Wiccan Road To Ghosts -

Yavapai County Ghost Towns

Alexandra/Alexandria-

Alexandra in the 1880's
Courtesy Sharlot hall Museum, Prescott

Alexandra/Alexandria-This ghost sits high in the Bradshaw Mountains, on Turkey Creek about six miles North of Crown King, just North of Phoenix, 10 miles Northwest of Mayer.

It was June of 1875 when E.G. Peck, C.C. bean, William Cole and T.M. Alexander were prospecting in the Bradshaw Mountains when they stopped to drink at a spring. Here Peck notices a strange rock and had the sample asayed. It was rich in silver and the Peck claim was locatd and work began. Prescott was the supply depot until the town was created.

The town moved up the canyon from the Peck mine with lots selling for $100 each. Colonel Bigelow laid out the town, sold the lots and graded the streets. By Sept. 1876, there were 20 buildings and sixty men working in the mines in the area. By 1877, there were 75 people in town with two hotels, four saloons, 3 boarding houses, two livery stables, six houses, one butcher shop and a blacksmith shop. Two stores and one supply store owned by T.M. Alexander.

Today, none of the buildings remain. A few building seen above the township are often mistaken for Alexandria when they are actually from the Swastika mine.

The town had a post office from 1878-1896. They named the town after T. M. Alexander's wife by feminizing it to Alexandra. He laid out the town site for the Peck Mine and also owned the Black Warrior mine. Because of transportation difficulties, he built a mill. Its downfall was a fight between the four founders. The only ones who made any money on the mine were the lawyers in Prescott. At one time there were 75-100 buildings there. It hosted stores, saloons, boarding houses, a blacksmith, butcher shop and a brewery. It went ghost about the turn of the century.

The headlines of the AZ Repulican, l/1/1891, read "Le Barr's Murder"

Details of the assassination at the Peck. sheriff O'Neill of Yavapai Conty, fowards an account of how the deed was committed by Stoops.

The clearest account of how Grnat LeBarr met his death at the hands of Snoop is to be found in the following letter, written by Sheriff O'Neill to Dr. O.J. Thibode, of Phoenix, father in law of the deceased.

Officer of the Sheriff

Yavapai County, Arizona, Prescott, December 24, 1800.

My Dear Doctor, Your several telegrams in realation to poor Grant came daily to hand but too late ot be of any service. The body has been buried at the Peck mine in the best shape possible, the entire camp suspending all wok during the funeral. I will see ot it that the grave is properly marked and should it ever be desired ot exhume the remains, will do everthing in my power to assist you.

The killing was a most cold-blooded and premeditated murder without a single extenuating circumstance. The man who did the shooting-James M. Stooop, and who is now under arrest had never seen Grant until about an hour or so before it occurred. He, with Grant and several others was in Refiel's saloon on the night of the occurence and a dispute arose between the two in regard ot some trivial matter but before any bloqws were struck everthing was settled apparently amicably and the two parted friends.

Afterwards, however, Stoop wnet to his room and securing his revolver, returned. Staning outside in the street wher on account of darkness no one could see him, he took deliberate am and shot Grant through the body, the ball entering on the lest side, just below the waistband and remaining in the body. Grant fell and exclaimed ot his two companions whith whom he was talking at the tie, unsuspicious of any danger, that he was shot and asked for a glass of water.

Before the water could be given to him, he was dead. Stoop fled but afterwards returned and gave himself up and had it not been for th strongest efforts of the part of several, he would have been lynched as the feeling is very bitter against him.

Grant was unarmed, and was a general favorite in the camp an dwas to have gone to work the next day in the Silver Prince mine. Everyone who knows him feels justly indignant at the cold blooded way in which he was aqssassinated, as all feel that he was one who would never provoke a quarrel, in fact, he was rather inclined to avoid one. For myself, having known Grant for the last ten or twelve yars, I sincerely mourn his untimely end and hope to see his muderer receive the punishment tha tthe law provides for such an outrageous taking of human life.

Please to extend my sympathy to his mother and if there is any way in which I can be of service, do not hesitate to calll on me.

Sincerly, Wm O'Neill

American- On Williamson Valley Road, but nothing remains of the old, stage stop. Once had an hotel for overnight travelers.

A stage station on the road From Ehrenburg to Prescott owned by J.H. Lee who ran a store and station here. Indians attacked the station, killing Lee. A man then leased the place. He took a sack of flour, placed strychnine in it, left the store open and the sack handy for all comers. Some soldiers under Dan Leary, the scout, came along and found twenty-four dead Indians and fourteen more Indians, very sick in their nearby camp.

Arizona City- Found five miles North of Mayer on Big Bug Creek- Nothing remains of the old mining camp.

It is a current mining operation with its own post office from 1891-1895. When gold was first discovered, the camp was called Curtiss. The year was 1880 when "Uncle Bill" Gavin and Theodore W. Boggs founded the mine, near Big Bug Creek. Phelps Dodge bought it and built a smelter in 1889. They made lots of money until the mines played out and the company closed it down in 1893. The mine was fraudulently promoted in 1899 so the town trying to redeem its name, changed it to Arizona City. In 1907, the mine closed and the town disappeared.

Aqua- Fria- The old Aqua Fria River Stage Station sat just north of New River. Look for a few palm trees on the Eastside of the Ague Fria. Established in 1880's and run by Capt. Calderwood.

Aqua Fria is not the only ghost to call this ground home. It was near here in February 1891 when riders found the remains of a Mexican named Teodor Valencia mutilated and horribly burned on the Aqua Fria. He was a sheepherder and camped near a mesquite grove. Unfortunately for him, he built a fire near the foot of a tree, and making his bed close to the fire, nodded off to sleep. As he slept, the fire burned the tree down and it fell across him, pinning him to the ground. He suffered a horrible death as he burned, alive.

The placer mine is located 14 miles from Mayer in the Aqua Fria River (stream). The Silver Flake Mine boasted a mineralization of a 2 to 4 foot wide vein with well-defined wall rock in the Aqua Fria District and found in the 1881 also the site of the Aqua Fria Mine in that same year.

The Bradshaw Mountain range gives up chalcedony and opal

Audrey- AT & SF Railroad station, 11 W. of Seligman.

Bayard- Located at the Luke Mine with its own Post Office.

Big Bug- This mining camp located on Big Bug creek about fifteen miles northeast of Prescott. The present town has some mining activity at the present time with the remains of the old town scattered without and later called Mayer.

The area started with a gold placer in the Northeast slope of the Bradshaw Mountain range in the 1860s. It was Theodore boggs who settled on Big Bug Creek and fought off Indians along with three companions. They dug a small opening inot the side of the mountain and that is where they slept. One morning they were attacked by Indians and dug portholes in the walls from which they killed two of the warriors. The Indians grabbed the bodies of their dead and cremated in in full sight of the miners and then departed.

The camp took its name from the Big Bug Creek and was home to about 100 people. . The camp opened under the name of Red Rock and changed to Big Bug in 1881 because of the large bugs that appeared in the spring. Messrs. Poland and Roberts owned the Bell Mine established in 1881. The workings include a 260- foot deep shaft plus 200 feet of tunnels. The post office came to town in 1895 -1910 but the town went 'ghost' in the early part of the 1900s and the boarders at th Hitchcock Boarding House moved on. . Joe Mayers moved to the Big Creek area where he bought the stage station and at one time or another owned or had part interest in the Butternut, Henrietta, Stoddard, French Lilly and the Iron Queen Mines. He was the founder of the town of Mayer.

Big Bug Deposit was a copper deposit near Mayer, 2,000 feet due North of Copper Mountain. Started in 1918 and owned by Frank Thorton. Workings include a 235-foot deep shaft.

Black Canyon City- See Goddard, Aqua Fria, Canon, Rock Springs, Black Canyon, all names for this tiny Community throughout its history, which encompasses many years.

Black Canyon Hill, located 38 miles South of Prescott on Highway 49, was a dangerous spot and site of many stagecoach holdups. Some of the loot from these robberies, decades ago, still allude treasure hunters.

As Black Canyon City sat on the old stage road, Prescott tot Phoenix, 35 miles East of Prescott, the actual Black Canyon was ten miles long and on he Bumblebee. At Gillette it opened on to flat country near the junction of New River and Aqua Fria. Black Canyon hill was a one way and driver had to wait for each other at certain turn outs, blowing horns as a warning to other drivers.

The Kay Mine, the Howard Mine and the Maggie Mine occupied the area.

Blanchard (See Iron King) Post office was established in 1902 with Anne M. Williams as Postmistress

Bluebell This site is four miles West of 69 on Turkey Creek, 10 m SE of Prescott, SW of Mayer- two miles Northeast of Desoto Mine. Ruins and trams are visible according to Treasure Hunter Manual #6, by Karl Von Mueller, written in 1961.

The mine had an aerial tram to Mayer where rail cars were loaded to ship to the concentrator at Humboldt. Pumps were pulled out in 1930 when the price of copper dropped they closed the mine.

Bradshaw City- Although the first gold discovery in Yavapai Country occurred in 1837, it was 1870 when the first prospectors, led by William Bradshaw hauled their gear into the mountains. Because they did not returned from this Indian stronghold and no one had heard from them. after several months, they were presumed dead. That was, of course, until they showed up months later with sixteen hundred dollars worth of solid gold.

Discovery of that gold and the Tiger Mine was responsible for the creation of this town which started out with just a cluster of tents. Located on the pine covered slopes of Mt. Wasson, it was soon rported in the Weekly Arizona Miner on February 4, 187l, " A settlement started there known as Bradshaw City, where for many months there were many saloons and dance halls in full blast, but there were no churches." From 10,000 to 20,000 residents lived here in its heyday and the town had two hotels.

By 1871, the miners drifted off for richer finds although wrok continued into the 1880s. Few footprints remain today.

From Prescott Hwy 89, turn left onto S. Mount Vernon Street, soon turning into Senator Hwy. It is about 35 miles South of Prescott on the Eastside of the Bradshaw Mountains

Briggs- This mining camp found its home on Hassayampa river on the Westside of the Bradshaw Mountains near the Southern line of the county.

Copper was discovred in the 1860s but development laggd until 1882 when the kirby Brothers of Numcie, Indiana bought the Copperopolis mine group. The camp had a post office for one year beginning in 1883 and took the name Kerby and Copperopolis with the Whipsaw and Copperopolis giving up its copper. A thirty- ton smelter was built on Castle Creek which the miners renamed "Qicksand Creek" for obvious reasons.

The camp housed only 40 workers and in 1884, giving up only elp production

Brooklyn Basin- A small part- time camp with some building and mining remnants. It had a post office from 1907-1970 and served the Brooklyn Basin mine.

Bueno- It was good then, twenty-two miles South of Phoenix, South of Goodwin on Senator Hwy, on upper, Eastside of Turkey Creek about fifteen miles Southeast of Prescott.

They stripped the town of Bueno so nothing remains, at least nothing obvious. A well-known " Bully Bueno" mine located here in 1872. In its heyday, it saw nothing but Indian attacks along with Battle Flat, thus the name. Yavapai Indians during the late 1860s killed ten workers at the Bully Bueno mill and burned down the mill. o[ Bueno had a post office from 1881-1893, then the camp moved to Goodwin. It was a milling camp with a general store, meat market, school and two mills. It went ghost in the late 1800's.

Bumble Bee-

The name came from some prospectors who found a bumblebee nest, full of honey in the cliffs along the creek. Several of the men were badly stung as they tried to retrieve the honey.

The town was once a stage stop on the Prescott-Phoenix run. It had a post office in 1879 and originally called the Synder Station after the man who ran the station for some time.

Near Bronco Canyon, two prospectors discovered gold and hid 200 pounds of raw gold near the bottom of a creek, four miles East of Bumble Bee. The gold was nestled deep in quartz rock. As winter approached, they were preparing to return home when the Apaches attacked them. One of the miners was shot dead instantly and the other miner made it out alive. Due to circumstance beyond his control, the miner was unable to go back for his gold and on his deathbed told his doctor about his hidden treasure.

In later years, a Mexican sheepherder found their campsite in Bronco Canyon but didn't know about the hidden treasure so the gold remains hidden. The treasure is believed located about four miles East of Bumblebee.

Bumblebee and Bland Hill Mines, both with productions of lode gold mines. S of Bumble Bee, Nigger Brown, Blanchrava & Gillespie Mines also were lode gold mines.

The Richinbar Mine is about four miles east of Bumble Bee. Formerly owned by the Richinbar Mines (1905-1908; extensive development work) and the Sterling Gold Mining Corp in early 1993-). Workings feature the Zyke Shaft (main shaft) at 500 feet deep that connects with several thousand feet of workings extending northward plus two more shafts accessing upper workings. The mine boasted a 20-stamp mill. The largest stope is on the 140- level at 65 feet long by 55 feet high and 14 feet wide. Produced some 8,000 tons of ore.

To reach Bumble Bee, take I-17 from Phoenix to the Bumblebee exit. Follow Bumblebee Road (FSR-259 for about five miles to the town in N. Black Canyon. Many building are restored with plans for a tourist attraction. Most of the former former false fronts on the building are gone.

Camp Date Creek- Two miles by jeep trail east of the graded county road to Hillside at a point ten miles North of US-90 at a point seventeen miles Not of Wickenburg. Nothing remains today of this mining post which was set up to guard the road between Ehrenburg and Prescott in the years 1868 to 1874.

They called the Eastside of Weaver Mountain Ah-ha-cassona meaning "pretty water". The area covered with what the Mexicans called Da-til, dates in English, gave the name, Date Creek.

Two companies of the 14 th infantry stationed here. spent more time fixing up the buildings than fighting Indians. The soldiers also spent time prospecting and were responsible for starting the Martinez district.

Camp Goodhope- Crazy Smith had a settlement here on the south side of Towers Mountain.

Camp Hualpai- Later called Jupiter Camp, Hualpai sat on Walnut Creek Rd., North of Prescott and was established on the Toll Road on the Eastside of Santa Maria Mountains.

In 1873, the military took over the camp to protect the road from Indian attacks. It had a post office in 1882. When the military left, the name changed in 1883 to Juniper. There is an interesting cemetery that is now on private property.

Canyon- Found at the confluence of Squaw Peak and Aqua Fria River and under the name of Goddard. Today it is across from the junkyard in Black Canyon City with only rubble remains.

Once a stage stop on the Phoenix to Prescott-Black Canyon Route, with a post office in 1894 and named after Charles V. Goddard.

Cash Camp- Nothing remains of the town which is on the junction of Senator

Hwy and Walker Road. Also called Senator, Maxton and Stormcloud, the camp housed a mill of the same name that ran the ore from Maxton. The Cash Mine, also called the Storm Cloud mine was abandoned.

Catoctin Curtest of Sharlott Hall Museum, Prscott

Catoctin- Sitting sixteen miles Southeast of Prescott, off US-89 on the upper Hassayampa Creek near the Senator Mine, this camp took the name of the Catoctin Mine founded by Frank Alters in 1884 who named it after his Pennsylvania home. Little happened until 1890-1891 when three mining companies began operating.

A post office located there from 1902-1920 for this small mining camp for local miners. It had a few buildings and only fourteen people.Only one building remains along with some mining equipment. Two of the mines in the area were the Catoctin and Climax gold mines. Went ghost when the mines played out.

Cedar Glade- RR-AT & SF FF- 10 m NE of Paulden,

Chapparral- Nothing remains of this small mining camp that sets off US 89, 4 miles from Humboldt. There is one building and some mining equipment still there but mostly mines and rubble.

When Frank Alters discovered ore in 1884. it boasted all of 20 people making Catoctin their home in 1914. The mine never amounted to much and the occupancy rate only moved to seventy-five residents.

The camp for the Little Jessie and McCabe Mines. It is near the Ironrite factory and had a post office in 1894-1917. The camp started in 1873 and named for the mine here which was located in a dense growth of chaparral on the mountainside. There were twenty businesses under the control of Sheriff Mike Enright.There were the Louis Beach's Chop and Short Order House, Stillwell and Hobbs Butcher Shop, F.H. Shimer's fruits, tobaccos, and ice crean, Hudgen's Hotl, merchandise stores and saloons. The rise of McCabe saw the fall of Chaparral.

Charmingdale- Stone and wood remnants remain.

Just off the Old Hardyville Road about 2.5 miles from the road and just about 30 miles North of Prescott on the road to Mineral Park. Its post office came in 1879 to keep company with a blacksmith shop and three restaurants. Samuel C. Rodgers loved the site, named the town and established his blacksmith shop and wagon repair there. Its name came from a man with a very unusual name, Charmingdale Rogers who built the first public school in Prescott.

Cherry- This little Cherry is thirty-one miles East of Prescott. on Cherry Creek Section 3. 12 miles West of Camp Verde. Take I-17 North from Phoenix to exit 168 (Dugus Rd/Orme Ranch). Cherry can be reached by either end of 372 with the south end of FSR 372 reached from exit 278. The historic buildings are in renovation and private property with about sixty full time residents.

Cherry was founded on gold mining in 1870's and in 1884-1943 earned its post office. Beginning in 1860 with 100 resident it climbed to 400 in its prime and the bullion mine supported them all. It even had a small cemetery but never had a church. Six mills served over 40 mines in the vicinity including the Congress Mine. The town divided into a Mill town and a Lower town, which had ten saloons, boardinghouses, restaurants, general store, school, and cemetery. The mines played out in 1879 and the town continues as a stage stop. It went ghost in 1939. The bonanza in nearby Jerome fortunately, spilled over into Cherry. Cherry and its vicinity had over forty mine with four hundred residents at its zenith.

The Gold Coin Mine located East of Hackberry Wash about l/4 mile from Dewey Road, is in the Cherry Creek District, Black Hills Range. Workings include a 100-foot deep shaft and a new shaft at 118 feet deep.

The Wombacker Gold Mine is 1-l/2 miles East of Cherry and the Sunnybrook Gold Mine, is less than one mile South of Cherry.

Childs- Mouth of Fossil Creek, Sect. 17, 15 w. of Strawberry

Chino- RR AT & SFRR, 4 m W of Seligman

In the Verde Valley and only five miles from Jerome with many buildings in good shape but abandoned.

Clarkdale Just 2,000 feet below Jerome, this town fed off Cleopatra Hill, her Patio City as they called it. It was the location of Senator Clark's United Verde smelters and named after him.

Cleator- The town was seven miles Southwest of Cordes and 44 miles Southeast of Prescott, 10 miles SW of Mayer and fourteen miles via graded road West of Bumble Bee.

This town took its name from James P. Cleater, the owner of the town site. The railroad wrongly spells the name Cleator. The first name of the site was " Turkey" and " Turkey Creek Station"and its post office arrived in 1912. It was the site of "Murphy's Impossible Railroad. The old, stone schoolhouse still stands, as are some of the houses. The Cleator store and saloon are open periodically.

When gold was discovered in 1864, a stagecoach station opened two miles West of Turkey Creek. In 1869, a post office came but only visiting for it lasted only five months under the name, Turkey Creek. The gold played out and mines opened further down the hill by the time Murphy's Impossible Railroad reached Turkey Station in 1902. Seizing what he felt was opportunity, Leveret "Lev" Pierce Nellis came to Turkey Creek and opened a country store, saloon and reopened the post office again. He owned most of the town.

He became partners with a man named James P. Cleator. Besides the town, the two men got into some ranching and in time, Nellis traded the town for the ranch and the new name of the town became Cleator. In 1920, the mines closed just one year after he married after being a bachelor for fifty years. Now he had a wife and two children, a ghost town with about twenty houses, a grocery store, service station, saloon, schoolhouse and about sixteen residents with a closed mine. He put the town up for sale in the 1949 but had no buyers. The post office closed in 1954 and J. Cleator died five years later. His son took over the ownership of the town until his death in 1990.

The Golden Belt mine with a mill dating from the 1930s is two miles on the road east of Cleator.

Clemenceau- This station is now part of Cottonwood with only the mansion remaining from the original town.

Clemenceau was the site of a smelter for the United Verdi Extension Mine which served Jerome and is now part of Clarkdale. Named for French Premier, George Clemenceau in WW1, who was so honored he left a light lilac colored vase to the town in his will. Called Verde in 1917, the town changed the name to prevent confusion with Camp Verde.

Found North of Lake Pleasant under the watchful eye of a caretaker. The mine and foundations of the town are all that are found. It had a post office in 1894-1915 with a population of 100. Besides the post office, there was a general store, meat market, blacksmith, shoemaker, carpenter and a Justice of the Peace.

Clune- RR.AT & SFRR, 4 m E of Chino Valley

Columbia- Just North of Lake Pleasant on Humbug Creek, West of the Tip Top mine, this town has an active mine in the area and caretaker.

The post office arrived in 1894-1915 and the town had l00 people. Two of the major mining companies were the Acquisition and Tip Top Heath.

A general store, meat market, blacksmith, shoemaker, carpenter and Justice of the Peace served the occupants. $50,000 was taken from the mine

Congress- Northeast of Wickenberg-on the junction between SR-71 and SR-89 on the East end of Date Creek Mountains, this was once a station on the Ash Fork-Phoenix Branch of the A.T. & S.F R.R. and shipping point for the Congress gold mine.

Dennis May discovered gold in 1884 and the Congress Mine opened. "Diamond Joe" Reynolds owned this mine and did much of the development work on it. He was the "Midas of the Mountain", although he couldn't read or write or even tell the time of day. However, he had one successful venture after another in the mine business. He died at the mine in one of his houses on February 21, 1891 being waited upon by five men at all time to make sure all his needs were tended too.The house was furnished with the best money could buy and he had the very best doctor employed by the compay. After he died, his body was packed in ice and the coffin padded all around.

Col. F. C. Hutch reported in the AZ. Republican in 1891- "There isn't another mining camp in the country better fitted up than the Congress mine. The buildings are all of frame and the room where Mr. Diamond Joe Died as well furnished as nay hotel room in the Southwest. The camp is lighted with electric lights."

The post office came in 1889-1938. The town divided into two parts, Mill Town and Lower Town, where the 400 miners worked, lived and conducted their businesses. The town had saloons, boarding houses, restaurants, general store, school and a church. It also had electric lights, telephone and a telegraph station. They sold the mine in 1887 and again in 1894. The mine played out but the railroad survived as a railroad station to become what is today Congress Junction. Only a cemetery was left behind near the mill when the railroad built their own town of Congress, that which we see today. The old town of Congress went ghost in 1939.

In the cemetery which lies between Mill Town and Lower Town of Congress lies the body of Mrs. Edwin Louis Harris who died here on December 4, 1905. She was a native of St. Day, Cornwall, England and thirty three years of age. She left beside her husband, a nine year old boy. the funeral service was held in the Presbyterian Church in Congress and addented by many friends of the bereft husband. The services were conducted by Rev. Robert Ball.

Peeples Valley Pioneer Cemetery

Peeples Valley is located about 25 miles southwest of Prescott in Township 11N. Range 4W, Section 19. It is named for Abraham H. Peeples, an early pioneer and rancher in the fertile valley. Charles Genung purchased the Peeples ranch and it was he who chose the site for the cemetery in 1865. He selected that particular spot because it was in a wide open area and almost impossible for the Indians to ambush the grave workers. This cemetery is situated on the east side of Highway 89 adjacent to the Genung Memorial Park Cemetery, and has been restored as a historical state monument.

The cemetery was surveyed by Grant and Margie Brown in January 1993. Only one gravestone remains, that of Baby Hamilton who died August 1883. According to the Dorothy Coon index there was a Joe Hodges, child, buried here as well as Joseph Hodge. Unknown burials are two soldiers believed killed by Indians and four Indians (including Pete, son of scout Johnnie, and Mary who was receiving a pension from the U.S. Government).

The first person buried in the cemetery, by Charles Genung, was "Hog" Johnson, who was killed by Indians in 1865, near a camp at Congress, Arizona Territory. He was called "Hog" because he had a hog farm in Missouri before coming to A. T.

Mr. Wycoff, also killed by Indians, is buried in the cemetery.

Sources other than the grave marker include the historic site plaque; obituaries and articles from Prescott, Arizona newspapers; the 1890 Great Register of Yavapai County, Arizona Territory; Arizona Death Records, a Bicentennial Project of the Arizona State Genealogical Society published in 1976 (Peeples Valley Cemetery indexed by Mrs. Dorothy Coon of Wickenburg in 1973); Charles Genung Papers in Sharlot Hall Museum Archives; and other files and records in Sharlot Hall Museum Archives. Because various sources were utilized there may be discrepancies in name spellings, dates and places.

The Historic Site plaque reads:

"Peeples Valley Pioneer Cemetery

This early Territorial Cemetery dates back to 1865. Local rancher Charles Genung chose the open site as a burial ground so that grave workers and mourners could not be ambushed easily by hostile Indians. Pioneer settlers and soldiers, Indians and Mexicans are buried on the site--victims of ranching accidents, Apache raids and the Influenza Epidemic in the 1890s. Their epitaphs are testimony to the harshness of life on the frontier. Through the efforts of Yarnell residents, the site was dedicated as a state monument in 1956."

Arizona Republican Newspapr, Aug. 29, 1905. From a private telegram received in the city late yesterday afternoon it is learned that Robert Howard, a son of Jeseph Howard, a wll-known rancher of the Date Creek district was struck by lightning yesterday afternoon and both he and the horse he was riding were instantly killed. the young man who was about seventeen years old was enroute to Congress form his home traveling on the Congress trail.

Arizona Republican Newspaper, Januay 5, 1905- Sheriff Walter Brown of Mohave Conty arrived in the city yesterday to procure a rquisisiton for Jose Signala, the murder of Kittie Engleheart was was arrested at El Paso a few days ago. the murder was committed in Mohave County more than six months ago. The woman was a negress with whom Sigala had been living in a mining camp in Mohave County. One Sunday night in a fit of jealously, he shot her in the stomach with a shotgun and fled. the woman was the next day taken to Congress, the nearest place where surgical aid could be obtained, but she died before reaching this place. the murderer was pusued toward the Colorado river and later taced to Yuma where the officer arrived the day after his departure. he learned from a woman who harbored him the night beofe that he had been there. After that all trace of him was lost until last week when he was picked up at El Paso.

Congress Junction/Martinez- Just fifteen miles North of Wickenburg on US 89, with only foundations and some old buildings which are currently in use.

The post office said the town was Martinez and distributed the mail to stores, saloons, feedstores and an assortment of other businesses. When the Congress mine closed, the population dwindled to about 200 a far cry from the days when the Congress mine was big enough to warrant a railroad which ended up about three miles from the town. Congress Junction came into being when the Santa Fe, Prescott, and Phoenix Railroad was extended south from Prescott intending to meet Congress but missed the mark by three miles. Congress Junction was then the railroad station.

Constellation- Directions to the site is difficult without a topo map and GPS. It is about twelve miles Northeast of Castle Hot Springs in the Wickenburg Mountains. Starting from Wickenburg, expect a 45- minute drive over steep roads although it is only eleven miles Northeast of Wickenburg on Constellation Rd.The town is gone but the Monte Cristo mine is there with alot of rubble.

The post office came to Constellation in 1901-1939, the site of the Gold Bar, (O'Brien Mine), Oro Grand Mine and Black Rock mines. The mine was at 3,400 feet of altitude (outcrop) and founded by J. Mahoney in 1888. Ezra W. Thayer, a Phoenix hardward merchant promoted the mine from 1912. 1920. Never put the mine in produciton and sold it to an oil promoter. Later owned by the Saginaw Lumber Co about 1901 and then the Interior Mining and Trust Co. 1907-1908). In 1915, the mine reorganized into the Gold Bar Mining Company and worked a vertical shaft to the 700-level and erected a ten- stamp mill on the property.

The town was to be the center of Black Rock Mining District servicing the Black Rock, Oro Grande and Gold Bar mines. Established in 1901, it boasted six buildings, including a two-storied saloon, gambling den, dance hall, saloon and was a stage line. 250 people lived here in its prime. Hard rock miner Frank Cramp[ton lived here before 1910 and wrote about his experiences in a''Deep Enough". He found a town of a half-dozen baloons, the largest a two-story staage station, a store, saloon, gambling den and dance hall presided over by Powhattan S. Wren. He also rented rooms to girls from the Phoenix stockade who came for a "rest". Local mining stiffs often viited Wren's home to see if the girls wre getting proper rest.

Nothing remains at Constellation but buildings still stand at the Gold Bar, Monte Cristo, Black Rock and other mines.

Copper Basin/Briggs/Kirby- Nothing remains in this copper and gold camp in the Walnut Grove district. Ten miles Southwest of Prescott via Copper Basin Road.

The Yavapai Indians first mined the ores and used them or ornamenting themselves and their pottery with red, green, blue and yellow rock. They showed the ore to Indian agent George Leihy but before he could open a claim, he was murdered and disebowled by renegades.

Phelps Dodge Company acquired it in 1887 with the post office following a year later in 1888. They built a smelter and a complex leaching plant followed. It was a busy and disciplined camp, meaning no gambling, no drinking and prostitutes allowed. It got unbusy in 1893 when the smelter closed because of low grade ore.

Copperopolis- See Briggs, Kirby- Just one of the names for this hopeful little copper settlement and mine. With Edward E. Hellings serving as postmaster when the post office was established in 1884.

Copper Siding- See Jerome Junction

Cordes- This camp is found off Exit 259 off I-17, on the branch road Prescott to Middleton, 5 m W of Cordes Junction.

Before the railroad came, it was known as Antelope station. Because there already was an Antelope, the folks had to pick a new name and called it Cordes, after the old time settler and their first postmaster, John K. Cordes. Post office came in 1886 -1944. There are numerous building and is now a ranching community.

Just Southwest of Cordes in the South foothills of the Bradshaw Mountains, 45 miles North by Northwest of Phoenix, The Tip /top Mine brought out 10,000 ounces of lode gold between 1875-1959.

Cordes lakes is just east of 93, north of Wickenburg.

Cox- Found off US-89 Nine miles by rough jeep trail South of Top of Pines on US 89 at a psix miles South of Prescott.

Towsend Cox a New Yorker from Dosoris Island found a silver outcrop in Octobr 1881 and named it after his boyhood home. With Pel A. Crague he dug into a vein and struck silver. Miners rushdc in to work nearbhy claims. A stage opened running to Prescott in 1882 and the post office opened in July of 1883 to serve the several hundred residents.

Thirty burro packs hauled ore from the Dosoris, Davis-Dunkirk and Blue Dick mine eight miles over mountain trails to Howell and Walker. When the ore played out so did Cox and it went ghost.

Craig- Sits near Wagoner on the Hassayampa Creek. The site has no remains.

Names for E.G. Craig, a local settler, Craig had a post office from 1894-1903 and is now a small ranching community.

Crook City- What is left is found on the Senator Hwy in Crook Canyon which rises on the Westside of Longfellow Ridge.Two wells and a meadow mark the spot named for General George Crook, a famous Indian fighter. The Crook mine discovered in 1874 by Ed Johnson. It had a mill and fourteen buildings. Arrastras, powered by water wheels crushed l/2 million in gold ore over ten years. Fifty miners' cabins once occupied the West branch of the Hassayampa; now, only one building marks the spot. Operations switched to Venezia when an Eastern Corporation bought Crook City. The mine reopened in 1930 and the Venezia mill processed their ore.

Crookton- RR AT & SF JRR, 17 m W of Ash Fork.

Crown King- Drive on Mt. Wasson, 31 miles South of Prescott to reach the town, Drive North up USFS roads from Lake Pleasant, located off State Highway 74, about 35 miles Northwest of downtown Phoenix. You need a high-clearance, four-wheel drive and five hours to make the 35-mile drive. Another route is driving south on Senator Hwy which is a 40-mile dirt road which also requires a high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle, rough-road driving skills and a Prescott National Forest Map.

The old company general store and old saloon run by Ike Patrick the same man who had run the hoist at the Tiger in 1879 when the bucket dropped, killing and injuring several miners. The saloon came from the ghost town of Oro Belle. Many old and original buildings, most of which are occupied. An old cemetery and desert equipment dots the area.

The mine that brought the town was the Crowned King, later called the Crown King, the Red Rock and later the Buckeye mine. The town post office came in 1888 and disbanded in 1954 and has since reopened. Enough ore came out of this and surrounding mines to warrant building a railroad to Prescott to haul ore and supplies.

The owners of the mine did not allow drunkenness so the miners who worked her were of a higher character. George P. Harrington provided the money for the Crowned King mine.

The lost treasure story connected to the Crown King begins in the 1897 during the monsoon season. George Harrington was riding in a buckboard to Prescott by an experienced freighter, J.P. Bruce. with $5,000 in bullion carried from the Crowned King Mine. They crossed the high water at Wolf Creek about six miles from Mayer and were just climbing up out of the creek when one of the horses fell. The wagon overturned and slipped back into the raging waters. Harrington grabbed on to a tree branch but Bruce and the waters swept the wagon and the horses away. A search party found the body of Bruce and searched extensively for the "never found "bullion. Authorities accused Harrington of killing Bruce and stealing the gold, but never pursued the charges.

Pancho Villa worked here as a wood chopper in the Crown Hill mine before he became a bandit. his favorite hangout was Anderson's Saloon.

Crown Point- Just past Monte Cristo Mine and the site of Constellation, on the Eastside of the Hassaymapa River. seventeen miles Northeast of Wickenburg at the terminus of Constellation Road. This place was named by the discoverers after the Crown Point mine at Gold Hill, Nevada from whence they came to Arizona. Tailings and one building are all that remains.

The mines started in the late 1890's, complete with a mill and a town of 100 miners. Alexander O. Brodie left his mine to join Roosevelt's Rough Riders after receiving the news about the sinking of the battleship "Maine" in Havana Harbor. but continued to fund the mine called Crown Point until 1905. In 1900, the post office arrived.

Curtis- See Arizona City- The town sat on Big Bug Creek about four miles above Mayer but not much is known , other than the post office came in 18901 with Marvin a. Baldwin as postmaster.

Pioneer prospectors "Uncle" Billy Gavin and Theodore W. Boggs discovered copper outcrops near the banks of Big Bu Creek in the early 1880s. Phelps Dodge purchased the claims and built a fifty ton capacity smelter on the creek between the mines.A baby gauge railroad connected the steam hoists and works at the mine with the smelter that began in 1889. Near the melter, the camp went up named after the smelter's superintendent and containd company offices, boarding house and store.

In 1893 H.B. Clifford, fraudulently promoted the townsite of Arizona City but a few years later George A. Treadwell restarted the works and kept them sporadically until the panic of 1907.

Ore bins, a mine hoise, slag dump and railraod grade is all that remains.

Davis- RR-AT &SFRR, 8 m East of Chino Valley

Desoto- Just about eight miles East of Congress Junction, this copper mine is about a mile from Cleator. From Cleator, count four bridges, even the little one. After the fourth bridge you will see a pullout to both the right and the left. Park at either and walk to the right side of the road. Keep walking Northwest and you will come to a wash. Stand at the edge of the wash and then look to your west-. You will notice you are standing in an overgrown mining waste pile. To the Northwest, high on the ridge line, you will see large waste piles that mark the DeSoto mine. You will see what appears to look like ski lift pylons and that is how they brought cargo to where you are standing instead of the mine. All that is left is the tram that went from Desoto to Middleton.

George Middlton owned the Desoto Copper Mine. The small town had an assay office, cook house, warehouse, blacksmith, corral and residences. It overlooks the town of Middleton and had about 100 people living and working there. The post office at Middleton also served Desoto from 1903-1908. The DeSoto mine went broke and when the post office resumed in 1916, the town took the name Ocotillo when WW1 brought a large demand for copper. This post office ended in 1925. The air that blows out of this mine is freezing cold and water fills the bottom of the main shaft.

Del Pasco- This little town left many buildings near Crown King and Oro Belle.

This is the site of the first big gold strike in 1870, in the Bradshaw Mountains. Even with its own mill, they still took their gold to Prescott. The War Eagle Mine sprung up and Del Pasco mill produced for that mine also. After ten year, Del Pasco died down as the Tiger Mine was born and Del Pasco worked, off and on ever since.

Dugas- 10 m E. Cordes Junction

Fields- RR AT & SFRR, 3 m E of Nelson.

Flores- RR, 10 m South of Congress

Fool's Gulch- Not far from Stanton, Octave, Weaver and Congress, just Northeast of Congress Junction. The town was six miles by dirt road east of US89 at a point 17 miles North of Wickenbug. The camp was on a gulch which headed in Weaver Mountains near Yarnell. Runs Southwest into Martinez creek above Congress Junction. Only the mines remain now.

It is believed the name came from the saying that anyone who looked for gold there was a fool but gold was found there in 1890. This was a lively mining camp with several saloons to entertain the miners.

A story in an 1896 newspaper may hold a better explanation for the name. The story told about a robber killed by the\ saloonkeeper in the Hoffman saloon. A masked robber got $22 in coin and a valise of Hoffman's clothing. He came back to town again, fool that he was, but this time to a saloon kept by John McDonald who was behind the bar, talking with two miners. He was holding them at gunpoint when W.A. Clark, the superintendent of the Planet Saturn Mine entered the hut that was the bar. Holding them at gunpoint, the gunman took $10 in cash from Clark and was ready to take his watch when Clark grabbed the gun, assisted by the miners standing at the bar. McDonald ran behind the bar and grabbed a gun and shot the thief through the head.

Later investigation revealed the masked robber was John Lane, a cowboy who just moved to the camp coming up from Chaparral when he ran a butcher shop. Where they put the body has not yet been determined.

The Planet- Saturn Mining Company built a 75-ton capacity mill here in 1897 and 140 men worked at this site. It had a post office in 1898 and 400 people followed. The company went broke in 1905 and reopened in 1938. The government ordered the gold mines closed, ending the life of the town and leaving tons of gold behind.

Fort Rock- This little fort is found twenty-five miles South of Nelson. Take I-40 W to Exit 91 ( Flagstaff to CA) On the Hardyville-Prescott stage road. Remains of Thad Buckman's house are still there.

In 1866, Hualapai warriors attacked the Buckman stage, southeast from Exit 91- on I-40. J.J. Buckman's son Thad built a playhouse on the grounds. When some Indians attacked, Buckman and another man ran into the playhouse and exchanged fire for hours, killing many Indiana. After the raid, Buckman changed the name to Fort Rock in honor of his son's playhouse.

Fort Misery- Found just down from Crown King. There is one building standing and many evidences of occupation.

Al Francis built Fort Misery as his home while he was in charge of hauling ore from Oro Belle to Crown King and jokingly called his home Fort Misery. The mining lasted through the 1920's. Francis, along with Burro John put the grave headstone of William Bill Kentuck's grave.

Fritsche- Nothing remains at this town in Big Chino Wash on the Westside of Big Black Mesa on the Westside of Hwy 89.

It once had a post office from 1913-1918 named for H.W. Fritsche, a well-known stockman of this locality. Now a small ranching community called the Pierce Ranch and the Los Vegas Ranch.

Gilbert- See Sayers- On King Solomon gulch, Eastside Hassayampa. Seven miles North of Wickenburg on Constellation Rd. The King Solomon mine is three miles south of Constellation. It got its post office in 1899 with William J. Gilbert the first postmaster. This station and half-way house between Wickenburg and Constellation was operated by William Gilbert and later George Sayers who took care of thirsty miners at the nearby king Solomon, Unida and other mines. A country road still passes by and a sign posted to a palo verde tree locates it on King Solomon Wash.

Remains of the Bufford Hotel

Courtesy of Ghosttowns of AZ

Gillett- Gillett sits on Agua Fria River and the Black Canyon State Road, 2 miles West of Rock Springs. From I-17m coming from Phoenix, exit at Table Mesa Rd. Follow Table Mesa Rd about four miles to the New River Gravel Company sign. Turn to the right and cross the Aqua Fria River to the opposite back. Take the road to the right immediately after crossing the river. Follow that for a few hundred yards and there will be a deep drop just next to the remnants of the hotel. Here sits old Gillette.

The old stage stop is located about 1.5 miles east of the flat, near the bottom of the Agua Fria River. It was the milling town for the Tip Top silver mine and the station on Black Canyon Stage Road, Prescott to Phoenix, at the junction of Agua Fria and New River.Wagons hauled the silver from Tip Top nine miles over steep mountain roads to the mill where they melted it and shipped it on to San Francisco.

The remains of the old stage-stop, a hotel and a few stone building remain, the site of the crime of Henry Seymour. A blacksmith in Gillette, when time allowed, Seymour held up three different stagecoaches in 1882 on the outskirts of town, stealing some $69,00. He was caught bringing gold into a poker game and although they captured him, he never revealed his casche.

Just about a mile from Lake Pleasant, this busy, lawless, stage stop town saw its share of violence. More robberies were committed here than anywhere else in Arizona. It was William Thomas, a merchant of Tip Top who was shot by three Mexican's on foot who stopped the stagecoach and started firing into it. Thomas collapsed andone of the Mexican's threw him off the stage. They robbed the other passengers and din't bother the other driver. Thomas was brought h to gillette but died of his wounds. One of the robbers was caught and hung in Phoenix in 188.

Most well known shooters, including Wyatt Earp passed through. the "Stage Robber's Capital" which was Gillette. On June 12, 1878 two killings and a lynching happened with hours. A man by the name of Setwright got involved in an argument in the saloon and broke a bottle of the hear of his opponent. he was arrested by Sheriff Jmes C. Burnett for drunkeness. Later that day, Mr. Weir, a respected citizen asked the sheriff to release Setwright so he could take hm back to his camp and sober him up. burnett agred and the two set off. Later, the mule Weir had been riding wandered back into Gillett. They found Wei shot in the head some two hundred yards up the trail. The Sheriff Burnett and a posse went off to look for Setwright which they found a mile and half near Moore's Station. he was taken back to Gillett and put in the custody of the Sheriff, Colonel Taylor and E.P. Raines.

A mob formed and although Burnett told them that the prisoner would be taken to Prescott, demaned Setwright. He was given up and dragged from the hosue and minutes later hangin from a cottonwood tree.

Besides a post office from 1878-1887, the town had houses, stores, a blacksmith, four saloon, and the Burfind Hotel, and of course, a cemetery. The town had six streets, Main, California, North, Pine, Mill and Market,

When the Tip Top Mining Company moved its mill to the town of Tip Top, in 1886, the Gillett declined and it remained a place for the stagecoach. It went ghost in 1887.

Gleed- RR-AT & SF-RR, 13 W of Ash Fork.

Gflen Ilah-Homes, a restaurant and a gas station with a quickie mark and is called yarnell by most of the folks.

Glen Oaks- All that is left of this town on SR 89 is the village well and a few foundations. It is now a small ranching town near Prescott.

Goddard(s)/Canyon- See Canyon- A station on the Black Canyon stage route to Phoenix, on the Agua Fria, at the mouth of Squaw Creek.

Named after an old time goat owner who lived here whose son was supervisor of Tonto National Forest at Roosevelt in 1910.

Goldbar- With four standing building, a head frame, mining building and a stamp mill, Goldbar is just nine miles past the Monte Cristo mine.

F.X. O'Brien and James Mahoney discovered the Gold Bar Mine in 1877. O'Brien married Patricia Hutchinson, the daughter of W.T. Hutchinson, an engineer of the Vulture Mine. They bought Henry Wickenburg's home in Wickenburg and after F.X's death, Patricia turned it into a dude ranch.

Columbia-

Goodwin- On Turkey Creek where the Senator Hwy divides to Crown King or Mayer at the Goodwin site, nothing remains but the sign that reads "Goodwin" . The mining camp is about four miles North of Bueno in Prescott National Forest.

The town started up in 1882 was named for the first governor of Arizona, John N. Goodwin. When the Non-such Mining Company bought the mine, its life began. They built a mill and smelter along with a stage station, hotel and store for all of the miners in the area that ran for the next fifty years.

Grand View- RR, 10 S of Hillside

Granite- RR-AT & SF-RR, Sect 7, 7 m S of Chino Valley

Groom Creek- Began with a gold placer in the 1860s.First a creek and then a camp, this town took its name from an early prospector, Robert Groom. Just six miles Southeast of Prescott, the area filled with wild flowers, earned the name "flower garden of Arizona" by the miners, admiring its abundant poppies. There were four mills surrounding the creek and two stage stations that served whiskey to thirsty miners. One was the Rock Saloon and the other Half-Way House just west of the present settlement and along the origianl Senator Wagon roads that served whisky to dusty teamsters freighting to the mines. Two miles South along the Senator Highway at Wolf Creek crossing was the Buckhorn station who satisfied thirsty travelers. The King Kelly Mine was a gold mine, l/2 miles East of Groom Creek Village. The Monte Cristo, Home Run, Empire and Midnight Test mines were serviced by this camp. Soutest of the road in the narrow Hassayampa 5iver Canyon are the dump and buildings of the Senator mine.

Harrington- See Oro Belle

Harqua Hala- Bonzana and Gold Eagle Mines

Hawkins- Between Weaver and Date Creek Mountain on Date Creek Road. Rte. 62 between Hillside and Congress sits Hawkins. Only the sign between the Atchinson-Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. Near the Big Stick Mine, 5 m S of Date Creek. Named after banker John J. Hawkins who was one of the partners that founded the Bank of Arizona.

Haynes- Near Jerome with several buildings and the mines still visible.

Once a railroad station for the Big Stick Mine where Lloyd C. Haynes was the superintendent. The mining buildings were moved here from nearby mines including the post office that operated from 1808-1922. Purchased in 1960, the town was reborn and made into a tourist attraction.

Hillside-ust North of Hillside Station, 8.5 miles about .75 miles on the Santa Maria River sits the Mammoth Mine, thirty-two miles from Hillside Station, on a deep canyon on East South Boulder Creek- Section 16-21 Twp., and 12 N 7 Range 9W is the Hillside mine with two miles of underground tunnels. An easy road out of Congress which is still working, this station was the Ash Fork-Phoenix branch of the A.T. & S. F. Railroad, on Date Creek.

John Lawlr, an ex-Kansas City streetcar operator, discovered the Hillside gold mine in 1887 and built a mill and road. They built the town on a hillside. H.H. Waqrner, a New Your patent mediine dealer bought the mine and promoted his Seven Stars Mining Co. Even his advertisments for the "Safe Cure' contained information on his mind. t. A. Rickard was hired to superintend the opening of the mine and the construction of a second mill but Warn'er's fradulent promotion collapsed wit the financial panicof 1893. He paid Lawler only about one half of the owed price and the the mine went back to the previous owner John Lawler. They discovered tungsten and uranium with the machinery still used from that period, today..

In 1876, two bandits robbed $40,000 in gold bars from a stage-coach which were cut in half for transportation. The outlaws were killed in Thompson Valley. Part of the loot was recovered and the rest is hidden in the mountains somewhere between the Vulture Mine and where the town of Hillside is located today.

Hooper- (Meesville)(Forsyth Flat )- North of Crown King on Towers Creek, 70 miles North of Phoenix, this town was called Foresight after the Foresythe family who once lived here. The post office came in 1900 and today, nothing remains. The town served as stage-stop for Prescott to Alexandia Rd. and had a post office around the turn of the century. Not to waste, they moved the buildings to the Hooper mining camp on Prescott-Crown King on Senator Hwy.off US-89.

Howells- Down Lynx Creek from Walker, just about 12 miles Southeast of Prescott near the head of the Aqua Fria. Six and one-half miles South of SR 69 and four miles East of Prescott, less than a mile down Lynx Creek from Walker. Only foundations are left today from this old mining camp of 200 people.

John Howell, a metallurgist built a large smelting work including two stack smelters, quartz mill and sawmill. With an assay office, blacksmith shop, boarding house, state station, and saloon and company store, they earned their post office here from 1883-1893. Henry Goldwater, Barry Goldwater's uncle ran one store, for a year. The miners took 173,825 in silver and lead but the high cost of hauling coke in from the railroad became too expensive.

Humboldt along ridge on the right hand side

Humboldt- Started out as Val Verde and not much of a footprint left. -Not many, old, historic buildings are unoccupied on this well traveled road between Phoenix and Prescott.

Ranchers and Miners were not the first residents as Indian ruins dating back from 900 AD. to 1300 AD were found. Southwest of Prescott on Crown King branch of A.T & S.F. Railroad. Cecil Fennel was the first to acquire land and water rights for the Val Verde Smelter in 1880 and the town called Val Verde was company owned. The mine officials built their homes in an elite neighborhood above the smelter which was called Nob Hill. The post office in 1899 and the town was taken over by Humbold in 1905. It processed the ore from the Blue Bell and Desoto Mines and the Prescott and Eastern Railroad found their way to their door.

After a disastrous fire in 1904, the smelter based from the Bradshaw Mountain Copper Smelting Company to the Arizona Smelting Company and by 1906, the l, 000 ton per day smelter was completed. The town was now well established and need a post office.

The town whose namesake was a German explorer, Baron Alexander Von Humboldt had 1,000 people and two trains by 1907. Its smelter produced $17,325,000 in copper and lead and most of it came from the DeSoto, McCabe and Blue Bell mines. Shortly after the ore played out, residents discovered a vein next to Main Street in 1939 and called it the Iron King, which shut down in 1967.

By 1916 Humboldt had a thousand residents, three hotels, boardinghouses, three mining companies, several retail stores, hospital, railroad depot, Movie Theater, churches, ten saloons and several brothels.

The Bauman copper Mine, the Blue Bell and the DeSota were few of the local mines.

Humbug -Humbug, you say, and still sits just West of Prescott near Wasson peak, about two miles Southwest of Crown King. With many buildings and a caretaker it is just North of Lake Pleasant.

Placer gold in Humbug Creek sprung up and so did Humberg with a mill and a town. Working it until the early 1930's. workers had to drive to Wickenbuurg for the mill and miners walked to the Crown King Saloon on the weekend, some twenty miles away and all uphill. Some knew the place as "Damm Humbug" perhaps for the amount of Fool's Gold found here.

For twenty miles along the Humbug, French Creek, Cow Creek are the famous Humbug Placers.

Huron- Nothing left of this station of the Prescott-Middleton branch of the A.T. & S. F. Railroad, 27 miles Southeast of Prescott, just off of 89. It is two miles South of Humbuldt on 'State Rout 69 along abandoned railroad grades to the West.

The town was an exit station for the McCabe and Chaparral town on the Prescott and Eastern railroad. The town had fifty residents, a hotel, saloon and a post office that opened in 1901. When McCabe and Chaparrel played out around 1910, so did Huron.

Iron King- See Humbolt/Blanchard-Lots of old buildings and equipment from later times with some current mining operations going on now. It is near Walker.

The town got its first post office in 1903 and was called Blanchard- The name was changed to Iron King in 1907. The mine only lasted three years and closed in 1912.

Iron Springs- RR 6 m NW of Prescott.

Jerome- Located on the Prescott National Forest, most of the town is original and has functioning businesses and many ghosts. The first scraping of minerals on Mingus Mountain trace back to the yar 935 and th Tuzigoot Indians. They wre followed by Antonio de Espejo in 1583 and by Marcos Farfan delos Godos in 1598. It wasn't until the arrival of Al Sieber, General crook's able scout that the first claim was filed on Mungus but he he failed to develop it because the finances were not available. It was the claim by M.A. ruffner and Angus MdKinnon that started the stampede. Again due to finances, the mine was leased to Governor Tritle of Arizona. It was he how intrested James A. Mac Donald and Eugene Jerome of New York to form a company and in 1882 the United Verde Company was formed and the town named for him.

For two years things were profitiable but the price of copper took a fall in 1884 and the mine clothes. The United Verde attracted the attention of Montana's Senator William A Clark coupled with the increase in the copper prices, Jerome grew. Three fires, in 1897, 1898 and 1899 didn't stop the growth and when rebuilt the last time, the town had four govery stores, five confectionery and fruit stands, six dry good stores, six lodging houses, eleven restaurants, seventeen saloons, a hardward store, a tailor shop, a bank, two bakeries, two jewelry stores, two durgstors, a telephone company and professional business from photography to dentistry.

The post office came to Jerome in 1883 and the post office and their ghosts never left the town that clings to the slopes of Cleopatra hill and was once the fifth largest town in Arizona and one of the most law abiding. One incident was reported in the early days and occurred between Jack Habercorn, called "Happy Jack" and Bob Williams. Jack stabbd Williams with a pointed miner's candlestick and he was promptly arrested. The trial was held at one of the saloons and the Judge was the Justice of the Peach Major Oatie. Happy Jack was found quilty and he was fined "drinks for the house".

Another incident was the arrivals of two strangers who got there on Sunday in November of 1900. In the wagon they carried a petrified man. The stone man was taken to the St. Elmo Saloon where residents crowed into the saloon to see the strange male remains. the owner of the petrified man could point out the bullt hole and told how the man was buried in a lime deposit. The owner of the speciman, got drunk and wound up in jail. he was bailed out with a $10.00 advance and the two men and their strange stone companion left for places unknown.

Its lifeblood was copper and when that played out, Jerome headed for the grave. From a place that housed over 15,000 people, the end came with the end of mining in the 1950's. Jerome seemed destined to die if it were not life-saving efforts of the Jerome Historical Society who went to work to revive the town which is now known as "the newest and biggest ghost town in Arizona".

The Monarch Mine (Mocking Bird Mine), a gold mine located 12 miles SSE of Jerome at 4,500 feet of altitude came to light in 1886 by the Verde Mines Development Co. They developed the mine to 200 feet.

Jerome Junction/Copper Siding- Take the old railroad bed to Jerome about twenty- six miles. Foundations and the railroad remain to this old railroad stop between Jerome and Prescott.

Dating back to 1894, it served Santa Fe, Phoenix and Prescott railroad for fifteen years and built on the side of Woodchute Mountain. It once went over on its side, and miraculously the engineer survived. When the Santa Fe railroad went into Clarksdale, the train made its last run. The town was active for fifteen years. Roustabouts transferred freight from the narrow gauge and travelers alighted at te Junction Hotel or the saloons while waiting for trins to carry them the twenty-six crooked miles to Jerome. Hairpin curves and steep grades over Woodchute Mountain frightned many a traveler. and Jerome Junction became a ghost.When the train made its last run, the residents movd to Jrome or Chino Valley. A railroad siding and foundations mark the spot.

Jersey Lilly- This lady sets off US 89 on Slate Creek about 18 miles south of Prescott. The town honored the mine, Jersey Lily named after Lily Langtry with hardly her footprint is left. Funded by British investors in 1895, the Jersey Lily Gold Mining Co, Ltd. The post office opened for a brief moment for only $7,000 came out in gold before it closed.

Johnson- When placer gld discoveries brought prospectrs t Blck Cnyon of Turkey Crek and tributary gulches. a small gold rush began in 1874 when Jack Swilling discovered gold ledges brought about this camp.

Juniper- See Camp Hualpai

Kentuck's Cabin- William Bill Kentuck, Civil War Veteran built a two- story cabin and died there. Burro John and Al Francis of Fort Misery on a hill buried him across from his cabin.

Kirby- See Briggs, Copperopolis

Lelance- Near McCabe, 2 m from Canyon, 1 m South of ongress Junction.

Martinez - Just a tad East of Date Creek Mountain, this town had a post office in 1890 and was a mining community, probably for the Iron King Mine. Numerous gold mines Northwest of Congress with the first discovery of gold in 1870 and running till 1910.

Marion- Established in 1871 in Minnehaha Flat with a store, sawmill, slaughterhouse and bakery.

Massicks- Lower Lynx Creek and holds some foundations and once a placer mine discovered by Thomas G. Barlow in 1890 where gravel was hydraulically washing with big water hoses and sluices would remove the gold. The post office came in 1898 as Massicks was the superintendent and in charge of the construction of a huge dam. He built himself a large three-storied mansion where he met his death in 1899 when his gun fell from his holster and shot him in the back. At the most, ninety men worked and lived in the camp of half dozen frame buidings surrounding Barlow's mansion. They continued to work the site well into the 920's and today the Arizona Park System uses the mansion.

A mile on a dirt road South of SR 69 at a point ten miles East of Prescott.

Maxton Sometimes called the Senator, the road to the town is on the side of the canyon, about three miles north of Venezia. It still has mine and equipment, mill and store owned by Max Alwen.

The town had a post office in 1915-1918. with the name of the town and the mine taken from Max Alwen. Some say Max is still here along with the ore tracks leading to the mine as you drive Senator Hwy. The gold found there in 1860, supported a town, complete with a school. When the gold played out in 1918, so did Maxton

Lane Maine Boarding House Circ 1905

Courtest Sharlot Hall Museum

McCabe- Five miles Southeast of Prescott, the name came from its mine, the McCabe mine. Soon to be lost for discovery is a onely, overgrown cemetery.

A familiar story, the McCabe mine, created in 1890's and before long, 600 people moved to the area with a post office lasting from 1897 to 1919. It had a stage line, a six bed hospital built by Dr. Robert N. Looney, a school and of course, a saloon.

The Last Chance Saloon was the site of the shooting of "Cripple Creek Jack" Lafoe, by Johnny Miller in 1897. Miller fired two shots into LaFoe, the first one piercing his heart. LaFoe, described as a tough character, provoked the trouble by entering the saloon and shooting around the room in a dangerous manner. Although iller fired the shots, they exonerated him from blame.

About the same time, Oscar Johnson, a recluse-miner, lived in Mc Cabe. Hoarding his wealth, he buried his gold around his cabin. Johnson mysteriously disappeared but no one ever claimed to find his money.

In 1900 it had a fire that burned down fourteen of the buildings and the town suffered a smallpox explosion in 1901. Mrs. James Broyles of Ash Fork had gone to viist her brother in McCabe. While there he got sick and Ms. broyles was required to stay as a guest in his home until the quarantine was lifted. Her husband, ames Broyles, alone in Ash fork decided to sneaqk into his brother in laws house and got his wife. the case was brought before Judge Moore who accepted james Broyles ' pleas of guilty and fined him one hundrd dollars. Both husband and wife were sprayd with an antiseptic and depated for Ash Fork.

The mine closed in 1913 and so did McCabe.

Located some 1.75 miles Southwest of the McCabe Cemetery, along High Chaparral Gulch, a blast house, foundation and a well remains. The well is to the north about 40- feet deep. Originally owned by John Jones and called the Union Mine, produced some $150,00 mostly in gold until 1934.

McCormick City- On Arrasta Creek-with a dozen families and a post office in June, 1880 and named for the Governor.

Meath- RR-AT & SFRR, 10 SE of Ash Fork

Meesville- See Hooper- Settlement in Bradshaw mountains, east of Del Pasco Mountain and about two miles Southwest of Alexander, Named for James Mee who located here in 1880 and did some mining establishing the Tuscumbia mine and later built a quartz mill two miles northeast of the mine. He milled ore for himself and for others Post office came in 1881 with James Mee as postmaster. A stage station for the prescott-Alexanda road operatedhere as did a store and post office until 1885. When mining revived around the turn of the centry, the camp's building were moved to nearby Hooper mining camp on the Prescott-rown King road. Nothings remains at Meesville or Hooper.

1904 station served the mines in Crazy Basin in the Bradshaws

Middleton- See Desoto, Octillo- Just eight miles East of Congress Junction, the town was built along the road between the Crowned King Mine and the Crowned King Mill on the flattest and the lowest part of the Bradshaw Basin. The town took the name of the owner of the DeSoto Mine, George Middleton.In 1903 the Bradshaw Mountain Railroad Company opened Middleton station below the DeSoto mine which deliverd 300 tons of copper ore daily to bins at the siding via a 4000 foot tramway.

The mine had bunk houses for 100 miners, a cook house, blacksmith shop, store house, mine office and stables.

Minnehaha- A mining camp on Minnehaha Flat. The Minnehaha Mines in 1878 in Hinton's Handbook Town and flat named after the mine. It is Southwest of Crown King off the Senator Hwy. It still displays a mine and some buildings with a caretaker. The roadto get there is extremely difficult to travel.

The area had many mines, Marion, McCormick, Patterson, Taylor and Button to name a few. Minnehaha was the gateway to the Bradshaw Mountains. It post office lasted from 1880 to 1890 when the post office moved to the Button mine until it closed in 1910.

Moreland- Also called the Tiger mine, it is one-half mile off the road. There are remnants of a mine and a mill.

The Tiger mine had the first patent recorded in 1874 and worked till 1870, just after the Del Pasco, and then changed its name to Moreland City. The Tiger faced Indian attacks and defended its position until the Indian removal in 1875.

The town had a store, hotel and a school district among other things. Drinking was a problem in the town and many men killed as a drunken hoist operator dropped men down the shaft of the mine making it a perfect place for a ghost hunt.

Octave- Mining camp a Many original building, foundations, tailings and mining equipment make for great pictures and a few ghosts. When the mine closed after WW22 the buildings were razed in order to reduce taxes. Ten miles by dirt road and East of US 89 seventeen miles North of Wickenburg.

With a post office from 1900-1942 although the town started in 1864. Nearby Rich Hill supported the Octave, Stanton and Weaver mines. Eight men bought the Joker and other claims. They also bought the Mudhole mine at Walker, thus the name Octave. It had a school, grocery, general store and stage line. The town originally called Weaver took the name Octave, for the mine in 1900. The mail stopped coming when the post office moved, so did the residents. To cut taxes, they removed most of the buildings after World War 11. The town survived until 1941 when Executive Order 201 outlawed gold. The post office closed permanently in 1942. " Look for the Golden Cup Treasure" on "Rich Hill."

Just above the camp on the flat topped mountain adjoining Stanton, Weaver and Rich Hill is an area filled with mines and pacers. Large gold nuggets are discovered laying on the surface debris of Rich Hill.

Ocotillo- See DeSoto, Middleton- 8 m E Congress Junction

Oro Belle Circa 1898 View of the camp looking West

Courtesy Sharlot Hall Museum

Oro Belle/ Harrington- All that is there today is the mill for the Oro Belle Mine with two of the mill's walls still standing along with smaller structures built into the rock of the canyon with many tailing piles and other mine related items. At the town site, leaning walls of an old boarding house, the old safe house, a few foundations and the tram system. South of Wasson Peak, 3 miles South of Crown King.

The name comes from the Spanish meaning "beautiful gold". The Oro Belle Mining and Milling Company started working the Oro Belle claims in 1898. The town had 200 residents. The town had a sheriff and a Justice of the Peace.

One hundred miners from Oro Belle worked the Oro Belle and Gray Eagle veins. it was the late 1890s when George P. Hrringotn obtained the claimes and organized the Oro Belle Mining and Milling Company. From 1900 to 1910 the camp had two hundred men and an assortment of saloons, markets and stores. A deputy sheriff and jsutice of the peace enforced th laws and meted out justice.The camp went by the name of Harrington, after George P. Harrington, the mine manager from 1904-1918. He was replace in 1905 because some of the stockholders felt he was too lavish in expenditures. Schlesinger took over his job.

Schlesinger was a penny pincher and did all he could to save the company mney including the food at the boardinghouses. The camp revolted and threatened to quit in mass. Schlesinger resigned is positiion and Harrinton was reinstated.

No one ever recovered the safe, stolen from the house in the mid-seventies. The contents rumored to be gold. The saloon building came from Alexandia then hauled by mule, board by board to Crown King when the Oro Belle mine closed in the late 1890's.

Oro Grand- The remains are in a box canyon. Scattred wood and stone buildings from the Oro Grande, White and other mines. Hiking is required. Wood and stone building along with the mine is the reward. Four and one half miles North of Wickenburg via river bottom and jeep trail.

Rumors of lost treasures come from the story of Negro Ben's Lost Mine said to be located near Oro Grand or Antelope Peak. Heads up for treasure hunters. For further information on the treasure see, Guide to Treasure in Arizonaor Buried Treasures You Can Find.

A $2,000 gold strike in 1901 brought the miners running to Black Rock district. They put $250,000 into the area but only $50,000 came out, even though it came with a 10-stamp mill and its own pumping plant at the Hassayampa River.

Packer- In a remote area with a few buildings, the Tip Top Road, will take you into the ghost camp of Packer, an old pack-mule train stopping point on the way to Crown King. The back road can be dangerous so don't travel alone.

Palace Station- On Senator Hwy, seven miles North of Crown King and South of Crook Canyon, 11 miles West of Prescott on Mt.Vernon/

Senator Hwy. on Forest Rd. 52. rests a rugged, old, log cabin, one of the oldest structures in Arizona. Tale some great pictures from the outside for there is "no admittance." A.B. Spence rebuilt the stage stop built in 1874 as a log cabin in 1878 as the Palace Stations halfway between the Prescott and Peck Mine. Once called the Mt. Vernon Station it is on the dirt road to Crown King. The US Forest Service uses it as an administration and information site.

Founded by R. .J. Lambuth who came to Arizona in 1873. He settled on Groom Creek where he opened a sawmill. He and his family moved to Crooks Canyon, where they built their home. It was the halfway point on the stage line from Prescott to Crown King which took a full days travel. In 1877, it became the stage stop for the Prescott-Phoenix Stage Line. Passenger ate and the horses were watered When the Spencer family acquired the station it was renamed the Spencer Spring Station. It sported a bar and was the gathering place for miners. When her husband died in 1908, his wife sold it to the Forest Service. She buried her husband in the nearby cemetery.

Pamela- Now a mining community but not much known about its location other than it was close to Prescott with a post office from 1881-1883 whose postmaster was Fernando Nellis.

Pan- RR AT & SF RR, 5 m E Seligman

Paulden- A station for the Prescott-Ask Fork Railroad, 89 miles south of Puntenney called the "Midway Grocery". Named after Paul who was accidentally killed her, the son of O.T. Pownall. The post office came in 1926 with Orville T. Pownall as postmaster.

Perkinsville- RR AT & SFRR, Sect. 31, 13 m NW of Clarkdale.

Phoenix Wells- Stage station on Agua Fria on direct road from Phoenix, Wickenburg, Camp McDowell.

Pica- RR-AT & SFRR 23 w of Seligman

Pickerell- 3/4 of a mile off the Senator Highway along the Walker branch oad. On the Senator Hwy with just a few mining remnants, the place that Colonel A.J. Pickerall built a ten-stamp mill in 1897. Pickerell boasted 100 residents with two saloons and a store. The land had been the ranch of "Hassayamper" Jeff Davis who gave the nearby peak its name, not for himself but the more distinguished Southerner. The near by Peak was named after the famous southerner, Davis Peak so the miners from the north named the nearby, higher peak, " Union".

Piedmont- Five miles North of Congress, between Weaver Mountain and Date Creek on Date Creek Road, County Rte 62 between Hillside and Congress shows us that all that is left is a sign that marks the Atchinson Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Line station. Twenty-three miles North of Wickenburg, between Congress Junction and Haynes. The name came from the variety of colors on nearby mountains.

Pineveta- RR AT & SF RR, 6 m W of Ash Fork

Prospector's home

Placerio- A mining camp about 8 miles East of Peeples Valley on Placerita Gulch. Off Wagoner Road, about twenty miles South of Prescott, 8 miles SE of Kirkland Junction and marked by a small stone cabin and lots of rubble.

This name came in with early miners from California, called Placerita, a diminutive of placer, in Spanish which means the place near a riverbank where gold dust is found and washed out. Less than 100 people called the place home, whose post office ran from 1896 to 1910. Placeria Gulch was the site of the gold for the early prospectors, placer gold but the site abandoned when the surface gold was gone. In 1880 "Grizzley" Callen found small veins and opened a quartz mill. Goats and cattle followed and the town in 1905 had all of thirty people living there.

The Placerita Road holds the gate of the Zonia which was the site of the free world's largest non-nuclear blast in 1980, superceding the blast near Copper Creek. The blast, engineered by DuPont used 4,140,000 pounds of explosion. For more on this blast, see DuPont Blasters' Handbook, 1980.

Poland- A mining camp on Big Bug Creek, 9 miles SE of Prescott, at Western end of the branch road from Poland Junction, Prescott, and Eastern Railroad. Poland-Walker Tunnel entrance remains as well as some foundation, and tailings. The town lies about six and one half miles off AZ 69 at Poland Junction Road. The turn off is four and one half miles Northwest of AZ 69.

From Phoenix, take I-17 North to Cordes Junction and AZ 69 from there.

The Poland mine began in 1872 and took its name from Davis R. Poland who came from Tennessee. By 1872, eight hundred people had moved in. There was a post office from 1901-1913. It had several hotels, the largest being the South Poland Hotel with some 14 rooms.

Miners were only paid $2.25 a day not including their food or lodging which cost them $1 a day. They struck and received $4 a day.

A two-mile tunnel, dug through the mountain to Walker to facilitate ore transport, carted the ore to Poland where a branch of the Prescott-Crown King Railroad connected the town to the main line that fed Meyer. It was the project of Frank Murphy, the conceiver and builder of the "Most Impossible Railway up the mountain to Crown King. When the ore decreased in tenor, the town was on its deathbed.

Dumps for the gold hunters are found at the foot of Big Bug Mine, accessible by Black Canyon Highway. Find the tunnel and you will see the dumps. .25 miles West of the tunnel and mica from the road branching North east from Senator Hwy about l/8 mile. Just South of the Hassayampa Bridge is Money Metal Mine, a gold lode mine. West one mile and .5 of a mile North of Big Bug Creek is the Hennetta Mine, lode gold silver, lead and copper mine. Located on Turkey Creek, a early day producer of gold and silver, one mile North of Pine Flat, the Cumberland Mine and mill.

Providence- Nothing remains at the site that is on Big Bug Creek about six miles east of the Poland mine near Big Bug Mine that us not far from McCabe Once 20 business and 3 mills lined the Big Bug Creek now only landscape.

Even thought he post office came in 1899, no money was every made from the mine other than the proceeds that went to a fraudulent promoter, Henry B.Cliffordwho wrote a book on how to commit mine fraud. The book was entitled "Rocks in the Road to Fortune". His best known mine near Providence was called the "Great Belcher".

Puntenney- Just North of Paulden, RR AT &SFRR, 2.5 miles Southwest of Cedar Glade, was a stop on the AT and SF Railroad -Ash Fork to Prescott line. Its post office came in 1891 under the name George Puntenney, misspelled by the post off and the town became Punten. He built the first lime kilns here.

Rams Gate- RR- 5 m N of Skull Valley

Richinbar- Four miles E. of Bumble Bee on the West side of Agua Fria River, 10 m S of Cordes Junction. It is across the Agua Fria River near Perry Star Canyon, on the N side of Joe's Hill. A pool filled with porcelain dishes and cups is all that is left. A man named Zika found it and called it Richinbar, coined from Rich Bar.This gold mining town had well over fifty people living here. Duquesone and Kentucky Standard Mining worked here and piped the water in from the Aqua Fria. Water in the canyon below was stored in a pool on top of a hill. The post office came in 1896 and the town went ghost in 1912.

Rock Butte- RRAT & SFRR, 15 m SE of Ash Fork.

Rutherford- On Constellation Mine Road out of Wickenburg, It was the halfway point between Wickenburg and Constellation. The camp was operated first by William Gilbert was the first operator and then George Sayers. They served thirsty miners from nearby mines and travelers as they went to and from Wickenburg. The post office came into this small mining community in 1907 with Elizabeth Hopper as postmistress.

Sayersville/Sayers- Follow Constellation Mine Road out of Wickenburg. Called Sayers or Gilbert. L/2 stop between Wickenburg and Constellation. Established by William Gilbert, later George Sayers. Catered to miners and travelers.

It was August 11, 1909 when George Sayrs was loading a wagon of merchanise from his general store here in Sayersville, for transportation to Octave when suddenly the explosion of a shotgun rang out. A number of old timers who wre in the store ran out and found Mr. Sayers lying on the ground with one side almost torn away and covered with blood. He was rushed in a critical condition to Octave, a distance of abou seven miles where there is a surgeon. Mr. Sayers always kpt a loaded gun at the bottom of his wagon and it is surmised that while loading up, he struck the hammer with a box of merchandise causing it to explode. George Sayers is a prince of a good fellow. It is known that he never had turned awaya wanderr of the hills who was really in want.

Senator- About ten miles South of Prescott on the Northside of Mount Union, Senator has some remaining structures.

This small mining camp served the Senator Mine discovered in the late 1860s but Apache's prevented them from working it . It was worked by various miners and then Phelps Dodge. It had a 10-stamp mill and according to the Hinton's Hand Book, 1878 had $50,00 worth of ore which assays $85 per ton, gold. It was here the term "Hassayamper" was first used by S.O. Fredericks, a hard rock miner from Nevada. He needed men at the Senator mine, men who were accustomed to the use of drills and hammers. Most local miners at that time, were placer miners from California who were working along the Hassaymapa. Fredericks posted a notice "Hard Rock miners wanted- No Hassayampers hired.

A saloon and store opened and a burro exress line ran to the Senator before the mine ran out of high-grade gold. Once Phelps Dodge bought the mine in the 1890s, a business district of hotels, restuarants, saloons and stores spread up and down the river while near the mine were company stores, school and a club-house-church. Four loarge mills rimmed the camp of several hundred. in 1903 a labor strike closed the mines.the post office came in 1915 with Mary Wells as postmistress. The town went ghost in 1918. but leasers revived the operation during wWW1 and the 1930s. Total prouduction for the Senator, Cash, Storm Cloud and Pickerell exceeded 1 million. Old dams, road grades, mine dumps and foundations line the Hassayampa River.

Seymore- On Hassayampa River, 11 miles South of Prescott, 18 miles North of Wickenburg, 16 miles East of Camp Wood.

In 1879, they built a 40-stamp mill and by 1880 the camp had 232 residents serviced by a store/saloon, laundry, hotel, stage stop, restaurant, butcher and barber shop and a feed yard.

They processed ore from the Vulture in its heyday. When water ran direct to the Vulture, Seymore shut down and the milling operations moved to the Vulture Mine. There were no roads so the men had to walk to the river.

Simmons- Southwest of Del Rio on Mint Creek, along the Williams Valley Road on the West side of Prescott. It was first called the Crossroads in 1871with the only remains, the foundations of the stage station.

Named after John A. Simmons, a pioneer who settled here in 1880, a marker notes the place where wagon trains from Hardyville to Prescott and on to old Hardyville Road crossed the Mint Wash. A main attraction would be its well. The name changed to Williamson Valley in 1873 and in 1881 it changed again to Simmons. The post office closed in 1831 and it is all on private land now.

Stanton in front of his store before 1886

Stanton- From Phoenix, take US-60 (Grand Avenue) to Wickenburg, then follow US-93 West to State Route 89 North. turn right onto Stanton Rd. About two miles East of Congress. On Date Creek, in Weaver mountains near Martinez canyon. Seven miles by dirt road East of US-89 at a point 17 miles north of Wickenburg. Several buildings are standing in what is now a currently an RV park owned by the Lost Dutchman's Mining Association. Visitors are welcome.

Charles P. Stanton, an assayer at the Vulture Mine came along and got control through a series of unscrupulous transaction, came to own the town of some 200 miners and merchants. He renamed the town after himself. Stanton started out as Antelope Station in 1860, the stage run by Yaqui Wilson and another down the road run by Partridge. Stanton managed to get the Partridge to shoot Wilson and the stage station owner put in jail for murder. Wilson's partner Timmerman who took over the station and prompty sold Partridg'e's place to Barney Martin.

Stanton befriended Francisco Vega, a cold blooded murderer with a homicidal gang that would get rid of whomever he wanted gone. The one he wanted gone next was Barney martin who also owned a small ranch. After selling his ranch in 18856 and planning to take his wife and sons on a trip east loaded up their wagon for the two day trip. Weeks later their charrd bodis and burnet wagon was found a few miles from Antelope Station. No one ever paid for this crime .

A few months later Stanton was seaa table in his store reading when two Mexican thugs entered and opened fire. Cristo Lucero was a former member of the Vaga gang who was avenging an insult Staton made against his sister in 1886.

The post office came in 1875 and the name changed to Stanton. The post office closed in 1905. Stanton had a five-stamp mill, boardinghouse, store and at least a dozen houses. It was a stage station on the Prescott and Phoenix stage road.

They say his ghost still haunts the store and his saloon and is seen in the peak of the Hotel Stanton.

Two Mexican outlaws dumped $30,00 in raw gold on a pinnacle between Japanese Wash and Weaver Creek near Stanton which was never claimed.

Sterling- Off US 89, only the tunnel and shaft remains.

Discovered by Robert Groom in 1865. It was the largest operation near Prescott at that time. They built the mills and other buildings but the mines never took off. About every twenty years, they work the mines but thus far, only 10,000 in gold produced. The town is difficult to find

Stoddard- East of Mayer on Big Bug creek near Mayer, on Big Bug Creek, 5 miles East of Mayer with an old school, chimney nd a few buildings remaining.

The post office came in 1882-1927. Named for Isaac T. Stoddard, the owner of the first copper smelter in the district . The Stoddard Mine was on the Copper Mountain spur at 4,900 feet of altitude (outcrop). It closed in 1919 and reopened and losed again in 1922. It operated once again between 1945-1950.

Birdsells Boarding House 1900

The town had a school, boarding house, general store, auto garage for the three hundred people who lived there. It was home to miners from the Stoddard, Binghampton and the Copper Queen Mines. When the price of copper dropped in 1924, so did the town.

C.M. Stoddard owned the Stoddard Mine in 1926 and Eugene Meyer owned it in (1945-1950). Workings include extensive upper workings, a lower tunnel at the 700-level (4,470 feet of altitude), and a 300- foot deep winze below this level. The upper tunnel is at 4,690 feet of altitude. It produced 14,000 tons of ore at 3.82% CU (1945-1950.)

The Copper Queen adjoins the Binghampton Mine on the east owned by the Copper Queen Mining Company, (1926). Workings include 2 tunnels at 592 and 600 feet long, respectively; a 500-foot deep inclined shaft and about 8,000 feet of underground workings .

The Binghampton Mine is located on 10 claims north of the Aqua Fria River, one mile above the Stoddard Ranch near Mayer. Started in Aug. 1916 and closed March, 1919. Reopened 1920-1923. Owned by the Arizona-Binghampton Mining Co. Workings include approximately 1,000-foot deep shaft (3 compartments), 600- foot deep shaft, 1,000 feet of adit and 4,000 feet of other workings.

The Hall Mine was located l/2 mile SW of the Stoddard Mine, near Mayer. (1926 )

The Half-Moon Mine is located one mile South of the Binghampton Mine, near Mayer, at an altitude of 4,300 feet. Workings include a 535-foot deep vertical shaft with drifts from the 500 levels.

Storm Cloud- At the cross between Senator Hwy. and Walker Rd but little luck in finding any footprints. Near the Senator Mine, Maxton had Stormcloud Mill and ran ore from mines in the area, primarily Maxton. The neighboring camp was Cash which also had a mill. The mine was East of Cash on the Northwest slope of Mt. Union at about 7,200 ft. altitude. Closed down in 1910 and owned by Betty O Neal Mining Company, Nev. (1926)

Swilling Cabin- The cabin is on private property in Black Canyon City, 3 miles from Gillett. Four walls of the cabin are still in tact.

The famous Jack Swilling of Arizona fame. He was an Indian fighter, miner, rancher, farmer, developer, entrepreneur and a hell-raiser according to all reports. In his later years he sold all his business interests and went into a mining career in the Bradshaws in 1873/74. He established a ranch in Black Canyon City had this cabin as his residence. When he moved to Gillett, he kept the cabin until he died in 1878.

Squaw Creek- Flows into Agua Fria, 10 m SE of Rock Springs

Tiger- See Moreland City

Tip Top- Forty-five miles Northwest of Phoenix in the Bradshaw Mountains on Rock Creek, 10 miles South of Rock Springs, these and several stone buildings with hotel, assayer's office, saloon, brewery and restaurant still standing. Other stone homes and businesses scatter over three miles around Tip Top. The foundations of the silver stamp mills, mining office and several other building remain above the town. Lucky searchers still find gold in the tailings near some of the old buildings.

The post office came in 1880-1895. The Tip Top Mine was discovered by Moore and Corning in 1875 referred to as tip top men, meaning men of good character. Many of Tip Top's miners were veterans of the Civil War both Union and Confederates. they all carried firearms to ward of renegade Indians.

It had six saloons, general stores, restaurants, brothels, shoe store, blacksmith, Chinese laundry, butcher shop, stables/feed yard, school and a stage line to Prescott. It was the largest mining town in central Arizona and had a population at one time of 1,200. It took its name from the TipTop silver mine. TipTop extended along Cottonwood Creek for three miles. Most of the businesses lined the creek below the TipTop Mine. Another area of town was above the gulch housing a hotel and stores that sat parallel to Grapevine Springs, the town's water supply.

At first the mill at Gillette was where the wagon freight trains using 12 to 16 mules made daily trips though the mountains hauling silver to Gillette. Later TipTop built its own silver mill and between 1878 -1883 milled $1.5 million in Silver.

The town, known for the gambling and drinking, drew gamblers came from all over Arizona to TipTop on the sixth of each month when the miners got paid and would bring their money to the tables.

The town had a courthouse where Constable Joe Walker ran things and only a few killings recorded during the life of TipTop. Two men were killed in gunfight, one man was struck by lightning and a forth died from a centipede bite. All four men are buried at the cemetery upstream about .5 mile below the Seventy -Six Mine on the north bank of the Cottonwood Creek. There are more than 20 graves, with small ones, probably children.

When the federal government demonetized silver in 1893, the TipTop silver mine was worthless. Overnight the town went ghost. In 1910 with the discovery of tungsten, the town had a brief revival.

Trilby- A general shooting scaps occurred today a the Turibly mine in which Superintendent Murphy, a man named Bernal and two other participated. Muphy was mortally wounded, Bernal killed an dthe other two slightly wounded. the trouble was over locating the boudary lines of the two mining claims. Over thenty shots wee exchanged at close range. Murphy represent Costello, an Eastern capitalist and was well-known in mining circles in Colorade, Montana and Arizona. Prescott Ariz Nov. 11, 1898

Union Gulch- 1.75 miles Southwest of McCabe, and setting along High Chaparral Gulch but all that remains today is a blast house, foundations and a deep well and assorted junk.

Sometimes called the Union-Jessie Mine originally owned by John S. Jones, producing about $ 150,000 in gold until 1934. The Union Consolidated Mines Co. reopened in 1922 and Southwest Mines Development Co. died again in 1930 and gleaned a few hundred tons of gold ore in the dumps. Currently owned by Wayne I. Johnson, relative of Ben Johnson (western actor)

Val Verde- See Humboldt

Venezia-Mining started on the South side of M. Union, twenty miles South of Prescott started as early as 1880. The first mill was built in 1875 by Prscott merchant W.M. Buffum but in 1895 the Venezia Mining Co. enlarged the plant and a 20 stamp mill operated here as late as the 1930s.

The post office, established in 1916-1935 took the name after the city of Venice, by the Italian, F. Scopel, a local pioneer. It was the mill town for the surrounding mines including the Crook mine. It had a 20 stamp mill, store, stage stop, and saloon. It went ghost in 1935.

Travel SR 67 from Mayer to SR 52, near slopes of Mt. Union, 20 miles South of Prescott, on Big Bug Mt., 12 miles Southeast of Prescott. Turn North and Venezia lies about a mile North of Place Station but don't expect to find anything. Unfortunately the U.S. Forest Service bulldozed the site removing all footprints.

Wagoner- Past Stanton and 2 miles Northeast of Octave and has one small building and some current mining activities. Located on Huss Creek at the mouth of Blind Indian creek, 12 miles East of Yarnell.

Wagoner was the earliest homestead and named for Jaye Edward Wagoner. He built a two-story hotel with ten rooms and many businesses. The post office came in 1893. The hotel and several other buildings burned in the 1940's and the ranches took over the area.

The area service the Crescent Mine, Josephine Mine and the Rebel Mines in the Antelope mountains. The Vesuveus Mine opened in 1881. The Henry and Cullumber Mines were a few miles West of Walnut Grove.

Sam's Lynx CreekSaloon in the 1870s.

Walker- The town was seven miles South of SR 69 at a point four miles East of Prscott. with a collection of 60 log houses and a store along Lynx Creek and five hundred miners worked the first winter.The Poland-Walker tunnel and a charcoal kiln is all that remains besides a few local residents. The original townsite suffered the wrath of a bulldozer. Some treasure may lie just below and found with the help of a metal detector.

The post office came in 1879 and discontinued service in 1940. It was once a boomtown supported for over eighty years by the mines. Over 1700 residents lived here when the town carried the name of the founder, Captain Joseph Reddeford Walker and his Walker Party who led the first gold seekers into the uncharted mountains of central Arizona in 1863. By 1864, a census . It was an old gold camp with saloons, a jail, general store, and a school. It went ghost in 1940 but left its massive charcoal kiln a few miles outside of town.

Walnut Grove- The site of dam that stored water for the Wickenburg area. the dam burst in the 1800s and killed many Chinese and other workers living downstream. The cemetery established in 1865 is located East of Kirkland Junction about 12 miles off Highway 89. Road to cemetery with its 25 or so graves will cross Hassayampa River.

A Mexican whose name is lost to history was injured fatally at a cave in at Walnut Grove on April 23, 1887 according to the Arizona Champion Newspaper.

Weaver- Drive past Stanton and Octave. Drive North from Congress on SR 89 and look for the "Frog Rock" on the left side of the road. Painted bright green, the frog has white lime for is mouth. The road to Stanton is on the right side, two miles after Congress. . After the sign and six miles of dirt road to Stanton, Weaver is only two miles behind Stanton on the same side of the road, on the Eastside of Rich Hill along Weaver's Creek.

It is about 13 miles North of Wickenburg on Martinez Creek in the Bradshaw Mountains but all that remains is a small cemetery and extensive mining equipment, found next to the road and a few foundations. There is some mining going on there today.

Weaver got its name from Pauline Weaver, the mountain man who led an expedition into the area around the hill that became Rich Hill, named for the gold it contained. The creek running by it is Antelope Creek because it was the place where some antelopes had come for water where they became dinner for the miners. The canyon on the eastside of the hill became Weaver's Gulch and the top of the hill became Rich Hill.

Once it was the station on the stage road, Prescott to Phoenix and on some maps Weaverville. It post office came in 1899.

When the gold ore depleted, this town became the hideout for the toughest killers and thieves in the territory. Charles Stanton, in his fight for control, hired many of these outlaws. The owner of the saloon/store was William Segn, murdered here in 1898. People of the town left, making the move to Octave, leaving most of its ghosts behind.

Its post office was at Stanton for almost forty years before moving to Weaver1899. It was moved to Octave in 1900 to honor the Octave Gold Mining Company. Weaver was one of the richest placer mines in the territory. It finally became part of Octave, the gunmen moved out and the town died.ack To Top

Weaverville- Seven miles East of Congress Junction also carried the name Antelope. A gruesome atmosphere where the Indians slaughtered five Mexicans. Their heads, ears, feet and legs, severed from their body and laid scattered on the ground. One body had fifteen arrows in it as the Indians, doing a war dance, hooped and hollered around their fires.

Whipple- RR- 3 m NE of Prescott

Yarnell- Just a half-mile out of the present day Yarnell, on the East side of Weaver Mountains, North of Peeples Valley, Northeast of Congress Junction. Only tailings and foundations remain.

Originally located by Harrison Yarnell, the Yarnell Gold Mining Company quickly bought it out. They built a 20-stamp mill and many other building. The post office came in 1892. Two years later the mine shut down because of low-grade ore. In the early 1900's and in the 1930's they tried the claims again but to no avail.

Bechine, Devil's Nest, Johnson, Myers, Rincon, Senaske, and the Yarnell Mines are in this area.

Yava- On Kirkland Creek- 5m NE of Hillside- The treasure of Zonia, consisting of many gold bars and bullion from a Mexican pack train and sacks of Mexican gold and silver coins is buried in the vicinity of Yava between Kirland and Hillside on Hwy 96.

Zonia- The Zonia Copper Mine is in People’s Valley n the Bradshaw Mountains.

YAVAPAI COUNTY TREASURE

Chino Valley - Early residents of Chino Valley, about twenty miles North of Prescott who buried a large cache of gold coins and nuggets somewhere near his cabin.

Granite Dells- In the 1800s, some prospectors returned from the Big Sandy River to Prescott with a considerable amount of gold dust and n

Nuggets in canvas bags when attacked by Indians. The gold was buried near the spring as the battle went on. One escaped but could never found the gold and he always believed the Indians found it.

Granite Mountain- Strongboxes from stagecoach robberies are buried Somewhere on the slopes of Granite Mountain, Northwest of Prescott.

Lynx Creek- East of Prescott in 1864, miners struck a rich placer of gold on Lynx Creek, washing some $30,000 in nuggets packed in five Buckskin pouches. The party was attacked and killed between Lynx Creek and Prescott by two Indians who took the gold and headed for the mountains. A posse overtook and killed the but The gold was never found.

Montezuma's Castle- Some legend state that Montezuma's Aztec treasure hoard, removed them from Mexico during the Cortez conquest in the 1500 and buried it in a sink hole known as Montezuma's Well, near the ancient cliff dwelling known as Montezuma's Castle.

Montezuma's Head - Several tales persist around this area. One is that one to two million in gold bars remains buried in a cave near Montezuma’s Head toward Butterfly Peak, then down another trail that follows a high ridge form Montezuma’s Head. Somewhere along this trail it is believed that Campoy turned off into a small box canyon and found a shallow cave where he buried the gold. He died before recovering his hoard.

Prescott -" Red" Jack Almer buried $8,000 in gold coins in the vicinity of Prescott.

A miner under a boulder shaped like a kneeling man buried a chest containing $100,000 in gold. The site was near a spring at the foot of a mountain pass which a stream flowed into in a small valley near Prescott. In a tree, a few feet away, he marked a cross above a half-circle.

$75,000 in gold bars believed buried in the area of Prescott,

East of Prescott in the Bradshaw Mountains, the treasure known as the Silver of the Dead Apache.

Rimrock- Moses Casner reportedly operated a ranch in Beaver Creek Canyon near Rimrock and buried $100,000 I five Dutch Ovens.

Others tell about the story that Casner bored holes in sever pine trees and cached hoards in his “tree banks”. This source claimed to find a tree near his house that yielded $1,000 in gold coins and another in Beaver Creek Canyon containing rolls of currency.

Skull Valley- A treasure known as the Lost Ledge of the Lone Ace Desert Rat is located somewhere near Skull Valley, Northwest of Prescott.

Telegraph Pass - The Lost Treasure of Telegraph pass, a cache of some $50,000 in coins and jewelry contained in an iron pot, buried in 1870 at the South end of the Estrella Mountains below Montezuma’s Head in a level campsite with a small butte on the East side, not far from Telegraph Pass.

Viet Spring - Located near Flagstaff and reported to have a cache of buried stagecoach loot.

Yaegers- Yaeger's Lost Gold treasure is located near Yaeger Canyon.

Interesting Facts

Prescott- Kate "Big Nose" Elder (Mrs. Mary katherine Cummings) girlfriend of Doc Holliday, died here in the Pioneer's Home on November 2, 1940 and is buried in Pioneer Cemetery. she was with Holliday in Tombstone during the O.K. Corral shootout.

Virgil Earp and his wife Allie lived here from 1877- 1879

Pauline Weaver, Indian scout and guide is buried here in Pioneer Square.