The Coconino sun., 1921-11-04

residents ana deer, antelope, raDDltS and an occasional bear about the only transient in Flagstaff previous to 1881. That was the year before the railroad came through,
 The railroad got as far as Canyon Diablo in the fall of 1881. It took six months to build the bridge across that gorge. In the meantime a lot of tie choppers came on ahead to cut ties.
 Two men who saw the coming of the railroad good opportunities here were P. J. Brannen, of Prescott, and Ed Ayers, of Chicago. The former was in business with his uncle at Prescott and came here and started a general store. Ayers, who had before that looked over the timber in this locality, shipped in a sawmill which was hauled by mules from Canyon Diablo, and set it up where the Ari- zona Lumber & Timber Company's mill, it's successor, now stands.
 Wherever water was to be found, there was where these new western towns were located. The stakes for tn railroad had been run, and the tie choppers naturally settled where they could be close both to water and to the line. "Old Town Sprins" was the logical place, and there they camped, in log houses, and there Brannen built his store and other small business places, including a bakery and several saloons, were located. Old Town Springs is mile west of the present center of Flagstaff, on the bluff just north of the railroad and on the south slope of Observatory hill
 Town Not Dry Then
 Saloons and gambling houses were the principal places of business for some time following the founding of the town, and, indeed, for some time after the town had moved to it's pres ent location.
 Previous to the coming of the rail- road, travel east and west was all by way of the old Star Route stage line, which ran from Santa Fe, N. M., to Prescott.
 West-bound express, mail and pas sengers were brought by stage part way, then in buckboards, and then on mules or behind the riders across the Mogollon mountains by way of Sunset Pass and Chavez Pass (both near Winslow), Stonmena Lake, Beaver Head, Camp Verde and into Prescott.
 This route was abandoned before the railroad reached here, the new stage line from Winslow, which was the end of rails while the Canyon Diablo bridge was building, being along the old Beal trail, past the south base of Elden mountain, north of here, and out through Fort Val ley and Government Prairie to Ash Fork, then south through Hell's can yon to Prescott. The superintendent of this line was Ben Baker, who had been superintendent of the old Star route between Santa Fe and Pres- colt.
 Like all the early western stage lines, there was good deal of trouble with bandits. There were several be- tween Elden mountain and Prescott, Baker himself being held up once with a coach full of passengers and his watch and money taken, his passen- gers, of course, also losing their val uables.
 Bad Men Were Fasteners
 The popular conception of this country in the east at that time was that it was a rendezvous for "cow- boys," the eastern designation for bad-men. That is, in the east, they supposed all the bad man stuff was pulled by western cowboys. The fact is, however, that the average resi- dent of the west was jealous of the reputation of the west and prompt to do his part in enforcing law and or der, and cordially despised these bad man, who almost without exception, were young fellows fresh from the east, who had come here for adven- ture or to get away from punishment for crime, and who let their hair grow long, while they practiced assiduously with their six-g1ns to become, as many of them did, proficient enough to use them as a means of livelihood.
 About the only thing the bad men and would-be bad men did that they could be excused for doing was letting their hair grow long. They didn't do that as a mark of wickedness, but merely because it was the most con- venient thin to do, their being no bar bers here then.
 1 recall the sudden conversation of one of these eastern bad men. He was young man, really a boy, from Iowa. His favorite recreation was trying to see how near he could shoot others of the railroad construction gang without hitting them. They got tired of it and locked him in box car, promising to hang him right af- ter supper. They had supper and then about eihty of them, wild to end thisg particular bad mans foolishness, took him from the car, stuck up a waon tongue and got all ready to string him up. One man, however, stepped out with his two six-guns and prom ised to kill as many of the crowd as he could if they proceeded with the hanging. He was soon joined by sev- eral more. Finally, fifteen against the rest, they bluffed it out on condi- ton that the bad man would leave for the east the next morning, which he did.
 Old Town sprins was lively camp while it lastedg. There were a few men with families there, anon them Marvin Beal, father-in-law of John Francis; J. H. Hawks, who ran the bakery. Beal's brother and few