ARIZONA'S YAVAPAI COUNTY

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In Prescott, one of Yavapai's colder towns, for example, average January temperatures range from a low of 21.5°F to a high of 50.1°, while July brings an average minimum of 56.9° and maximum of 88.9°. Skies here are clear 174 days a year, partly cloudy 99 days, and overcast 92 days. Few homeowners in and around Prescott feel the need for air conditioners, but many own solar hot water heaters and passive solar greenhouses.

Yearly precipitation averages from some 13 inches in Clarkdale to 19 inches in Prescott. (August brings what the locals call "the monsoons," when afternoon thunderstorms may drop a monthly total of three inches of rain or more.) There are usually a few light snows a year, but these melt quickly except on northern exposures and in higher elevations, where cross-country skiing is popular.

As in any mountainous area, however, the weather can be fickle. There are occasional flash floods, severe thunderstorms with hail, and snows over half a foot deep, but such immoderate weather is rare. Best of all, the low humidity-usually below 50°70-brings relief to painful joints and sinuses, and even in today's polluted world, the air is usually a pleasure to breathe. In fact, the region has long attracted those with allergies, asthma, and other lung problems.

A Long, Rich History

The county's mild climate, along with its adequate water and abundant sunshine, has enticed permanent settlers often during the last 1,400 years. The first were the Hohokam (Pima for "those who have gone") Indians. These skillful farmers moved into the Verde River Valley around 600 A.D. They lived in one-room, mud-and-stick houses and grew irrigated crops of beans, squash, and cotton. After the ashfall from the eruptions of Sunset Crater in the mid-1060s created fertile lands to the north, the Hohokam migrated there and were replaced around 1125 by the Sinagua (Spanish for "without water"), who had previously lived in pit houses and depended on rainfall for agriculture. Once in the valley, however, the Sinagua adopted the Hohokams' irrigation systems and soon were building large pueblos on hilltops and in cliffs. (Three of these—Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well, and Tuzigoot—are now national monuments.) With available water, fertile bottomlands, and plentiful fish and game, these Native Americans had the leisure to develop into fine artisans, who wove handsome cotton garments, fashioned exquisite ornaments, and made excellent pottery. No one knows why, but by the time the first Spanish explorers came in 1583, the Sinagua had abandoned the valley—perhaps because of a conflict with the Yavapai tribe, whom the Spaniards found living there.

For 300 years after the visit of the con quistadors, the region's Yavapai and Apache people were left in peace. But with the discovery of gold in 1863, bonanza-minded New Englanders established the town of Prescott, bringing their thrift, enterprise, and architecture with them. In 1864, one year after Arizona became a territory, this mile-high settlement became its first capital. By 1883, there were over 7,300 gold mines in the area. In a half-dozen years, most of the Indians had been pushed onto distant reservations, and Prescott's population reached 4,000.

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