Wiccan Road To Ghosts -

Pima County Ghost Towns

Ahe Vonam/Bownell-Camp serviced the Brownell Mine Establlished a post office under the name Brownell in1903 and was discontinued in 1911. The name then changed to the Indian Ahe Vonam.

Gen. John Brackett Allen

Allen/ Allen City/Gunsight-Allen's post office, established July 5, 1882 and discontinued January 11, 1886 and named for General John Brackett Allen, this town was nothing more than a big hotel that served the finest liquor and set the finest tables in the territory. Miners from nearby Quijotoa indulged in all Allen had to offer in a place popularly known as "Allen's Side".

Arivaca - Arivaca is 24 miles from Arivaca Junction (I-19 to Nogales) or take Exit 12 from I-19 (junction to SR 289) by Peña Blanca Lake.) Arivaca is ca. 37 miles from Peña Blanca junction on SR 289 try Ruby, Oro Blanco to Arivaca. Some current residents with many old buildings mixed with the new. In Arivaca lives still 150 people so even though the city is a semi-ghost, its worth it to visit.

Originally a Pima Indian village, mining operations in the area began in 1856 and when the mines played out, ranching took over. Today, Arivaca is a small ranch town. Many old historic buildings are still standing and the cemetery is worth seeing.

Arivaca, originally a Pima and Tohono O'odham (Papago) Indian village, was named after one Spanish Ranch by the name La Aribac, abandoned in 1751. In 1812 bayed Tomas and Ignacio Ortiz the ranch from the Spanish colonial governor. Charles Poston and his Sonora Exploring and Mining Company bayed the ranch from Ortiz family in 1856 for 10.000 dollars. The legend tells that Teresa Celya's house in Arivaca were once hiding place for two men who robed Vulture Mine and buried the gold here.

The Tumacacon Mission covered over and concealed their gold and silver bars and loaded various church items onto a cerreta. Along with the valuables was supposed to be a wooden box containing the mission records and a map pinpointing the eight satellite mines. They headed to the Northwest, two days out from the mission and along the trail in the Tascosa Mountain foothills about six miles South and four miles East of Arvaca. They reportedly met up with Jesuits from the altar Sonora mission who were also fleeing with 8 mules carrying treasure and ingots. When a scout reported an Apache war party was in the area, they turned off the road and concealed the entire hoard in an abandoned mine tunnel nearby. The padres never returned.

Arivaca Wash - De Estine Sheppard, a wealthy Arizona gold miner cached $5 million worth of gold ore and bullion from his diggings near Tucson. It is located in the vicinity of Arivaca Wash. A map, Sheppard drew on his deathbed was very vague but indicated the mine and bullion was located about 55 miles South of Tucson, somewhere near the present Nogales-Tucson Highway and perhaps the Pajarita Mountains. His route to the mine was along the old Smuggler’s Trail that led past the San Xavier Mission down through the Cerritas and through a pass Northeast of Cumaro area of Arivaca Wash.

In 1913, Pancho Villa's bandits fled across the border into Arizona where they hid in the mountains five or six miles from Arvaca. The lone survivor reported that they cached their loot where he stood as a lookout. He could see Sasabe from the South slope, Old Mexico to the West and Main Street of Arivaca to the North. Searchers are still looking for the two pack loads of treasure never recovered.

Arivaca- Baboquivari Peak- In the 1700s. Spanish Jesuits cached a huge store of gold nuggets in sacks and stacks of gold bars in an old min tunnel located on the East slope of Baboquivari Peak. A Pap go Indian reportedly found this cave and stated it was located in a Bat Cave on a ridge extending Northeast from Baboquivari Peak toward Tucson on the Eastside. He stated that he had closed the entrance to the mine so that lights of bats could never again reveal its location. The site is near Arivaca.

Azurite- Near the smelter at Mineral Hill with a total population of 125 residents in 1899. Liquor smuggled into the camp and consumed by the Mexicans required the need for a peace officer.With bad working schedules and drunk workers, in 1900 the camp ceased to exist.

Brooklyn- Grew up nex to VirginiaCit, Ouijotoa and New Virginia. See Qujotoa

Brownell- Just off S.R. 15 with no footprints at this settlement which grew up around the Brownell Mine. It only had a post office from 1903 to 1911. When the mine played out, the town died.

Cababi- Mining camp servicing the Cababi Mine with a post office from 1883 till 1884.

Grave of John Poston

Cerro Colorado- The town's history includes suggestion of lost silver buried somewhere nearby. In 1855, Charles Poston organized the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company which located the claim. Then came the Civil War which left the Southwest without military support making it subject to constant Indian attack. Charles Poston's brother John Poston was left in charge of operations when he caught hia Mexican foreman by the name of Juanito stealing silver. John executed him as an example but Mexican outlaws didn't take it very kindly. Thereafter, the Mexican outlaws raided the town and killed John Poston and two other employees. The Mexican foreman hid the silver he stole and to this day it has never been found.

In the early days the town had a walled fortification at the entrance of the mine and a tower in the corner of the town plaza to protect the workings. Only a few crumbeld walls remain and found on the Arivaca Road, fifteen miles from the junction with US89 at Amado.

The post office came in 1879 and discontinued in 1911.

Clarkston-Sam Clark born 1871 founded the town of Clarkston in opposition to Ajo, the New Cornlia Copper camp which sets one mile West of Ajo with a few old buildings. The post office, under the name of Rowood opened in 1918 till 1955, once boasted 1500 residents.

Now it is gone due to a fire in 1931. After the fire, the Rowood Post Office moved to Gibson. Copper was the mainstay and a lot of copper there was as the town lived on into the 1950's. Water, of course, was the problem here in the desert and many people had to buy bottled water due to the taste and lack of the local water. Clarkston had its own movie theater, bathhouses, pool halls, and newspaper - the Copper News, music shop, hardware store, furniture store, mild depot, soft drink stands, and more.

The biggest problem of the town was water for the new Cornelia Copper Company refused to sell water to Clarkston's residents. Water had to be haluled until water was found when they deepened one of the shafts. The water didn't taste good so vendors sold drinking water.

Today very little remains.

Continental- On the old Tucson-Nogales Highway near exit 63 off I-19. Continental was named for the Continental Rubber Company which planted a guayule plantation here during WWI. The experiment failed but the company was able to get a post office here from 1917 to 1929

Fort Lowell-The first camp was established by Co. West and the California Volntteers on May 20, 1862 and was located at what is now the cornr of Scott and 14th Streets in Tucson. The camp existed for two years and was aabandoned on Sept 15, 1864. It was reestablished in 1865. The post office came in 1911 and was discontinued in 1912.

In 1877, the camp was moved, seven miles from the center of Tucson. It had two weeks newspaper, a school, a church, permanent houses and saloons. The post was abandoned in 1886.

Greaterville 1898
Courtesy Arizona Historical Society

Greaterville - Current residences are on private property with a few old buildings and a post office established January 3, 1879 and discontinued June 30, 1946. Placer gold was the mainstay with Greaterville and like other placer gold sites, Greaterville's excitement did not last long.

There were about 500 residents, mostly Mexicans who made a living packing in water, as water was very scarce. Mining activity never completely died, just dwindled. Today there are still a few residents in Greaterville at the place where there were several dance halls, saloons and stores to fill the needs of the residents. the jail was a round hole dug in the ground into which prisoners were dropped with a rope.

It was a hangout for many desperatdos and wanted men traveling o and from the brder. Few ruins still visible and can be reached by traveling nine miles North of Sonnita on State 83, then West three miles and South one mile. Marked by the Forest Service Signs.

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Gunsight/Allen- Names for the resemblance of the mountain in the background of the picture. The town now has one building, scattered ruins and mining equipment. Gunsight's post office, established in 1892 and discontinued in1896, took its name from a nearby mountain that resembles a Gunsight.They struck silver in 1878 and called it the Gunsight Mine. It became the mainstay for the town's 50 residents. The town prospered under the Silver Gert Mining Cmpany. Luckily for these miners there was a nearby ranch to provide them with vegetables and dairy products. A stage ran from the camp to Gila Bend. Eventually the mines played out and Gunsight became the ghost it is today.

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Helvetia- Just a few buildings and the cemetery left from the days when the post office came in 1899 and left in 1921. Situated below the Santa Rita Mountains. Bill Hart and John Weigle located the Old Frijole mine in 1880. Helvetia's population was mostly Mexican, about 300 of them at its peak, worked the Frijole and other mines during the 1880s. They lived in tents and adobe and grass shaties against the backdrop of the Santa Rita Mountains. They had saloons, stores, a school and a stage line to Tucson and Vail. In 1901, the Helvetia Copper Company of New Jersey acquired many of the claims and the Helvetia camp was born. A 150- ton smelter worked copper from the mines but it did not prove successful.

In 1911 the mines shut down due to the drop in the price of copper. Today only scattered remnants and the old cemetery remains. Named in hnor of Switzerland, and in the Santa rita Mountains is accessible by driving the Box Canyon road east approximately fifteen miles from Continental, twenty miles South f Tucson n US-89.

Las Guijas- Take I-19 and exit 48 at Arivaca Junction. Las Guijas is 23 mile west of Arivaca Junction and west of Cerro Colorado, on the same dirt road about 7,7 mile behind Cerro Colorado, but not much remains in the town founded on gold in 1860.

Little remains of this town whose post office dates are unknown. Mining was so sporadic in this area that the town of Mineral Hill never got a chance to become fully developed. The largest the population was at one time was 150 residents. Originally called Azurite, but the name changed in 1900 when the Mineral Hill Consolidated Company purchased the mine. Mining operations in the area continued well into the 1920's.

LaGuna- The town had eight-five residents.

Logan-Following the Quijotoa mine discovery, two brothers, J.T. and W. R. Logan dug a well on the east side of the Ben Nevis Mountains. This became the Logan townsite with some 200 adobes Today it is only an abandond mining camp.. Adjoining was the new townsite of New Virginia.

Madera Canyon- Lumber camp with a post office from 1929 till 1942.

Maish Vaya/Covered Wells- A mining camp in 1884 for three mines and sometimes called Covered Wells. When the mines played out, the community became an Indian village.

Mineral Hill-From 1882 to 884 the Emperor Copper Company worked the copper deposits on Mineral Hill but copper market slumps caused the camp to close. About 1897, Azurite Copper and gold Company was organized and they built a thirty-ton smelting jacket at the mine. A camp was formed near the smelter known as Azurite, composed mostly of Mexican miners and laborers. Tents and a number of frame buildings a a store was as big as it ever got. The mine closed for six years until the Mineral Hill Consolidated Company purchasd it. Mexican miners were paid $2 to $2.50 a day for a ten hour shift. Worked stoppped in 1907. Some mining resumed during WW1. in the early 1920s, Mineral Hill claimed a store and a post office.

New Virginia- Following the Quijotoa mine discovery, two brothers, J.T. and W. R. Logan dug a well on the east side of the Ben Nevis Mountains. This became the Logan townsite. Adjoining was the new townsite of New Virginia. When the mines played out, the town went ghost.

Olive- Ruins of several adobe structures sit alone, along Mission Road. Olive's post office came in 1887 and left in 1892. Olive served many nearby mines including the Olive, San Xavier, Wedge, Michigan Maid and the Richmond. but had no mill or smelter of its own. The company sent the ore elsewhere for processing and paid their miners with checks. Every Sunday afternoon, Olive Brown, the town's namesake, treated the miners to a chicken diner of feasting and fun. As the price of silver dropped, mining switched to copper and the town declined.

Pima- Twenty miles Northwest of Sells with no footprints remaining.

Quijotoa- Alexander McKay discovered an outcrop at the summit of the Ben Nevis Mountain in 1883. A half a dozen mining companies grew up immediately.

Quijotoa's post office was established December 11, 1883 and discontinued August 31, 1942. Discovered in 1883 by Alexander McKay, the mine responsible for Quijotoa never measured up. Several thousand people flocked to the town but only a few years later, the town was deserted. There were over 20 saloons yet no jail. Lawbreakers were tied to a tree and shipped off the next morning

Pantano Station -Take I-10 East to Exit 289, turn on the Pantano Road (now Marsh Station Road, but still marked as Pantano Road on some maps) and drive to Pantano Station. Not much to see what one water tank beside the railroad track.

Not so far from desert wash, Cienega Wash, in the year of 1858 was build a stagecoach station (Pantano Station), were was possible to give the horses water. The Southern Pacific railroad reach Pantano Station in the year of 1880, was possible to fill steam engines with the water. Apache attacks, stagecoach robberies and train robberies were daily events.

Reported by the Az Republican on l/12/1905-

A body of a stranger, by the name of James Hart was found last Friday, a half-mile from the railroad track not far from Pantana, a station a few miles east of Tucson. It was evidently a case of suicide and was so pronounced by a cornoner's jury.

There was a bullet hole through the top of the heaqd which ahd been inflicted by a 44 caliber revolver of the Webley make, an English type. Several lettrs were found on him hwich established his name as James Hart.

In addition to ehese, money amounting to $11.70, a $10 bill and some silver was in his pockets. the lettrs gave no clue to where he came from and no inormation as to his relatives. a card lying on the ground near the body which had been torn into small bits, but were placed together by the coroner, was found to be an introduction from Carl Behn of Tombstone, formerly with the New York Stor in this city to Superintendent Clausen of the Copper Queen Mining Company, so his occupation was probably a miner.

The body was dressed in neat and well kept clothes of fair quality. a ticket from Benson, dated the 31st, reading to Maricopa and from there to Phoenix and eventually issued from Bisbee showed here he was bound origianlly, although he claimed ot have been put off the West bound train at Benson on that date, as he had evidently been a nuisance while drunk. When last seen at Pantano, he was quite drunk.

According to the testimoy of those who saw him, his deed is supposed ot have been the result of hard drinking. a watch with a iflled case was also in his vest pocket and it is said that whn he was last noticed, he had a suitcase but the later article together with his hat could not be found this morning.

The left hand was badly powder burnt. He looked to be a man of 45 years old and it is thought he had been at Prescott recently by the tone of one of his letters.

Quijotoa-. Just East of Allen and consisted of four mining camps- Logan City, New Virginia, Brooklyn, Virginia City. See Allen. Quijotoa was a composit of all four townsites and the Post Office The copper and silver was discovered by Alexander Mc Kay at the outcrop of the summit of Ben Nevis Mountain in 1883. The discovery led to six mining companies which formed immediately. Following the mine discover, two brothrs J.T. and W.R. Logan were digging a well and the Logan townshite grew up. Thre water was brought in from Covered Wells and Allen and the Papago indians supplied milk, hay and wood. Wild game was abundant. There were two stages that ran between Tucson and Quijotoa and business was good. They had 20 saloons but no jail. The bad guys were tied to a tree and laid on cots and then shipped off to Tucson. The Prospector newspaper with its four pages came out in Februay 1884 and by the fall, the newspaper moved back to Tucson. The ore faltered and when a fire broke out on Jun 26, 1889, the town was reduced to ashes with no reason to rebuilt. The population of several thousand and four townsites dropped to sixty people by 1891. No traces of it today.

Redington On the banks of the San Pedro River 13 mile north of Cascabel. Note: Redington is on Private Land. Post office, general store, school and residences remain All are today inhabited or used by the ranch owner on whose property Redington stands. . Redington was a small farming community of the San Pedro River and eventually became part of a very large ranch in the area. It had its own post office from 1879 to 1940.

Redington is a little ranch community, founded by two brothers from New York, Henry and Lem Redfield in the year 1875. The town connected to the Tucson true old military supply road. The military closed the road in 1895 and forced the ranchers to travel around, which was 100 miles extra to get to Tucson after supplies. Finally, after 41 years Redington had enough and he went to the government to complain for opening the existing road again. Redington post office was open from 1879 until 1940.

Redington was a hide out for outlaws. In 1883 bandits robbed a stage and killed a man a mile and one half north of the old Riverside stage station. Joe Tuttle was tracked tothe Redfield ranch with much of the loot. He was in the company of Len Redfield. Frank Carpenter had alraqdy been caught and they were all imprisoned at Florence where tuttle cofessed that he and Charlie hensley commited the crime and that Redfield was to be cut in the loot for hiding the money. Redfield denied the accusation. His brother, Henry, deciding that Len's life was in danger, went to Florence with seven men and a Deptuty United States Marshal to take Len to Phoenix for safety's sake. Aroused, the citizens of Florence immediately lynched Len Redfield and Joe Tuttle. There has been much doubt that Redfield had any part in the crime for which he was lynched.

Reymert- A mine eighteen miles Northeast of Florence was relocated about 1880 by James DeNoon Reymert who gave his name to the mine and the mining camp. He opened a law office and founded the camp of DeNoon. Twenty five men worked the camp in 1889. Their post office closed in the late 1890s but work continued until 1950. Fourteen or fifteen buildings to explore at the site.

Rillito/Langhorne- A community of thrity two pople in the 1870 census. The name was changed to Langhorne. Post office was established as Rillito in 1905 then changed to Langhorne in 908 and then Rillito in 1912.

Rosemont Junction/Mc Cleary Camp- A few tracks and a few mining remnants behind a fence. Rosemont's post office came in 894 and left in 1910, owing its existence to a copper mine of the same name. The claims were incorporated under the name Rosemont Smelting and Mining Company. The town had about 150 residents and its own smelter. The original owners, L.J. Rose and William B. McCleary, went heavily into debt and sold the mine to the Lewisohn brothers of New York City. They continued to work the mine for years until they played out. Today, nothing is left of the town

Sasco- A milling town about 15 miles Southwest of Red Rock which is of I-10 at Exit 226, approximately 30 miles Northwest of Tucson. The post office established in 1907 and closed in 1919 for a town that once had 600 residents, stores, saloons and foundations.

Silverbell- Some current mining activity at the site. One of the biggest tailing piles in the state. Take I-10 Rillito Exit 242 -Avra Valley Road or via Red Rock - Exit 226 or via Marana - Exit 236. Via Rillito: Drive 23 miles to the West to the Silver Bell Mine and continue to Silverbell. After the pavement ends drive 5,8 miles to West. After 5,8 miles take road to Northwest

Many mining structures and foundations hide among new structures. UPDATE 6/22/98- ASARCO has destroyed Silverbell and now sits behind their fence. The only thing available to see is an old cemetery, about 2 miles West of the townsite, probably because there may still be some living descendants.

Silverbells's post office was established August 18, 1904 and still existing. Copper was the mainstay (and still it) for Silverbell. Discovered in the early 1860's,the mine is still producing ore. Three thousand people flocked to Silverbell in its heyday and Silverbell was one of the most renowned mining camps in the Southwest. Described once as the "hell-hole: of Arizona, Silverbell was home to many lawless acts.

Just days before Deputy Sam McEvan arrived to his new job, three murders were committed. 1911 marked the beginning of the downfall for Silverbell and in 1948, the new town of Silverbell was born. It can be found 24 miles West of Rillito, on I-10 at Exit 242, eighteen miles Northwest of Tucson. Silverbell began growing in 1902 after E.B. Gage and W. F. Staunton together with Development Company of America started exploiting mining rights. Post office opened in 1904 and Wells Fargo station opened in 1906. Progress was going to 1911 when the fire in the mine and financial problems stopped work. Work in the mine continued with American Smelting & Refining Company from 1915 to 1921 when the lower prices made work unprofitable. Thirteen miles of dirt road between Silverbell and Sasco is the original part of "Arizona Southern Railroad" built in 1904 for transportation of ore from mines in Silverbell to smelter in Sasco. In 1934, the company removed the track.

In the early 1700s, the Spaniards mined and stored a large amount of gold and silver in a cave in the area of the Red rock Butte, Northwest of Tucson. Stored in a cave somewhere n the Silver Bell Mountain, the cave must be somewhere along the road between Red Rock and Silverbell.

On October 4, 1905, the Arizona Republican Newspaper wrote of Dave Hawkins and J.F. White.

The Tuscon Citizen that came yesterday morning contained an account of a double murder at Silver Bell about 11:30 o'clock Monday night. the victims were Dave Hawkins and J.F. White. With two companions, W.J. Warren and R.J. Cochrane, they were returning from a saloon when according to the report, they were fired upon by one of three Mexicans whom they met in the road. Hawkins was killed instantly and White died the next morning. They claim the Mexicans fired without warning and without previous altercation to provoke him. The three Mexicans fled from the camp but officers are on their trail and ahve a good description of them.

Summerhaven/ Carter's Camp-A summer colony with a post office from1924 to 1929.

Tanque Verde- This is not the same Tanque Verde as the settlement of 1892 adjancent to Fort Lowell with a post office from 1888 to 1892..

Total Wreck- John L. Dillon found a silver-lead mine in the Empire mountains Now a ghosttown, found Northwest of Tombstone.

The post office came when the town grew to 200 residents. John L. Dillon discovered the Total Wreck in 1879 in the Empire Mountains. He called it that because he thought the mine ledge looked like a total wreck. In 1881, he built a 70- ton mill; there were about fifty houses, three stores, three hotels, four saloons, a butcher shop, and a lumberyard. By 1883 there were two hundred inhabitants, fifty houses, thre stores, three hotels, four saloons, a butcher shop and a lumber yard.

The small cemtery here includes the graves of six Mexican woodcutters who were killed by Geronimo and Apaches in June 1983 while out cutting wood.

A man once got into a shooting at Total Wreck and survived because the bullet lodged in a stack of love letters he had in his jacket. He later married the girl who wrote the letters! The post office closed in 1890.

By 1884, the mine and the mill closed and the property later sold for taxes.

Twin Buttes- Twenty miles south of Tucson with a few buildings mixed withcurrent mining activity.

Three prospectors known as the Three Nations- John G. Baxter, american, Michael Irish,Ireland, John Ellis of Scotland. They sold thier interests to the Twin Buttes Mining and Smelting Company who developed and operated the Senator, Morgan, Copper Glance, Copper Queen and Copper King mines. Twin Buttes' post office, established in 1906 and discontinued in 1930 had a bunkhouse, assay office, stroe, boardinghouse and a school. A railroad branch connected the growing town with the Southern Pacific Tucson-Nogales line at Sahuarita were milestones of 1906. Twin Buttes shipped its ore to nearby Sasco. After some ups and downs, the town finally went ghosst.

Twin Buttes circa 1905
Courtesy Arizona Historical Society

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Weldon- Known today as San Antone by the residents of the Tohono O' Odham Reservation. Weldon was once a town of several thousand residents. It essentially died when the nearby mine closed. It had a post office from 1904 to 1912.

PIMA COUNTY GHOST TOWNS

Cerro Colorado Mine- In 1861, Bandito Juanito, the Mexican foreman of he Cerro Colorado Mine, high graded $70,000 in silver bullion and he buried it somewhere near the mine. Some believe that the hoard of bars is still buried on the slope of Cerra Colorado facing the mine of Cerra Chiquito.

Picacho Pass- El Tejano, an outlaw in the 1870s has buried caches of stolen loot remaining at either Picacho Pass or Cerro del Gato both near Tucson.

Pantano- In 1872, the Cienega Stage Station which was located near Pantano was operated by a small band of oulaws known locally as the “Benders”. The Benders disguised themselves as Apaches, robbing various stages and people, their largest haul being an army payroll of $75,000 stolen near their station. This hoard and other valuable treasure caches are known to have been buried or hidden around the site of the old state stop and never recovered. Eventually real Apaches attacked the station and killed every man.

San Jose Del Tucson Mission- Somewhere on or near the old mission grounds, they buried the treasure of the San Jose del Tucson Mission.

San Marcelo Mission- The early Spaniards found rich gold and silver ore and built arrastes and smelters to crush the ore and smelt it into ingots. The ingots were stored under the floors of the San Marcelo Mission. In 1750, the Indians completely obliterated all sings of the mines.

Tucson- A house located at 1322 Fifth Street in Tucson buried a cache of treasure on his place before he died. His ghost appears at night and sits on the fence guarding his hoard.

White Horse Canyon, a treasurer buried, here, South of Tucson where the canyon comes out of the flats.