Drake was an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

on the

Verde River The Verde River ( Yavapai: Haka'he:la) is a major tributary of the Salt River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is about long and carries a mean flow of at its mouth. It is one of the largest perennial streams in Arizona. Description The ri ...

Yavapai County, Arizona Yavapai County ( ) is a County (United States), county near the center of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 236,209, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arizona. The county s ...

, United States, and a station on the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

's Phoenix Subdivision. Drake is also the junction and western terminus of the

Verde Canyon Railroad The Verde Canyon Railroad is a heritage railroad running between Clarkdale, Arizona, Clarkdale and Perkinsville, Arizona, Perkinsville in the U.S. state of Arizona. The passenger excursion line operates on of tracks of the Clarkdale Arizona ...

. Drake is the site of the old Hell Canyon Bridge (built in 1923), formerly used by US Route 89, and now on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

History

Drake was a town in the early 1900s, which grew out of a railway work camp for construction of the very high "Big Hell Canyon Railroad Bridge", on high trestles, completed in 1901. It was first known as Cedar Glade, and had a population of 70 in 1909. It was renamed to "Drake" in 1920. (Internet version) In 1912 Cedar Glade "became the junction for the Verde Valley Railroad, which accessed a copper smelter in Clarkdale .... Approximately 20 structures had been built there by the railroad, including a depot, agent's house, water tank, a number of section houses, bunkhouse, and freight warehouses. The railroad kept a small staff in Drake thru the 1950s." Cedar Glade was home to a

boarding house A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...

and veterinarian, as well as the Swanbeck store. In 1920, Drake's population was recorded as 18. In 1919, the towns of Puntenney and Cedar Glade were placed under quarantine due to a

Smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

outbreak. No resident was allowed to leave either community, although passengers on the

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

were still allowed to change cars at Cedar Glade. 1922 saw a running

gunfight A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

through the streets during the era of

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. A separate schoolhouse was built in 1928, though children were taught in Drake by teachers around 1920, and earlier they crossed the railway trestle to attend school in Puntenney, Arizona. In October 1919 a two-room house and the public school in Cedar Glade were burned, and school was dismissed. The 1920 Census listed Barnetta Ball, age 39, as "Teacher Public School." Elizabeth Stroud was teacher in Drake mentioned in a January 30, 1922, article in the ''

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...

''. Drake was also the nearest community to Little Hell Canyon Bridge, another road bridge about up Hell Canyon, when that was listed on the National Register in 1987. In 1944 the average annual precipitation for Drake, which is in a valley at elevation , was believed to be .U.S. Department of Agriculture Field Bulletins (1944)
/ref> In 1956, the Republic Cement Corporation of Delaware proposed building a cement manufacturing plant in the town of Drake after obtaining mining claims in Drake and in San Bernardino, California. Drake's population was 17 in 1940, and was 12 in the 1960 U.S. Census. The road bridge between Drake and Puntenney has been blocked by the Drake Cement plant. Drake is the location of the historic Cedar Glade Cemetery, also known as Drake Cemetery, which is located on property of the Drake Cement Company. In 2019 the Drake Cement company gave notice of intent to remove all remains and relocate the historic Cedar Glade Cemetery, on its property. The cemetery had burials from c.1891 to c.1930.

Education

It is in the Chino Valley Unified School District. - Indicates locations of unincorporated areas.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Yavapai County, Arizona Unincorporated communities in Arizona

History

Education

See also

References