by Drew Desmond, Historian, Prescott Western Heritage Foundation, Western Heritage Center
It was March 1894 when Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln, visited Prescott. Accompanying him were three millionaires from Chicago: Marshall Field, the multi-millionaire department store mogul; NK Fairbanks, the millionaire meat-packer; and Norman Ream, a manufacturer of agricultural implements.
Capital was desperately needed in Yavapai County to develop both mines and railroads. It was the first of three Lincoln Prescott visits.
The group came to view the area and inspect work on the Santa Fe-Prescott railway, in which they had already invested $2 million for its construction. They were taken out by a special train to the end of the new track, just short of Skull Valley.
The party then boarded carriages and was taken for a tour of the town. They were “profuse in their praise” of the “invigorating effect” of the “clear, pure, bracing atmosphere,” the Journal-Miner recounted.
The visit resulted in Fairbanks and EB Cage joining local railroad mogul Frank Murphy in the purchase of the Congress mine, which, two years later, uncovered ore valued at $3 million.
Lincoln, Fields and Fairbanks returned in 1897 for a trip of business and pleasure. They stopped in Prescott for only a short time while on their way to inspect the Congress mine. Several other VIPs, including Frank Murphy, joined the trio.
In September 1897, more fruit from the first two visits ripened as the Prescott and Eastern Railroad was born. It would run ore from Big Bug into Prescott. NK Fairbanks and other Chicago capitalists joined Frank Murphy as incorporators.
During this time, Lincoln was a corporate lawyer for the Pullman Palace Car Company. He was named company president after founder George Pullman died.
By 1901, the Chicago Commercial Club was formed, and Lincoln brought 25 members and 10 guests to Prescott in March, just eight months after the Great Fire. Mayor Burmister led them on a tour, and they “expressed the greatest surprise at the recuperative powers shown and could scarcely believe that such results could be accomplished in the (short) time since the big conflagration,” the Journal-Miner reported.
From Prescott, they traveled to the Congress mine. That would be Lincoln’s last visit. He brought the heavy capital needed to grow Yavapai County’s infrastructure and economy.
Drew can be reached through the Western Heritage Center at 928.910.2307.
