The old flume -- then & now

Friend Andy C. sent this image of an old postcard entitled simply "an irrigation system near Prescott Arizona". He believes it is the original flume carrying water from Willow Creek in the Dells to the Bianconi Ranch. A brief history he passed along:

This property may have been owned by Joseph Curtis who grew peaches and melons prior to sale to Alfred Clough in 1877. Sharlot Hall Museum has photos of vineyards, apple trees, and a fishing lake on the Clough property. He died in 1908 and the ranch was bought by John Bianconi. Bianconi had the largest peach orchard in the state here (34 a) and produced many other crops. The Bianconi Brothers won many ribbons at the Arizona State Fair and the Northern Arizona Fair (later YC Fair). The flume was present by 1911. In 1936 when the Willow Lake Dam was built, Bianconi sued and received an award of water from the Chino Valley Irrigation District. This was all for naught, as his peach trees caught peach mosaic and were destroyed to prevent spread of the disease. The ranch was sold to a cattle rancher in 1941 and was bought by Robert H. Kieckhefer about 1950.

The remains I photographed last fall are the final bones of the flume system.

Early Prescott

This curious representation of "historic" Prescott hangs near the entrance desk at the Sharlot Hall Museum and is called "Prescott -- 1864-1924". The title caught me up short, but then I spent a little time studying details to discover the painting is chockablock full of anachronisms.

For example, there is a handful of motor cars in the midst of horseback riders and pack mules. There is also a streetcar, marking this street (below) as Gurley.

The old Head Hotel shows up moved to the NE corner of Gurley and Cortez Streets.

Frontier Days plays out on Cortez Street, with the stand on the Courthouse Plaza. Whiskey Row is on the opposite side of the original Courthouse (below).

Yes, there was a railroad train evident at the north end of town, but the hydraulic gold mining (below) actually happened in Lynx Creek, quite a few miles distant from the Courthouse.

Ah, if only I had anticipated how that one picture (top) was to be used! I would have made a number of closer shots to maintain decent detail.

Winter Wonderland: The dotter was out with her new camera and has just posted the results -- beautiful pictures of hoar frost build up by Alaskan fog on the trees. Gorgeous.

When old highways die

Ther is something very sad and lonely about roadways that have been decommissioned. Northern Arizona is full of bits and pieces of old Route 66 and older SR89, if you are on the lookout for them. And they are accessible, being on federal and state land. Not so this old section of 89A recently replaced by a spiffy new 4-lane speedway between Prescott north and Prescott Valley. It's scheduled to become a part of a huge real estate subdivision one of these days when the market picks up again. And it's locked off. Twice.

Yes, that is the old railroad crossing, now the Peavine Trail, which means that if you walk long enough you can access the old road. Of course, you'd be trespassing.

What always shocks me is just how quickly the grass takes hold in abandoned asphalt. That white stripe is still pretty dang clean and yet the forces of nature and life are already breaking up the pavement, which gets other visitors, as well (below).

Really old, original road markers (above) and fairly new ones (below) are still in evidence out old 89A.

There are even remains of older roads (above). The two-track is strictly local, but the heavy cut is part of old Rte. 79, the earlier Prescott-Jerome highway, built when, of the two towns, Jerome was by every measure the more important and larger. Below, the latest version of 89A is visible in the distance.

The old road passed closer to our local volcano (Glassford Hill). Is that a blowout on the side of the mountain; I'd never noticed it before. And it offered a terrific view of Granite Mountain as you headed into Prescott.
Way lonely, right? This is the picture from my neighbor that piqued my interest in revisiting the old highway.

Heading downhill toward the Dells, the railroad crossing is barely visible in the background. Below, the road curves as it approaches the bridge across Granite Creek in the Dells. But travelling this section is a no-no, blocked completely off. Too bad.

There are times I really hate change!

Prescott Scenes: Foolsewoode and Jarart both photographed El Dia de Los Muertes; Tombo has found another of those low-key critter graffiti works, this one a squirrel; PrescottStyle is all about the great zombie celebration; an out-of-town grandmother took pictures on Mt. Vernon Street Halloween night, and Catalyst collected costumery on WhiskeyRow the same night.

Old 89A -- bridge, dam, ditch, gauge

I'm still not used to the idea of an SR89A with four lanes of traffic. Nor an on-ramp to a straight-away rather than a curve through rocks in the Dells to cross Granite Creek. In all the years that I've known Prescott, this pretty approach to the bridge is an essential start to the trip to Jerome. In case you've already forgotten, you take a right off SR89 at the Pinon Pines biker bar.

Drive a short distance and there's the old bridge, thoroughly blocked off by both a gate and a precast barrier.

Apparently the old-style railings (above) were sufficiently rotted on one side that they were replaced by more of those dreadful precast barriers (below). I could moan and groan about those barriers for as long as you'd listen; reason? They completely block off the view of any stream that one might be crossing on a bridge. In a dry state like Arizona, a glimpse of water in nature is to be savored, not censored.

Here is one such view (above) from the bridge, looking south toward the Dells. Looking to the north (below), one sees the dam, the gauge and the works controlling the old Chino Valley irrigation ditch.

As my neighbor and I walked toward the dam, I caught this view of the bridge, looking south. Note how un-bridgelike those dang precast barriers make the structure look.

The one shiny new gizmo among this collection of yesterday's engineering is a stream flow gauge operated by the USGS (above), which goes into action if we have flood waters. Below, you can see the start of the Chino Valley ditch which carried water from Granite Creek to farms to the north beginning in 1915. (It probably is already forgotten by many local folk that Watson and Willow Lakes were finally bought by the City of Prescott from the Chino Valley Irrigation District as recently as 1998.)

And, just for the record, a picture of GrannyJ photographing the fallen leaves floating on the still waters of the dammed creek.

A flume & Bass Lake

Today, my neighbor, the contract archeologist, took me on a tour of Prescott's recent past. The highlight, a tour of what's happened to Old 89A. However, that post not only requires a lot of pictures, PhotoShop time and simply mulling things over, it probably also will have to be done in two or three parts! However, on this same outing. I got a close look at a small feature that's puzzled me for many a year.

Shortly after one crosses Willow Creek, driving north on SR89 through the Dells, you might notice on the left a line of rusted tanks or troughs. Actually, it is the remains of a flume. When we first moved to Prescott in the early 80s, the line of the flume was intact, unlike the broken mess I photographed today.

My neighbor had prepared a report on the remains. The flume acquired water from a dam on Willow Creek near where the old Garden of the Gods was later located. Sometime around 1907 or thereabouts. The water served two purposes: an orchard on the other side of the road (SR 89) and a sometimes fishing spot, Bass Lake, located in a low flat between the flume and the rocks to the back of the pictures above and below. When water was not needed at the orchard, it was diverted to the lake.

Here, some of the timbers that held up the aqueduct. One important fact I didn't find out: the date when this waterworks was shut down.

A Sampling of Yavapai County Bridges

Aside from the old truss bridges at Perkinsville and Walnut Grove, the railroad span across Hell Canyon has to be one of my favorites. I do not have a date for this image, but Hell Canyon carries a running stream, which means that it's spring runoff season. One of my secret dreams is to ride across this bridge in one of those funny autos that railroad inspectors drive down the tracks. Remember when they used open hand-pumped cars?

Of course, every little stream or wash needs to be bridged for railroad loads. This particular crossing is up in the juniper woods north of Paulden and Drake.

Two bridges for the auto age. Above is a total mystery, unless it is possibly the Old89 bridge across Hell Canyon; it certainly does not look to be in use at the time the picture was taken. The modern span below is, I'm pretty sure, US93 at Burro Creek (my clue: what looked to be saguaros on the slopes). I'd appreciate word from anyone who can correct or verify.

Have I mentioned that my late husband not only was an excellent photographer, but that I have thousands of his images stored in boxes and folders. Unfortunately far too many of the pictures are 35mm slides and, though I have a rather pricey scanner, Nikon has not seen fit to upgrade its drivers for the latest Mac OS. Grrr!!! I know that there are more pictures of the Hell Canyon crossings, both old US89 and the Santa Fe, as well as the old truss bridge across Kirkland Creek at Yava. Among many others.

Bridge Linkage: As I was trying to ID my bridges by consulting The Google, interesting references cropped up. F'rinstance, specs for several historic Yavapai County bridges. Tombo has posted one of his great pix of the Hell Canyon railroad bridge at Wikipedia; there's a 1920 postcard of the same span with a train crossing for $9.95 at eBay, and I got completely caught up in reading of the rise and fall of the Santa Fe route through Prescott at Google books.

The art deco lobby

Yesterday's post about the demise of the Willow Creek KMart resulted in a certain measure of wist regarding local institutions that fade into history. Which suggested that it's time for a few more pictures of a far older institution that continues to thrive -- the Hassayampa Inn, opened in 1927. According to the hotel's web site, in June 1925, the Prescott Kiwanis club selected a committee to raise funds for the new [hotel] project, with Mayor Morris Goldwater urging citizens to invest in the project. Listed in a place of honor outside the hotel's Arizona room is a list of the 400 different stockholders who purchased thousands of shares for a $1 a piece, making the Hassayampa Inn from its start a Prescott institution.

I've always entered the Hassayampa Inn lobby via the Gurley Street door, hence have no experience of the grand front entryway. However, with not just one piano but two, what more is needed for a classy intro from the side door.

Features of the lobby include a classic Talavera tile fireplace (above), etched glass doors (below).

When in the Hassayampa, you don't want to miss the art deco trim of the ceiling beams and panels...

...or the elegant chandeliers.

Water for the guests is served up in style (above), while a beautiful window lets in morning sunlight (below). I wouldn't mind reading my morning newspaper sitting in one of those chairs.