Ghost Towns of Arizona

GHOST TOWNS OF ARIZONA NELL MURBARGER

Nell Murbarger, widely known as "The Sunday Chronicler of the Desert," is outstanding in the country's leading authority in the matter of Southwestern Americana ghost towns. Twice a hobby adopted thirty years ago, this field of research is the source of information utilized by free-lance writers, by dude ranches involving promotion schemes for season clientele, hundreds of items donated to libraries, Old Tucson and many thousands of "souvenirs" otherwise earned by from book, notebook, and sketch.

In addition to a staggering number of articles published in some 125-different periodicals, Miss Murbarger is the author of three popular books of Western history, Ghosts of the Glory Trail, and Sovereign of the Skies. She received, prior to its third printing, in 1967 one the five awards for non-fiction books written by a member of the Federation of Press Women. An active member of Western Writers of America, Miss Murbarger also holds the coveted Award of Merit highest honor conferred by, the American Association for State and Local History, in Washington, D.C. The accompanying article, although abridged to meet magazine limitations, may be regarded as a typifying synthesis of the author's field work, which is to deal exclusively with Arizona ghost towns and is hopefully intriguing for prospective page print.

IT'S FUN TO HUNT PHANTOMS

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flats along the Mexican boundary to the cool pineforested mesas more than 8000 feet above sea-level. Some are scarcely older than yesterday; others have lain silent and deserted for close to a century.

Not too much is known concerning mining activities in Arizona during the period when this region was under the successive rule of Spain and Mexico, but the first man to prospect for precious metals on lands embraced within the present state is presumed to have been Antonio de Espejo, in 1582. After discovering rich silver ore along a desert stream now known as Bill Williams River-present boundary between Yuma and Mohave counties-the young Spaniard returned to Mexico to report his good fortune and exhibit his samples. Although no immediate stampede followed the Espejo discovery, other mines were developed by Spain -notably in the present counties of Pima and Santa Cruz-and it is quite possible there has not been a time during the last 250 years when mining has not been in progress in some part of the state. These early Spanish mines, being worked largely with Indian slave labor, did not commonly result in development of commercial centers with stores, saloons, hotels, newspapers, and other features we associate with frontier towns. Therefore, if the prehistoric Indian pueblos and Spanish mission settlements be excluded, what is probably Arizona's first true ghost town is situated near the Gila River, northeast of Yuma.

With discovery here of placer gold, in 1858, a camp ultimately known as Gila City sprang up at the scene of activity and soon numbered more than 100o inhabitants. Like most placers, however, the surface gold was soon exhausted and the incipient metropolis on the Gila was abandoned.

Four years later other rich placers were discovered along the Colorado River eight miles north of the present crossing of U.S. 60-70, and here mushroomed the boom town of La Paz. Combining the functions of mining camp, supply center and shipping port, this place

NOTES FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

A camera tour of some of Arizona's picturesque ghost towns.

OPPOSITE PAGE

"OLD CHLORIDE" BY CARLOS ELMER. 4x5 Burke & James Press camera; Ektachrome E-1 process; f.22 at 1/5th sec.; 90mm Schneider Angulon wide-angle lens; bright day; meter reading 250; ASA rating 12. Chloride, Arizona, is about twenty-five miles north of Kingman in the Cerbat Mountains. The photographer says: "My mother and I were out for a little drive from Kingman, and decided to visit Chloride, a most interesting mining town which was once Mohave County's third largest community. I decided to frame this view of the Tennessee Mine and mill in the window of an old shack, whose weathered boards gave a rich color to the foreground."

FOLLOWING PAGES

"WHITE HILLS" BY CARLOS ELMER. Burke & James Press camera; 4x5 Ektachrome, E-1; f.22 at 1/10th sec.; 90mm Schneider Angulon lens; bright day; meter reading 400; ASA rating 12. The ghost town of White Hills, Arizona is located a few miles off U.S. 93, about twenty-five miles southeast of Hoover Dam. The photographer says: "I always enjoy returning to White Hills, which was the subject of some of my first contributions to ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, more than twenty years ago. This was once the county seat of Mohave County, and its population numbered over three thousand persons when the silver camp was in full bloom. I shot through the window of a very rickety old building to show the approaching rain."

"OATMAN" BY JOSEPH MUENCH. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome E-3; f.22 at 1/50th sec.; 8" Zeiss Tessar lens; March; sunny day. Oatman is on "Old U.S. 66" which formerly carried cross-country traffic southwest from Kingman to the Colorado River crossing at Topock. Old mine shafts and tailings that Dame Rumour insists may still see activity spot the slopes of the Black Mountains, and Oatman, bereft of highway as well as industry, still enjoys its fine climate and believes a revival is just around the next bend.

"WHEN THEY DINED AND DANCED IN OATMAN" BY CARLOS ELMER. Burke & James Press camera; 4x5" Ektachrome E-1; f.18 at 1/10th sec.; Schneider Angulon 90mm lens; bright day; meter reading 400; ASA rating 12. Oatman is among the interesting sights of Mohave County. Its deserted and aging buildings offer splendid opportunities for the discerning photographer.

CENTER PANEL

"ONCE LIVELY JEROME" BY JOSEPH MUENCH. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome E-1; f.29 at 1/5th sec.; 6" Schneider Xenar lens; May; sunny, bright day. Jerome, old copper mining camp, clings to the edge of Mingus Mountain and U.S. Alt. 89 curves and twists up through its many-leveled streets to reach this signpost, a graphic and brief history of the town as well as boasting a fine view of the Verde Valley. This is a favorite spot for the cameraone that no shutter finger can resist. Besides providing the magnificent view it is always good for a chucklewith, not at, a town that can make capital of its own demise. Jerome claims to be the only "ghost city" in America.

"DOS CABEZAS" BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome E-3; f.16 at 1/25th sec.; 6" Schneider Xenar lens; March; slight overcast. This old mining camp is scattered over steep slopes in the Dos Cabezas Mountainsnamed for its conspicuous two-headed rock crest. It is reached from the little old town named for the mountains on State 186. Old mining camps are always intriguing and this one has an air of expectation. Surely tomorrow the miners will come back to occupy the dormitories-with-a-view and the old machinery will creak into action again.

"CASTLE DOME" BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome E-3; f.16 at 1/25th sec.; 8" Zeiss Tessar lens; March; sunny day. Only the conspicuous mountain peak, giving its name to the range, the "town" and mining field of Castle Dome (andto the county before it was changed to Yuma) is on the map. The old mining camp is east of State 95, about fifty miles north of Yuma. Neat little rock-edged paths and a general air of tidiness not often found in a mining camp add interest to this spot, set in the clean desert air, watched over by the great rock outcrop that is visible for many miles.

JEROME

"REMAINS OF JOHNSON" BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome E-3; f.22 at 1/25th sec.; 8" Zeiss Tessar lens; March; sunny day. A little north of U.S. 666 between Benson and Willcox in Cochise County, this old adobe guest house was once a fine old hacienda. Beyond it some of the mining buildings can be seen. Here is one of those spots where the photographer wishes he might have arrived half a century earlier and seen this fine old building in use for more than a nostalgic view of the past.

"PEARCE" BY JOSEF MUENCH. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome E-3; f.29 at 1/10th sec.; 8" Zeiss Tessar lens; March; slight overcast. View is looking down from the old Commonwealth Mine, a big producer in the old days, to this little town of Pearce in Cochise County on U.S. 666. The mines, on a slope above the town, from which several million dollars in gold were taken, are long-since closed but children pass this old adobe on the way to school and perhaps wonder at the scraggly palm tree beside it.

"ABANDONED MINE-WHITE HILLS" BY WILLIS PETERSON. 34x44 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.22 at 1/25th sec.; Ektar f.4.7 lens; late summer; bright, slightly overcast. Photograph shows one of the hoists at the ghost town of White Hills in Mohave County, used for mining during the early 1900's. Here was once a beehive of mining activity as mineral wealth poured from out of the ground. Now the structure is still and silent, dreaming perhaps of other and livelier times.

Numbered, eventually, close to 6000 residents, for several years served as the first seat of Yams County, and as the most important settlement between Santa Fe and the Coast was even considered as a potential site for Arizona's new Territorial capital.

One hundred dollars worth of gold was not an uncommon amount for a man to take from the La Paz placers in the course of a day's work, and occasionally up to $1000 per day, according to J. Ross Browne's official report, Resources of the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains, published in 1868. The report further cited several instances of miners who had found here gold nuggets weighing from twenty to forty seven ounces each, and stated that nuggets of two to twenty ounces were "common."

During their first seven years of operation, the La Paz placers are believed by some to have yielded as much as $5,000,000 in gold. Such a bonanza, quite naturally, could not go on forever, and once the cream was skimmed, popularity of the diggings began to decline. Natural deterioration of La Paz was hastened when the meandering Colorado changed its course and left the town high and dry without a landing-a serious loss in those pre-railroad days when virtually all contact with the outside world was by river steamer. Later, the river again changed its course and washed away most of the remaining coins so that today it is all but impossible to locate even the one-time site of the town.

Lured by the bonanza at Gila City and La Paz, an army of determined prospectors swarmed over this land then soon to be partitioned from New Mexico Terri tory and set up as the new Territory of Arizona. During the virtual certainty of Indian attack and hardships without number, these Argonauts of the 1860's pressed into desert canyons and mountain fastnesses, and out of this thrust of exploration came the most important dis covcries of gold in the history of Arizona. Included among these were the almost fabulous diggings at Rich Hill and the terrific placer deposits along Lynx and Big Big creeks, all in the present county of Yavapai, where, for a few years, miners revelled in a golden treasure trove richer than anything man had known since the storied days of '49.

"We may safely say there is a continuous range of gold-bearing rock from near Wickenburg to ten miles north of Prescott, and from the lower Hassayampa to the Agua Fria, which would embrace an area of at least 1000 square miles," wrote the noted Arizona pioneer, Herrman Ehrenberg.

While packing for departure one morning in 1863, after camping overnight in the desert foothills thirty five miles southwest of the future site of Prescott, mem bers of a prospecting party were annoyed to find one of their pack animals had strayed in the night. Dispatched in pursuit of the missing animal, a Mexican climbed a rocky hill near camp and on its summit discovered gold nuggets in greater abundance than man might imagine in his wildest dreams!

In months immediately following the discovery of Rich Hill, as the knoll was subsequently named, more than a million dollars in gold was reportedly scratched from its surface by miners armed only with butcher knives! Naturally, such a bonanza inspired the founding of several boom camps, and since the prospecting party responsible for discovering the treasure had included the well-known scout and explorer, 61-year-old Pauline Weaver, one of the first towns to be founded, was named in his honor.

Aside from its prodigious yield of gold nuggets of which some $400,000 worth were harvested in one two-day period, according to the Prescott Journal-Miner in 1864-Weaver's fame lay chiefly in the many deeds of violence committed within its boundaries. So serious did this situation become that the Phoenix Gazette, in 1869, reported everyone moving away from the desert mining town and commented: "Weaver has had a dark and bloody history, and it is best if it is never settled again."

Though little remains to whisper of its rambunctious past, the little ghost town of Weaver, or Weaverville, is a pleasant place to visit. Here are a few ancient stone cabins, several of these still housing old-timers who eke out a living by placering for gold. Surrounding slopes and flats are checkered with stone burro corrals, and at the upper end of town is a dilapidated headrill where slavery and death sleep in nameless graves and peaceful sobriety.

Another of Yavapai's early and once-important mining towns was Walker, named for the explorer Capt. Joseph R. Walker, who first prospected in Arizona in 1863 and whose company was one of the first to file mining claims in the Bradshaw Mountains.

Situated on Lynx Creek, richest gold producing stream in Arizona's history, Walker soon became the largest mining town in the Territory, and into columns of the Arizona Miner, at Prescott, flowed stories of nuggets of almost unbelievable sizes, of gravel running $500 to the pan, and of stones in gold taken from beneath a single boulder in the stream bed.

But it was the same old story... after a few years, with the easy pickings gone, the necessities of living "Arizona, the Last Frontier, by Joseph Miller, Hastings House, 1956.

risen to phenomenal cost, and danger of Indian attack mounting steadily, Walker began to lose its original appeal--likewise its inhabitants. Today a summer homes colony is growing up in the beautifully wooded canyon, and about all that remains to whisper of Walker's colorful past are cracked and crumbling foundations, a few old cabins shaded by ancient apple trees and grapevines, the ruins of a saw mill and a quartz mill, and a wilderness of tailing piles along Lynx Creek where men have torn and crumbled the earth, in their everlasting search for gold.

Through all the history of Western American mining, placer gold generally has been first in point of discovery. Next has come lode gold, and as transportation facilities developed, the silver mining camps came into being. This last mentioned era, in Arizona, had its gen-eral inception in the 1870's and continued actively until the disastrous slump in the silver market in 1893. During this twenty-odd-year period the majority of Arizona's ghost towns had their beginning.

Some of these former silver mining centers, such as Tombstone, will live forever in romantic sagas of the West, their memory preserved indelibly through the medium of song, story, and motion picture. But far more of the old silver camps have vanished like the smoke of yesterday's campfire, their sites reclaimed by the desert, their names largely forgotten.

Try to find the site of Cerbat, second seat of Mohave County. It's still there--but no roadsign points the way. Better preserved is the ghost town of Mineral Park, which captured the county seat from Cerbat in 1877, only to lose it, ten years later, to the upstart town of Kingman, on the newly completed Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. At Mineral Park are the crumbling ruins of numerous stone and adobe buildings, including a former county jail, a huge store, and an old mill. But not much to show for a town which, at one time or another, sup-ported three newspapers--The Wallapai Enterprise, Arizona, and Mohave County Miner--also lawyers and other men of the professions, hotels, a brass band, fire department, a militia organization, “The Mohave Rifles,” and mercantile establishments of almost every sort.

Twenty-five miles northwest of Mineral Park lies the old town of White Hills which I first visited about fifteen years ago. Although even then completely de-serted, the main street of this lately great mining camp still was lined with store buildings, cell-boxes were in place in the postoffice, dog-eared arithmetics and geographies lay on desks in the schoolhouse, and old dry washers for gold placering stood in several of the yards. Amid the rubble littering the floor of a former haberdashery, I found even a style book illustrating what well-dressed men of the world--and presumably White Hills--were wearing in that spring of 1892 when this new boom camp first began thrusting itself into the public consciousness.

White Hills has deteriorated a lot since I first explored it, but it still is an interesting little ghost with several old buildings and two old cemeteries, and also limitless quantities of broken bottles--inevitable residue of a town where money and liquor flowed more freely than water, and anything from a rich strike to Mrs. Mahoney's newest baby was adequate excuse for a round of champagne.

Another interesting pair of Mohave County ghost towns are Gold Road and Oatman, both dating from the forepart of the current century. Gold Road has been completely deserted for several years, but Oatman still supports a postoffice, a few small stores, and a handful of residents--many of them clinging to the dubious hope.

that the price of gold will be increased sufficiently to enable reopening of the famous Tom Reed mine. After producing many millions of dollars in gold, the Tom Reed, and several other Oatman mines, were still working profitably on $15-a-ton ore when closed in 1942 by a War Production Board edict classifying gold mines as non-essential to the war effort. Due to rising labor costs and other factors, the mines have been unable to reopen since the war's end. Huddled on the desert hillside like a cluster of shabby black crows, their gaunt buildings still overlook the decaying town where a few old men sit on pine benches in the sun and recall the days when Oatman boasted seven hotels, twenty saloons, a stock exchange, and a population numbering thousands.

Best preserved, and likely the most fascinating ghost town in Arizona is Jerome (Arizona Highways, May 1949; Sept. 1957). Although not as "ghostly" as other towns touched upon in this report, Jerome is a formerly great copper-mining camp, with a wonderful heritage of history and a population that has declined from a claimed 15,000 to about 150. Still flanking Jerome's precipitous streets are many large and formerly handsome buildings, for the most part untenanted; and besides an interesting museum, sponsored by the local historical society, several of the town's places of business are operated by friendly, long-time residents glad to recount the town's history and to point out its landmarks.

Another interesting ghost is Silver King, in the hills back of Superior. Last time I was there (in Feb. 1959) one of the town's two inhabitants, Mrs. Grace Middleton, had placed a barricade across the only access road and was charging a fee of one dollar per person for a guided tour through the rather extensive ruins. In the course of her "tour" she recounted much of the town's history, and while I did not consider the dollar fee at all exces sive, I did regret the restrictions against exploring at will and making pictures. Ghost town dwellers, generally speaking, are the salt of the earth. I have never met a kindlier people. Scores of them have taken time from their work and used their own trucks or jeeps to take me to the site of some old camp still deeper in the Back-of-Beyond. They have shown me old landmarks and taken me through old mines; have insisted I share their homes, have given me copies of cherished newspapers, and loaned old photographs, and spent days delving into musty old records in search of some bit of information for which I had expressed a desire. Such warm-hearted hospitality -and, believe me, it is quite the rule rather than the exception-naturally imposes upon the ghost town visitor a certain obligation: He must not make himself obnoxious!First and foremost, do not destroy. Do not set fire to the wooden parts of buildings, push down the old walls, or break window glass. Unless these rules are observed religiously it will not be long until all the ruins will have vanished and only the sites will remain. Respect trespass signs. If a building is locked it usually means someone still has material stored within-which should be your cue to stay out! Do not disturb old graves or their markers. Do not use stock-watering tanks, roadsigns, or windows, for target practice. Gates, whether open or closed, should be left exactly as found, and neither children or dogs should be permitted to annoy or run livestock. Do not pollute springs or waterholes, leave a clean camp and a dead fire.

As a matter of personal safety, prospective ghost towners should bear in mind that many of these old towns are far from settlements or telephones. Therefore (in case of possible mechanical failure or other untoward developments) it is advisable to carry an emergency supply of tinned food and not less than two gallons of water; also a bumper jack, good spare tire, and tire wrench.

Binoculars are helpful in spotting the old camps, some of which are unbelievably elusive. Invaluable help also is provided by topographic maps drawn to scales of approximately one and two miles to the inch. Published by the U.S. Geological Survey, these maps may be purchased from several outlets in Phoenix and Tucson; or write Geological Survey, Federal Center, Denver, Colo., requesting a free copy of Arizona Map Index, from which specific maps desired may be ordered, and will be mailed postpaid at thirty cents each.

Since a magazine's limited space will not permit a detailed description of even one of these old towns and its fascinating background, or even the briefest summary of a major portion of Arizona's many ghost camps, I have selected three dozen or so representative settlements for inclusion in the following Directory. Any settlement listed, under normal conditions, may be reached in an ordinary passenger car (plus, in some cases, a short hike). But, since desert regions are subject to flash flood and resultant washouts, it is well to make local inquiry where possible.

After exploring these easier-to-reach ghost towns, readers who have developed an appetite for others may set their sights upon some of Arizona's harder-to-find phantoms such as Alexandra, American Flag, Bluebell, Bradshaw City, Brooklyn, Golden Palisades, Greater-ville, Gunsight, Mazatzal City, New London, Silent, Silver City-and a whole fat cardfile of others! And now, thebest of hunting and haunting to you . . . and may all your ghost trails be good trails.