After spending all day yesterday driving, we went on an adventure today back into the Prescott Valley to a town named Jerome with a population of 500 today but touted a population of 15,000 at the peak of its existence. Jerome was once the largest producer of copper in the country and over the years not only yielded copper from its mines, but silver, gold and zinc.
Like most western towns back in the late 1800s, Jerome boasted of having 16 or 17 saloons, a brothel (whose owner was said to be the wealthiest women in Arizona when she died) and lots of hard-working men. The difference is these men would spend 8 to 12 hours underground each day. As the town grew some of the saloons were replaced with churches and schools and over time, hospitals, hotels, a dentist, and all the makings of a normal town.
During the lifetime of this little city, there were several fires and houses that actually slid down the slope because this town is built on the side of a mountain. In the early days, the results of their work had to be hauled out of this valley almost 50 miles by mule. When the railroad came into existence, it got a lot better and easier, but the road is still the same path today the mules had to walk. This road was a large number of switchbacks and sheer drops that went thousands of feet straight down. Today, it’s the kind of road with no shoulder and just a guard rail that I’m not willing to bet would stop a car from going over.
Once the mines played out, the population feel to 100 until the late1960s when it was discovered by some hippies and today it is the home of many artists and artisans creating beauty, they hope tourists will want to take home with them as a remembrance of their visit. Jerome is a little gem you have to dig for to find.
Prescott is also the home of Emery-Riddle Aeronautic University where our Granddaughter Rebekah will be attending starting this fall. We know this means Prescott is probably in our future several more times before she graduates. We roamed around the campus for a little while and feel certain she will have a great university experience here.
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