Under the brothels

Archaeologists find treasures beneath old Prescott district

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tucson, Arizona Friday, 15 November 2002http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/21115RPrescottTreasures.html

"This is highly significant .... because it's looking at people whose lives we know little about."
Norm Tessman
Sharlot Hall
Museum curator

SWCA archaeologist Mike Foster inspects a beer keg bearing the stamp of the Anheuser Busch Co. Ironically, many of the treasures were preserved thanks to a fire.

PRESCOTT - Digging below what once was Prescott's red-light district behind Whiskey Row has unearthed the most significant findings about late-1800s Arizona in decades, historians said.

Dozens of medicine and liquor bottles, opium pipes, ancient coins and gambling chips, a woman's felt hat and an 1890s wooden beer keg stamped by the Anheuser Busch Co. were unearthed during a monthlong dig that ended Wednesday.

The items were discovered as part of the site preparation for Prescott City Centre, which will include a parking garage, an apartment complex and a business office building.

Before construction can begin, a thorough search must take place in the ground beneath the asphalt of a public parking lot.

All the items are headed to the nearby Sharlot Hall Museum.

"This is highly significant not only to the history of Prescott but of the West, because it's looking at people whose lives we know little about," said Norm Tessman, the museum's curator.

Tessman was referring to Prescott's ladies of the night and an immigrant Chinese community of about 200 that frequented what was believed to be a Chinese restaurant next to the brothel.

Archaeologists have been blown away by the findings, said Ron Ryden, project manager for SWCA Environmental Consultants of Phoenix, which conducted the dig for about $140,000.

Many of the treasures were preserved thanks to a fire.

In 1900, a miner staying in a downtown hotel lighted a candle and started the largest fire in city history. The blaze charred three blocks, including 60 homes, 50 businesses, 20 bars and all of Whiskey Row.

The fire also incinerated the red-light district. But many items were stored in cellars, and the debris from collapsing buildings might have helped preserve them, said Mike Foster, another SWCA archaeologist.

The area sat idle for more than 30 years before a parking lot was built in the 1930s. For those boring beneath the surface the past month, it has been a treasure trove revealing kitchen utensils, part of a stove and a pair of Civil War-era binoculars. Also found were a ceramic opium pipe and a rice wine bottle, in mint condition.

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