Back Road Adventure

Back Road Adventure Welcome to Total Wreck, Long Since Totally Forgotten Almost

Bonner Denton brought his rattling old Jeep to a stop and bounced to his feet next to a barrel cactus ablaze with red blossoms.

"Welcome to beautiful downtown Total Wreck," he called. "To our left you see the local brewery, up here was the butcher shop... quite a place, don't you think?"

Denton, who owns a portion of the southern Arizona town that was Total Wreck, was grinning ear to ear. We were standing on a path that a generous person might call an unpaved road. To our left and right, the hills were covered with twisted mesquite trees, spiny catclaw bushes, and ripe yucca poles everything dark green and glistening from the light rain that danced around us.

But the many buildings that once constituted the mining town of Total Wreck were reduced to a few stone walls scattered in the heavy vegetation of the Empire Mountains.

It is difficult to realize, once you're on the spot, that Tucson, a city of nearly a half-million people, is only some 40 miles to the northwest of this isolated ed and barely accessible terrain. It takes only about a half hour to get from Tucson to the vicinity of Total Wreck; it takes another half hour, at least, to go the last five miles on a road that carries a grudge.

It was even more difficult to get to Total Wreck in the 1880s, when the camp was in its heyday, but since there was money to be made there and little that was much more civilized nearby, many made the journey.

Edward Vail, whose family owned the mine, was one of them. As a young man, he worked as an assayer at Total Wreck. Many years later he wrote: "The Total Wreck was a good little camp, notwithstanding its name, and a very healthy one . . . There were quite a number of prospectors in the Empire District who had located mining claims and did their trading and drinking and gambling there. All towns were wide open at that time, but it was an orderly camp, and to my knowledge no one was ever killed in a gunfight there, though there were several narrow escapes from such tragedies."

Total Wreck would be totally forgotten today were it not for its comical name. There are a couple of variations on the origin of the moniker, but both involve John T. "Jerry" Dillon, a New Mexico cowboy who came to Arizona in 1876. In 1878 he went to work for the Empire Ranch, owned by Walter Vail.

In 1879, riding over the Empire's eastern pasture with Vail and his partner, John Harvey, Dillon pointed to what appeared to be a ragged ridgeline pocked with granite and quartz deposits and said, "The whole damned hill is a total wreck."

As the three rode closer to the outcropping, they noticed that the rock appeared to contain traces of silver. Walter Vail posted location notices on three sites and named one of them Total Wreck.

Nathan Vail, Walter's wealthy uncle in California, financed most of the major development work at the silver mine. In 1880 the Vails secured complete control of the Total Wreck Mining Co. By this time, Dillon had pretty much dropped out of the picture, trading off two-thirds of his interest in the mine for legal services that he and the Vails required when their mining claims were contested. Nathan

hotels, a lumberyard, and a brewery had been added to the town's skyline.

Historians speculate that at its peak Total Wreck had a population of between 300 and 500. By 1887, however, Total Wreck was nearly abandoned, although sporadic mining operations continued until 1929.

Two things caused the demise of the camp: a diminishing supply of silver-bearing ore and steep declines in the price of silver, which dropped from $1.14 per ounce in 1882 to 94 cents per ounce in 1887, when the Vails closed their mine. Descendants of the Vails donated the abandoned mines and townsite to the University of Arizona in 1985, and in 1987 the UofA decided to auction off the property.

Today Bonner Denton, a UofA chemistry professor, owns a portion of Total Wreck, and neither he nor anyone else lives there. Denton, who likes to crawl around in caves and old mines, bought the place - or at least the 17 acres auctioned - for $20,338. He figured it was a good investment for the parcel, even though it lacks water and other utilities.

Nowadays he thinks of it as a nice place to play, wandering in old mine shafts with an ultraviolet light and watching minerals fluoresce while bats flutter overhead.

Denton owns the mine shaft and knows his way around. Visitors to the area - Total Wreck townsite is actually on state land abutting Denton's place are advised to stay out of abandoned mine shafts, which are extremely dangerous.

To get to Total Wreck, drive Interstate 10 about 22.5 miles east of Tucson to Sonoita Road (State Route 83). Turn south and watch for Milepost 50. At .8 of a mile past the milepost, turn left and proceed 2.5 miles to a high saddle in the heart of the Empire Mountains. Here you will encounter a fork in the road just a few yards beyond the summit. Take the less trav-eled branch to the left. Three-quarters of a mile farther on, another fork appears. Here you must go right and continue northeast 2.3 miles to a gate at the bottom of the canyon. Go through the gate (leaving it as you found it) and proceed .1 of a mile to yet another intersection. Turn right here to another fork .3 of a mile farther. Go through the gate on the right branch, heading southeast. When you are 6.2 miles from the highway, the foundations of the old Total Wreck stamp mill will be on the right. Con-tinue over the hill another .6 of a mile, and you will be in the heart of downtown Total Wreck.

(OPPOSITE PAGE) There were numerous mining claims in the Empire Mountains during the late 1800s, and Total Wreck was the district's social center.

(ABOVE) Lichens and rust slowly claim Total Wreck's stamp-mill foundations.

(RIGHT) Mine tunnels ran for miles beneath the desert, and blasting went on night and day.

TIPS FOR TRAVELERS

Back-road travel can be hazardous if you are not prepared for the unexpected. Whether traveling in the desert or in the high country, be aware of weather and road conditions, and make sure you and your vehicle are in top shape and you have plenty of water.

Don't travel alone, and let someone at home know where you're going and when you plan to return.