the Yavapai. This was before the arrival and settlement of the area by the people of Anglo European descent from the east coast of the United States. The Black Canyon trail from Prescott to Phoenix was dangerous and many travelers were robbed of their belongings and sometimes murdered either by the Yavapai or the thieves who roamed the area. Miners would often stop at the Mayers' place to rest and to patronize the store which he had built. In 1882, Mayer officially founded the town which bears his name. In 1884, his wife Sarah became the first postmistress of the town and in 1889, one of the largest and finest deposits of onyx was discovered in the town of Mayer. Tragedy struck the town of Mayer in 1890, when heavy rain caused a nearby dam called the "Walnut Dam" to fail causing a flood which wiped out all of the structures in the town. Mayer began to rebuild the town and in 1897, he built a two-story, 23-room hotel which he named the "Mayer Hotel". Mayer also raised cattle and sheep. He realized that the establishment of a railroad line in the town would benefit his ranch and the mine near it. He offered the "right of way" to the Southern Pacific Railroad with the condition that they establish a rail line that ran through the town. The railroad company agreed and began servicing the town of Mayer in 1898. Mayer established a brickyard and in 1902, he used his bricks to build a business block, now known as the "Mayer Business Block", across the street from the Mayer Hotel. The block included a saloon with a dance floor, a barber and bath shop, a mercantile shop and a general store. Later years Mayer provided the money needed to finance the building of two schools. He had one school built within the town and the second one two miles out from the town for the miners' children. Not all of his ventures were successful. One of his failures was the "Indian Souvenir Toothpick Company". He planned to produce toothpicks from cacti with a new chemical process. However, the cost of removing barbed skin of cactus needles, by the patented chemical process, to make them suitable for toothpicks was too high. Finally, the toothpick company closed because it could not compete with the companies that made standard wooden toothpicks. Mayer learned