Community of Skull Valley, Arizona

 

 

Skull Valley (Yavapai: Pa:qwawa Kyo) is a small, populated place, and rural, ranch community in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. It is located fifteen miles west of Prescott.

People often ask about how Skull Valley got its name. There are several different stories, but we stick to the one detailed by Will C. Barnes in his book Arizona Place Names.

In March of 1864, a company of the First California Volunteers, led by Captain Hargraves, was escorting Coles Bashford to Tucson. While passing through what is now Skull Valley, they found piles of skulls, which were left behind after a battle between Apache and Maricopa tribes.

The story is that the Apaches stole livestock from the Pima villages and fled north, but were caught by the Maricopas here.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a general store, a gas station, an elementary school, a fire station, a church, and a post office. As of the 2003 census, the population in the Skull Valley Elementary School District was 525 people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The area’s history is preserved by the Skull Valley Historical Society, which operates a historical museum.

Skull Valley was home to George Phippen (1915–1966), a well known western artist, co-founder and first president of the Cowboy Artists of America.