. The
 writer spent several weeks at the cap ] ital unsuccessfully lobbying against lIllS measure. tItlllIOduS were feW lLl the territory in those days outside of the two main lines crossing the terri
 tory from east to west, and Prescott 1 was connected with the outside world | only by a little subsidized ''jerk-water' railroad running to Seligman, which
 was exacting the most severe tariff
 as to freights and fares and fur ! nishing poor service in return therefor. While tax exemption then. as now, seems distasteful to me, yet I am free to admit that subse- of the passage of such a measure. Many miles of railroad have been built by corporations organized and taking
 advantage of this act and they have
 added many millions of dollars to the
 assessed valuation of the property of
 the territory.
 Yavapai county has been especially
 fortunate, linked as it is with the destinies of that great overland rail-
 road, the Santa Fe, whose policy has
 ever been to assist in the upbuilding
 of new communities and seek
 ing as it does new districts that could be developed by the aid of better
 and cheaper transportation facilities : and made strong feeders to the main arteries of commerce. This resulted not
 only in an increased traffic to the road
 itself, but it has stimulated those sec
 tions and placed many of the roads upon a self-sustainins basis. The Santa Fe, Prescott ant