Skull Valley Historical Society

The Skull Valley Historical Society (SVHS) is dedicated to the preservation of the local history and artifacts pertaining to Skull Valley, Arizona and the surrounding area.  SVHS's original mission was to acquire and preserve the 1898 Cherry Creek Railroad Depot when the Dewey, Arizona Mining Spur closed in the early 1920s.  In 1926 the depot was relocated to Skull Valley, about ½ mile South of the original 1896 Skull Valley depot location. Unlike the original Skull Valley Depot, the Cherry Creek Depot was designed to function as a railroad station facility, and the move to Skull Valley allowed the railroad to take advantage of their water right from Coughran’s Canyon without having to pump the water to passing steam engines.

 

SVHS also collects, records, illustrates, preserves, and tells the stories of the early and ongoing history of Western Yavapai County, including human history topics on American Indians, Spanish explorers, European settlers, and Mexican immigration as well as commercial topics including mining, ranching, and farming and their associated agricultural, transportation and communication systems.