The Coconino sun., 1923-06-08

interior DECORATIONS III tne way VI
works OF art.
public school. On November %, 1882,
P. B. Brannen petitioned the board of
supervisors to establish School Dis
tlict No. "a in Flagstaff, and the pc
tition was granted. found no men
ton of the trustees appointed nor OF
the teachers employed.
| was unable to find where school
district was established in Williams,
though Justice Henry D. Foss of the
Arizona supreme court informs me
that he taught there in the sos. The
school house was located on Bill VIII
liams avenue, on the north side of the
street, between First and Second
streets. However, there was school
in Williams prior to the one taught
by Judge Ross. 1t was located in
the west end of the town, about where
the railroad crosses the road leading
to the Perrin residence. | know sew
eral pupils who attended this school.
An epidemic of school activities
seems to have struck the county in
1888. March Z, school district No. 81
was established and is described as
follows: Beginning at LerouX
Springs. thence to Rogers Lake, west
to Mooney Mountain, thence to Spring
Valley" July the following district
was established: Beginning two miles
south of the head of Oak Creek run
ming north to Gardner's Spring,
thence East to San Francisco wash,
thence south to Mormon Mountain,
thence west to beginning" October l
district was established at Lees
Ferry. There is no mention of the
names of the petitioners for the es-
tablishment of these districts.
Voting Precincts
There was probably an election held
in Flagstaff in November, 1880, al
though / find no mention of the ap-
pointment of election officers. / base
this conclusion upon the fact that in
September, 1880, Thomas F. McMil-
len was appointed registration offic-
er. For the election held in Novem-
Der, 1882, the list of voting precincts
and officers appointed is given in
full: For Flagstaff, J. E. Beede, P.
J. Brannen and James O'Neil; for
Williams, Henry Goldwater, C. T. Rog-
ers, J. M Sanford; for Oak Creek, M.
Osborne, Ed Scrivener, S. c. Diclin-
son; for Stoneman lake, Robert w.
Peasants, W. NJ. Fain, George Fos-
ter; for Picacho Station, w. A. Hor-
ton, w. H. McGill, C. F. Lawton. A
voting precinct was established at In
dian Gardens, in the Grand Canyon,
in 1886, and W. w. Morse appointed
registration officer d. C. Smith was
appointed registration officer for Will
liams in 1882 in place of C. t. Rogers,
who resigned. Orville Bates and ],
L. Foutz were appointed justice of the
peace and constable respectively for
Tuba City July 21, 1888.
The Prescott and Arizona
Central Railroad
Ten miles of the Prescott & Ari
zona Central RAILROAD had been built
on August A, 1856. The road began
at Chino (now Seligman) on the At
lantic. & Pacific railroad and ran to
Prescott. The remarkably short time
in which this road was built is shown
by the fact that on December 81,
1886, the minutes of the Board of Su-
pervisors show that the road, which
was 73 miles in length, had been COM
pleted into Prescott, and that pc
tition from taxpayers of the county
was presented to the board praying
the latter to Immediately issue the re-.
naming bonds due the company,
$4,000, which was done. The roads
construction was begun July l, 1886,
and was completed December 81, 1886.
The grading and rails had been laid
therefore in exactly six months. The
life of the road was of short duration,
for several years thereafter the
tracks were torn up from Chino to a
point between Ash Fork and Prescott
and the present line was built, which
is nine miles shorter
Miss Mary Ford, now Mrs. Fred
Platten of Pitman Valley, had been
visiting in Flagstaff at the time the
railroad was completed into Prescott,
and she was passenger on the first
train run over the road. She relates
that when the train reached Prescott
it was greeted with wild enthusiasm
by the citizens. The Fort Whipple'
band was on hand and played "Ain't
We Glad to Be Out of the Wilder
ness 2"
Mining Claims
Coconino has never been noted for
its mineral wealth, yet in the early
days there was great activity through
out its borders by those seeking the
same. The earliest activities, as has
been shown by the sale of the Orient,
the Occident and the Aurora claims
to DR.. McCandless in 1881, was in the
Cataract district. This district ap-
pears to have been plastered with
claims all the way from The Island
to Supai Indian village. In order to
show the wide territorial activity in
mining in what is now Coconino coun-
ty in those days, / have selected sew
eral claims to describe in widely sep
arated localities. The first will bel