https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/adab7d9919f3f7771b91320284e8728a.pdf adc4ee70e373bf7aea5df401e161bf2e PDF Text Text PAET II ARIZONA �fh re^ J SILVER KING, ARIZONA C. yf Grace Middleton is an uncommon woman. She is young in heart, old in wisdom, and sassy enough to tell you that her exact age is none of your business! Wrinkles have locked her face in pleasant expression, and her eyes hold an unfailing sparkle. She is willing to visit with an occasional tourist but quick to turn away anyone she suspects of souvenir hunting. She is the owner, manager*and sole resident of Silver King, 't Grace and her husband, Gordon, came west to Silver King in 19^9. They were seeking solitude and the opportunity to mine enough silver to maintain their chosen way of life, Gordon, a mining engineer, had figured the mine dump could be reworked. New extraction methods would make the lowzgrade a paying proposition. reject ore A small house was conV^ structed, using lumber from the old mine buildings, and sorting of the dump ore with a bulldozer was undertaken. Grace became adept with the dozer^and on occasion undertook some blasting on nearby claims. When her husband died, Grace decided to remain at Silver King. She may well own the distinction of having lived in the town longer than any other resident, even though she arrived there 75 years after the initial discovery. Her life 7 �is rugged — and she prefers It that way. She has no running water, gas^or electricity. A friend stops by periodically to and take her to town to shop replenish the water supply. She That contentment shows in her face, is content with her life. belying an age of fourscore and more. She possesses a great sense of history concerning her town and has Indeed been an integral part of that history for the past quarter century. In 1872 Pinal Ransre. the army undertook to build a road through One of the steep portions of the road became named after the general in known as Stoneman's Grade, command. Two soldiers, enlistments expired and happy to be free of the road crew, headed for the town of Florence. Near the foot of Stoneman’s Grade they noticed a peculiar outcrop One of them, named Sullivan, collected a few samples, of rock. remarking about their weight. In an attempt to crush the samples, he found that the rock tended to flatten rather than pulverize. Puzzled, but with an idea of what they might have found, the men took the sample^ with them. In Florence, Sullivan showed the samples to a friend, Charles Mason, and apparently left one chunk/sWlth htgi without revealing the location of the find, ) Sullivan went on west, and Mason quickly had the sample assayed. It proved to be nearly pure silver chloride. back along the soldiers' route Mason prospected but failed to locate the outcrop. Three years later. Mason and four friends were packing ore out of the Globe area when they were attacked by Apaches, -S' �One of the party was killed above Stonenian‘s Grade, and his body burled on the pass Owe o:^tho old roadscamp oven^ was utilized as a grave. After descending the grade, the mules were put to water. One of the animals strayed and was finally located on a knoll that held dark, dense outcrops of ore identi^ cal to those Sullivan had showed Mason years before* The four men filed equal claims, and Silver King was born. Two miles north, the Fortuna Mine opened up. An old Mexican wood hauler found that outcrop just under Fortuna Peak, while cutting wood for the Silver King. He sold it for $100,00 " $50 in cash, $50 in liquor. In 1881, after millions in silver had been extracted from the original discovery, a man named Sullivan appeared at the site. He had been west to earn a stake so biMi* he could come back to work his discovery. and town were built atop his find. To his amazement, a mine He was graciously offered a job in the mill. Mason and his friends eventually sold their shares in the mine. The first share went for $80,000^ and third for somewhat more. JPhe second The fourth partner held out for $300,000. Between 1875 and 1888 the Silver King Mine took $17 out -i^mlllion <»o3.1arB worth of silver. Most of it was refined at Pinal City. The stage carrying the bars was held up several times, the robbers escaping over the hills with the bars loaded �on mules. The company solved that problem by pouring the silver out in bars too heavy to be toted by man or mule. Silver Kiner at its peak boasted two hotels, a combination church-school-dancehall, several saloons, and residences for 200 families. Now one is hard pressed to find even the foundations of most of the buildings. The large two- story company headquarters still stands on a knoll overlooking the collapsed remains of the machine shop. Down the hill a bit are two sinsrle-story rock buildings with plastered ln-<^ side walls and tongue:andsgroovefj^ wooden ceilings. Near the rock buildings, on a low hill, stands a small group of frame buildings. Grace Middleton lives in one of these sunbleached structures near the entrance to town, a location necessary for the protection of her property. I happened to stop in tu " Just after she^^had a run-in with some hippies had made s©vgi*sl1 off with windows frames and all'J^ from one of the old residences on the grounds. Her tone was distinctly cool as she told me of the windows and the recent theft of her camera and battery radio. of the vandals. She had been quite abrupt in her treatment She stood in the shade of her doorway, surrounded by her numerous dogs of various breed, and told me of her troubles, slowly graduating to the history of the town and ending with an expression of her deep affection for the place. As I listened, I made friends with the dogs. �An hour later I was proud to be considered a friend of Grace Middleton, Queen of the Silver King. MAP NOTEj The Superior, Arlzona^United States Geological Survey 15 minute topographic map shows the area as it was in 19^8. The 7^ minute map of the same name shows the Silver King area as it appeared at a later date, and in somewhat greater detail. �SONORA. ARIZONA The old 1910 "Ray and Vicinity" map shows a number of satellite towns surrounding the coppertown of Ray. This map, revised in 191? to correct for changes in "culturef^ shows no highways, only graveled roads. The Ray and Gila Valley Railroad Line is shown most prominently. The rail line reached Ray via the Mineral Creek Valley and terminated in a tangle of switch yaixis and side tracks. The mining of copper in 1917 was predominantly, underground. A small open pit is shown between the "M and H" and the *^^bunal "*^hafts on the southwest slope of Humbolt Hill, The Ray, Madeline, Pearl Handle, Hecla, Sun, Flux, and Calumet X^iafts were all within the vicinity of town. The Burbank, Reed, Mineral, and Amanda j3?unnels bored into the hills a mile to the south. The settlement called Ray^^eadquarters of the Ray Mining Company) was established in 1881 and named after the Ray Mine, which had earlier been given that name in honor of its discoverer's sister, Ray. The town proper was built in 1909 by the Hercules Copper Company. By 1915 satellite residential towns^spruny up around Ray, j (^To the northwestwere Boyd Heights and Arnericantown. To the southwest, Sonora and Barcelona occupied the gentle slopes leading to Sonora Hill, �Sonora was the lara-est of the frrouo of satellites^ and^accordin«7 to the map, was composed of sixty-odd square blocks. The town was established in 1912 by the Mexican employees of the Hay Consolidated Copper Company and was named (as were a orreat many Mexican mininc- camps) after the Mexican Xtate of Sonora, on the Arizona border. Buildings lined the perimeters of the blocks. Courtyards were left in the center^ in typical Spanish style. In the center of town, a four-square-block area was reserved for the town hall. Smperor Hill once separated Ray and Sonora, but things have changed radically. The hill is now a deep pit, boundaries ef^h;^h havo encroach®^ uoon the sites of all four of the surrounding towns. have been leveled Barcelona and Sonora but are yet to be excavated. The found^ tions and street patterns are still readily visible. On Sonora Hill, Kenn^cott Copper, the present operator of the mine, ha^ built an overlook permitting a areneral view of the area. One had to stand on or climb over the fence in order to view the remains of the old towns}^ a practice frovmed on e by Kenn^cott, a short hike around the south side of Sonora Hill to the old water tank will provide an excellent view of both townsites. Just when the .town of Sonora was leveled, is indefinite ~ at least*'the^^State Archives could provide no record of the event. That it is leveled is certain, and it’s �only a matter of time before the huge maws of the lan^trippers eat their way through the site, removing all evidence of Sonora’s e existj^nce. MAP NOTSt The Hay and Vicinity, Arlzona^l910 United States Geological Survey topoccranhic/^^map shows all of the old towns mentioned. The 1964 Sonora and Teapot Mountain, Arizona^7^ minute maps show the same area, drastically changed by openx pit mining. �ARIZOMA ARSA 2 CL SAT OR, ARIZONA^ On the flats between Crazy Basin and Turkey Greek, overlooked by Townsend Butte and Hercules Hill, are the rem­ nants of the once thr Ivina- town of Cleat or Orlarlnally called Turkey, the town came Into exist /^nce In 1902 as a sldlna on the Prescott and Eastern Railroad The line was built southward from Mayer to the Grown King Mine first paralleling Cedar Canyon, then climbing abruptly for^^ tortuous miles to the mines Just under 7100sfoot Wasson Peak. At the lower end of the grade, near the point where the tracks crossed Turkey Creek, a siding was built to provide service for the nearby Golden Turkey Mine. Later the siding also served the Golden Belt, St, John’s, Gray Goose, Silver Cord, and Golden Pheasant >Mlnes, In 1903 the siding had accumulated a store, saloon, and a number of residences. That year the settlement was granted a post office under the name of Turkey. L. P. Neills ran the saloon and store. owned the town. He literally He wasn’t too happy being a towns owner, often stating that he would rather run cattle on his nearby spread than ride herd on his saloon patrons. James Patrie Cleator, sailor turned prospector, stopped by the saloon In 1905. Neills and Cleator, over a drink or two, developed a fast friendship. Within the day �they had formed a partnership which eventually found Cleator running the store and Silis the cattle. The town grew as new mines opened. Within a dozen years the population reached an estimated :^00. SSe old picture taken during this period g^»^wogp^ore than sixty substantial frame homes, with a second^ncountable group of residences in a poorly focused background. In 1925 the postal department, claiming confusion between Turkey and another similarly named post office, re quested a name change, James Patrie Cleator (pronounced Cleeter) was no doubt Instrumental in choosing the new name Soon CLEATOR replaced TURKEY on the saloon’s false front During the late twenties and early thirties, the mines closed down one after the other, stricken by the epidemic schoolhouse of the depression. During the thirties a rock was V/FA built with WrA*. labor, and the original schoo converted to a residence. When the railroad abandoned service in 1933, Cleator suffered a second shrinkage. away Most of the homes were hauled and the steel works of the mines scavenged for scrap, James Cleator became the sole owner of the remains of the town, and in 19^7 he decided to sell it ~ store, saloon residences.and all. He promptly placed an ad in the Arizona r ------------ Republic, The ad created a lot of interest and a sudden surge in business but failed to result in the sale of the town or �any part of it, James Cleator died In 1959. and his son took over the town. Today the store and a saloon remain with little chanye. The brands of yasollne and booze have changed. town now has 0 or T residents, according to a gentleman en joying a cold drink at the store. He explained that the population estimate had to remain Indefinite "cause you don't know when someone goln' to the big city ain't coming back." MAP l'TOTSs 01 eat or Is shown on the Mayer, Arizona 15 s United States Geological Survey topograohlc map �■AHIgJMA PITJTQ DlOgAIPriJir? .Mo. 70 • Grace Middleton, Queen ofSilver King^ * Mo. 71. Collapse o^^chine ^ed at «w Silver King Mine Is Imminent. . No. 72 . Company headquarters and guest house of the Silver King Mining Company x^as one of the first resident tlal buildings in Arizona to have electricity. . No. 73 • Hockcwalled and rocksroofed, this tiny house was once home to a hard-rock miner. • No. 7-^ . The remains of Sonora in the foreground will soon become e part of the expanding open pit of the Kenn^ott Mine. < No. 75* Undated photo shows the two main residential districts of Cleator. Hospital is at upper left. . No. 76 • The Cleator General Store as it appears todav^ �caow?^ KING, ARIZONA "Used to be more excitin bein’ there," claimed. gettin’ there than That’s what the olds-timer from near Mayer His description of the road to Crown King, along the old railroad grade. Included wild tales of driving the route in his Model A Ford. "Used to hang on the uphill side the tires on the rails off the ties," and keep nudgin’ so’s outside wheels wouldn’t drop His descriptions were liberally seasoned with strings of cuss words. Some combinations were as In^ ventlve as they were unprintable "When they took the rails up — that’s when it got J, X. a dam^site more hellish^" stated then proceeded to eX' plain about the switchbacks, "Those old switchbacks — they was the original switchbacks." He zigzagged his hands."They went like /A ' that — no turns. Just drove into it, stopped, threw the switch, then backed up to the next one, stopped, threw that switch, then pulled ahead to the next." He saw me taking notes, I answered that I intended to. rather stay unanimous." "You gonna print this?" "Well, in that case, I’d I told him I’d Vote for that. eyes took on a suspicious slant. His He paused, shifted his teeth, and then worked his way into another bunch of stories �Mostly the olds-timer talked about his prospectinc; days down in Nevada, around Gold Point. In the process of getting some information about Grown King, I ended up with so many stories about Gold Point that I determined to enter that town on my "must visit" list. I asked about the present condition of the road up to Crown King. "Tame " tame ~ wide as hell. Why they hauled a whole damn mill up there once, back when the road weren't so good." The road was a delight. The magnificent view never failed to calm the mild case of nerves generally encountered on precarious paths. Of particular note were the narrow one­ way rock cuts, unchanged from Wte railroading days. At first sight Crown Kino; did not appear to fit the description of a ghost town. Too many people wandered about, and too many cars passed by. It's only after a 001^^*^ plete tour that one can appreciate the number of old buildings remaining and subtract the effect of the remodeling and reuse of others. The general store is still in business, little changed for nearly 100 years. Most of its trade is seasonal, and most of the traffic consists of vacationers attempting to elude the ooo1 Arizona heat by escaping to the oot altitude of the Bradshaw Mountains. The old saloon looks exactly as an old saloon should. This venerable structure has had a number of names over the �door, the most recent being "Andersons’s and Van Tllborsr’s," Enough business remains in town to support a parts time barman, otherwise employed as a welder. It seems strange that a welder could make a living at his trade in this remote loca3^ tion, but dozens of smailt time mining operations are still perking in the area. Jury-rigged equipment, assembled from second^^nd parts, makes for frequent breakdowns and crood business for the bartender-welder. Gold was found in the Bradshaws in the early 1875?s. The rush that followed, termed the "Bradshaw Excitementf^ suited in the location of a number of paying mines. King was thought to be the finest The Grown but remained primarily a promoter's dream, due to the refractory nature (refusal to break down with heat) of the ore. The miserable nature of the ore was noted early, and only the best was sorted out and sent to Prescott by mule train Later the quality of the ore Improved, giving cause for a railroad to be built. As was usually the case, the railroewi brought prosperity to Grown King, and the population zoomed. There was no room for a roundhouse or circular turnaround. A triangular "back around" was built, utilizing the narrow creek beds that join at the towrCsite. The business part of town grew along one side of the triangle, and residences were built along the remaining legs. The Grown Kins: Mine closed tewn. in 1900. due to litigation. Gontinuing operations at the surrounding mines �kept the town and railroad solng. About 1910 Crown Kina: added two "used" saloons, the town of Oro Belle, a few miles to the south, had lately become deserted. Its two saloons were dismantled and hauled by mule back over the steep, narrow trail connecting: the two towns. He-/assembled, the access to hard liquor Improved, and the strict town rule agalns'^j weeks day drlnklna: became an unenforceable blue law. In the thirties, dumps at the Crown King Mine were S2.5 reworked. Assay reports showed that million In gold could be reclaimed. Porsrotten was the fact that this ore had been rejected as refractory. mill. Half a million was Invested In a new Fifty men were hlredAand the fading town of Crown King took on new life. Soon It was determined that the ore was resistant to the mill's best efforts. Managers were fired and new ones hired, yet the gap between assayed expectations and mill returns remained narrow — too narrow to allow profit. The mill closed. ' Some years later the post office was discontinued. Perhaps Crown King's most Interesting era was shortly after Its regular train service was curtailed. During this period It Is reported that autos, horses, foot traffic, and even occasional trains were using the same route. Automobiles frequently bounced down the ties, and passengers held their collective breath on the trestles. �The old duffer from Mayer had told me "you could scare hell out of you. look down throucrh those ties 200 feet And after they took up the rails betterl" the view got a daijlslte He gave me a cornering look, and I figured he was about to give my leg a calculated tug, "You know, we used to go up to the dance there every Saturday night. The guy drlvln* was supposed to stay sober, but we got to celebratin’ and didn’t keep count on him. We come down those tracks about dawn — ’course I wasn’t seeln’ too good, but I'd swear we passed that train on theswitchbackI" MAP MOTE: Crown King and surrounding sites are shown on the Crown King, Arlzona^l5 minute United States Geological Survey topographic map. Of interest are Lukes Hoist, Oro Belle, Fort Misery, and the Horse Thief Basin,Recreation Area. �OaO B3LLS. ARIZONA f Prom Grown Kin® In a half mile south. mile an excellent crravel road heads a branch heads west, and in another a Jeen road angles toward the south. A sign Indicates that Oro Belle Is^ that dlrectlon|^miles awayj'but also warns that passenger cars should not attempt It. It Is a fairly good Jeep road sized pickup. Actually but somewhat narrow for a full- I swallowed hard and often for two of thdse three miles, Oro Belle once occupied both legs of a swifcdhbaak. Now only a few shacks and tanks can be found on the uphill stretch. Across the gully and down the other side of the switchback are a number of old buildings, all of the ghostly qualitytotally befitting a completely deserted town. The most outstanding Is a large rock structure " probably the mine office and company store. It has fancy^embossed metal trim In both scroll and brick design. OnS wall leans out over the road, making It nearly Impassable. Behind this building, and Implying that more substantial buildings once existed. Is a rock wall more than 150 feet long. Built Into this wall Is a vault, Its door missing, reportedly stolen In the past few years. Apparently a bank or more company buildings once fronted the wall. To the south are several old frame buildings. one of them The cupola above would Indicate It had a need to expel un< wanted heat, which would make It an assay office a cook shack. or possibly �Somewhere alonsr the lower main street were located two saloons, a few stores, a deputy sheriff’s office, and a Justice of the peace court. For all law enforcement, it would be reasonable to assume that a sporting house or two also flourished here, although available history concerning the town makes no mention of such establishments. In the late iSpoTs >■ Georve P. Harrina:ton obtained title to some claims in the area. He shortly organized the Oro Belle Minlnsr and Milling Company stock. and proceeded to sell By 1900 the mines had proved their worth, and a mill was built to process ore from the Oro Belle and the Gray Eagle. The population of the town reached 200, with 100 of them miners. Forty men worked the day shift on the Oro Belle. Nearby, the Rapid Transit and Savoy ^nes were opera­ ting, although in & less spectacular fashion. A post office was granted the town, and the temporary name of Harrington was chancred to George Harrington proved to be Oro Belle. too nice a fellow, according to the company stockholders. They objected to his usinsr company funds to grubstake prospectors. He was fired, and a new boss was hired. of the penny-pinching variety Shortly, a revolt was mounted, and the new boss aA was given an ultimatum — better food and better pay work. Elsewhere burning of mills or no such miners' revolts had resulted in the and occasionally the suspension of the boss —A by the neck! ^66-- �The demands were granted, but^withln weeks, miners’ wases were cut back and the quality of the meals sank to a new low. The second revolt was more serious. were visible. The demands were restated. A few ropes The badly shaken manager conceded. He set off immediately to purchase fresh meat and produce. He never returned. Mines in the area reached the extent of their lodes in 1910. The good ore was gone, and the low;grade that was left wouldn’t pay wages, let alone milling fees. Soon both of Oro Belle’s saloons were dismantled and hauled muleback to Grown King. closed. In 1918 the post office The only signs of life now area few rattlers and a number of lizards]^"the latter frequently raising the pulse of visitors momentarily convinced they are confronted by the former. MAP NOTE* The Crown King, Arizona^15 minute United States Geological Survey topocrraphlc map shows Oro Belle and a vreat number of old mines in the surrounding mountains. �JEROME, ARIZONA Compared to deserted Oro Belle, Jerome is like Sunday on the freeway. However, the degree of desertion in the two towns is similar. deserted and Jerome ^0 Oro Belle is 100 per cent 98 per cent, having shrunk from its 1929 peak of 15,000 to its present two or three hundred stubborn souls, Glinfflng to the ^^rdecree slope of CleoT^' patra Hill, with its upper end ^00 feet higher than its 'r lower, the town comuactly occupies both sides of a number of switchbacks. The back side of a building may­ face one leg of the main highway, and the front will face another Since 1925, when a 25O:pound charge of dynamite was touched off underground, many of the buildings have been sliding slowly down the hill — some buildings at a three-eighths of an inch rate of 9^^* per month/ The Jail has slid a number of feet^ claim 300 feetj and across a highway. Three hundred ^3 -fl* feet is unbelievable, but so is the way people trust their houses to stay put and not slip down the hill in the middle of the night. Residents are seemingly unconcerned with their neoperpendicular life and continue to drive their automobiles into rooftop garages and climb down to their living rooms More than a thousand years ago the Tuzigoot Indians dug into the side of the hill to glean the brightly hued green and blue oxides of copper. The pigment was hicrhly valued as body ornamentation and pottery coloring. a The metallic content / �was not noted or valued, Sven the Spaniards who visited ths sites in the /Sixteenth Xentury failed to become in­ terested in the copper, for their Interest was gold. Several prospectors filed claims here in I876. M. A. Huffner and Angus (or August) McKinnon proved up on their claims then sold out to Territorial Governor Tritle for $2,000. The ^vernor sought financial help and found it in Sugene Jerome, a cousin of Winston Churchill. Mr. Jerome set down the stipulation that the town must bear his name. Previous to that time, the settlement had been called Eureka or Wade Hampton, for two of the earliest claims. The former was the Greek word for "I found it," name of the governor of South Carolina. and the latter the holdy^ ?f gffloo of CoTorr^r the State af jSauth Capelina,— First attempts to produce purs copper from the ore proved disappointing, and the mines were sold to William A, Clark, a Montana millionaire. Under his direction the United Verde grew to a profitable and complex operation. William Clark became one of the richest men in AmericaM and a United States Senator — and he did it, please note, in that order. At one time the town boasted ^grocery stores, houses of Joy, saloons, and two churches. The miners maintained their usual priorities. The population of Jerome began to decline during the depression, but in 1935 the Phelps Dodge Corporation �bousrht the operation foi"20 million. flollarcH Many thought the purchase ill-advised, but by 19^0, when the deposits thinned, the company had netted a profit oiJ’^UO million. The fis-ure seems substantial, but it represents only a small 4/ fraction of the sjfe billion ^&llai»n worth of copper, gold. silver^and zinc taken out of Cleopatra Hill MAP M0T3j Details of the town and its environs can be pinpointed, and an alls inclusive tour laid out, with the aid of the Clarkdale and Mingus Mountain, Arizona.15 minute topograohic maps. It seems only fitting that a town that sits on the steep slope that joins mountain to plainjJ^ls also found split in half ~ part on one map, the remainder on another. �STANTON, ARIZONA Pauline Weaver, In the year 1862 undertook to guide a group of prospectors Into the hills of central Arizona. He was a half-breed army scout temporarily off the payroll. His ability to negotiate and communicate with the Apaches made up for the fact that he had never been in the area before. One evening an antelope was shotbutchered camp set up beside a nearby creek. and This rather mundane series of events had happened before, but this time one little item would be added that would cause and Antelope Creek /yanother stream stream to be named Weaver Creek. above camp would become famous as 'Rich Hill.' The hill Two thousand miners would flood the vicinit:^and four towns would spring into being. party went in search. discovery. Their stock strayed.and some of the The event? As in many cases, the mules made the When the men found the stock they also found several thousand dollars’ worth of gold nuggets. The camp became permanent and was given the name of 'Antelope, ' later to be called the stage line passed through. change to Stanton at least murders. Antelope Station when Somewhat later that name would by means of a series of crimes, including In the meantime a town a few miles east, settled mostly by Mexicans, would be named in honor of Weaver. The town was to degenerate quickly into an outlaw hideout. Octave, �beyond Weaver, would yrow to a more substantial town, with the steadviny influence of a deep shaft bearing gold in quartz. Congress Junction, to the west, would grow up as a supply station for the Rich Hill Mining District, Charles P. Stanton arrived in Antelope Station, having recently been thrown out of a monastery on a morals charge. He obtained a decent Job in spite of his record but soon became disenchanted with his status as deputy county recorder and began to plot his way to success. He envied two successful storekeepers in the community, and by the diligent planting of rumors and countsr/^ rumors, he got Partridge and Wilson angry with each other. Things boiled over when a hOg got into Patridge’s cabin. , to the cabin Wilson was on his way oveg to apologize on behalf of his partner, the hog’s owner. Stanton saw his opportunity and tell that quickly had a Mexican cohort run toy^Partrldge tell hfan Wilson was gunning for him. Wilson dead on sight. As a result. Partridge shot He was tried and found guilty, part\ly on the basis of his confession^ which Stanton helpfully wrote out for him. Wilson’s partner, Timmerman, took over the store. Soon Timmerman’s body was found along the road, Stanton promptly moved the stage route so that it passed his own store, and erected a larcre sign which, in essence, renamed the town Stanton. �Charles ^Stanton was still not content. He now envied Barney ilartin, for Barney was still the staare agent, was told by some members of the Valenzuel gang Barney from Weavertown that he^better move out or he and his family would die. Barney sold out, packed up, and headed for Phoenix, leaving word with a good friend at Gold Water Station^"^^^ he would stop by on the way. When Barney failed to arrive, his friend. He found the charred re'^>^ Captain Galderwood, went in search. The Valenzuel gang was sus*>*’ mains of the wagon and family. pected, and Stanton was thought to be their leader. was tried for murder but found Innocent. that when Stanton finally died outlaw Stanton It is appropriate it was by the hand of another He had made advances toward and for "moral" reasons. Proilana, a young Mexican girl and close relative of Lucero, leader of a second gang in Weaver. Tom Pierson, on the way down from Crown King, reported that he met the fleeing Lucero. "I’ve killed Stanton and I’m headed for the border," stated Lucero as he rode past, "Stick around," hollered Pierson. "We’ll get you a reward." The ghost town of Stanton is about a mile and a half north and The" I’emainij lif.Atawtnin miles east of Congress Junction. north and Wo topographic maps are available for any of the towns in the vicinity. Three rather large buildings mark the site of the old town, but they have to be viewed from a distance. "Mo" signs* Mo Trespassing The area is surrounded with Mo Prospecting, Mo Piling of Claims �and^at an occupied residence a few hundred yards to the north a sign crowded In among more "No" signs proclaims, "Beware of the ^g. " I would have given ten bucks for a sign reading "Welcome to Stanton," and another five for the privilege of planting It at the outskirts of town. ) MAP NOTBi No United States Geological Survey topographic maps are available for the area. �W’SAVga, ARIZ JVA r Established in 1862 and all washed up by 19OO, the little town of Weaver led a short but varied life. was named in honor of the scout Pauline Weaver. It led the discovery party, Weaver was the half-breed son of a /White father and an Indian mother, the daughter of a tribal chief. Weaver was a highly respected army scout who had aided General Kearny in several Western campalcrns. Weaker died, reportedly from the shifting of a longsburied arrowhead, while asleep in an Indian camp on the outskirts of Camp Lincoln in 186?. Weaver was the biggest placer find in Arizona’s history. More than a million dollars’ worth of coarse gold was separated from the gravel^ of Weaver Creek, and untold smaller fortunes were literally picked off the vround on the upper slopes of Rich Hill. mlninpr peak. In 1888 the camp had reached its 9^ old photograph shows ^^substantial wooden buildings, a few rock and adobe structures, washers, and tents. By the 189^ large gravel: the goldtwashing business was fading, and hell-raising was taking over. long Before the town had the reputation of being an outlaw haven. In fact, it is claimed that no lawman dared set foot in Weaver, lest he disappear without a trace. Several gangs of outlaws operated out of the town in open fashion, frequently hired by outsiders like Stanton, to do some choice dirty work. Murders were common in town and seldom recorded. The cemetery �had a number of unmarked mounds, William Segna, in I898, had the honor of being the last murder victim in Weaver. (A He was a well-to-do saloon and mercantile operator — too well-to-do. Respectability returned temporarily in 1899 when However, due to a the town was granted a post office. sudden loss in population (everyone moved two miles away to Octave)^the post office was closed down in less than a year. The remains of Weaver can be found by traveling two miles east of Stanton, then taking a road north for a mile. The branch road to the north leaves the main road just short of the town of Octave. The old Weaver post office is still standing in pretty good shape. The building had two rooms customers, one for the postmaster. one for The rock walls are^^yU*\ thick, considerably reducing the available room inside insuring a cool environ. but The rock walls appear to have been laid up by two different workmen ~ one stout lesser strength. and and one of The rocks on the south side are huge^ and Jt- on the north are small. The doorway forms the demarkation. Several other rock buildings, an adobe structure with tin roof, two old frame mine shacks, and a concrete vault complete the standing remains. The vault is at the north end of town and seems to have been poured over a form shaped like a narrow-gai^e railroad car, then the form �removed from the inside. The form wood was narrow, fluted wainscoating, as evidenced by the fancy imprint left in the concrete. At the south end of town,on a hill to the east, stands the burned hulk of a small farmhouse. remains Alongside the is the charred trunk of a tree that once offered the home a moment of noon~day shade. -_________________________________________ / ) -Ar / MAP NOTSi Mo topographic maps are available for the area. �OCTAVE, ARIZONA C. 0. Carlson is presently the sole resident of Octave. You might call him a new-fangled type of olds timer. He used to prospect extensively. Now he has formed a company that plans to extract gold from the reject ore that makes up the waste dumps of the fabulous old Octave Mine. ^G^O.*^irn3rp=! a million in sold sits on the dump awaiting an efficient ex^ traction system. do the Job. In fact^he has applied for a patent on his newe style ball mill. unique. And he figures he’s got Just the gadget to It’s the drive mechanism that makes it The rear end and transmission of a @:ton truck wheels, tires and allis rammed up against the larsre armo'fr • j| ■ plate Krum. The air in the tires can be adjusted to achieve proper contact. ‘^^0.*^enjoys turning the driveshaft with one hand^««4 pointing out the easy rotation as a result. the drum makes "This mill will run 200 tons easy," he claimed. I didn’t ask if that was per hour, day^or week, but I sure had to agree it was a beautiful piece of eyeball engineering. "Of course," I pointed out, "that drum is going to be somewhat tougher to turn when you get a few tons of ore in it." Carlson figured, perhaps a bit optimistically, that he could drive the loaded mill with as little as horsepower. There is no such thing as a pessimistic inventor. Ore from the dump is to be treated first in a Jaw crusher, then put through the ball mill with '7^^ gallons of /O/ �water a minute added. The fine gold mixed with powdered rock will run out the end on_to a couple of fanners (shaker tables) finally, part of the gold will be gravlty5.separated and the remainder extracted by chemical means. is well-.acquainted with the history of the place and the exact condition of the old Octave Mine. Where he got his information is a mystery to me, and it differs from the published material one can dig out of p-brary. In several cases I have found •*0.^0.-^to be right and the published record in error. For example, one writer claims the town had a population of 3,000. Since others state that the entire district had only 2,000 at maximum, I*m inclined to put stock in Carlson’s claim that the town had about 500 residents, mostly Scandinavians. The diamond-shaped center of town was built-in 1897. built about 1900. water reservoir in the The buildings nearby were Now^just the rock foundations remain. The business district held a post office, mine headquarters, saloon, mercantlle^and grocery. ^^^Qso^ there wa^a school and a building that served as bank and stage station. ’*^.0.'"^ claims there were I50 men on the digging crew in the Octave feet Mine and that the mine was ^OOy^deep. Pumps ran continually to keep the bo^eg gpoo feet dewatered I "Of course the mine is flooded now ~ there's 20 miles of tunnels under that water, and I don’t guess it will �ever be pumped,” said Carlson. "See that hill over there? That's Rich Hill ~ richest hill in the world. Why, after a rain People you can walk up there and find nuggets. still search around that hill ~ find stuff too, especially just over the crest." now. Carlson was warming up to the subject "The geologists never did figure out how all those nuggets got to be found on top of the hill ~ supposed to "^pointed to the south. find 'em in the streams below. "See that peak? down there. That's Vulture Peak. Had a good ore body We're on a line between that mine and Rich Hill. That's why they found so much srold here." I asked how the snakes were. Carlson answered to the effect that they were real healthy.-^ "In fact, the damn things are so fat they're pink I They must be the most beaut i^ ful rattlers in the world.—and they don't buzz must have killed off all the buzzing kind and grew a crop that don't buzz I" is inclined to be outspoken on matters politi-^ cal. "It's that L»208 ~ you know. Law No, 208 that Roosevelt put through ~ that's what killed this mine ~ and those old tin heads in Congress soaked it all in. never should have stopped everybody from minin' gold — just 'cause they claimed it wasn't strategic." '^C.V).doesn't hold with core drilling either — "Why you can drill those little bitty holes all month and still �miss the vein. It’s crazy! May as well take your money to Vegas," There are some facts concerning the town that *^.^0,'**’ overlooked. He probably knows them^but just had more important things to say. Claimed as a placer in 1864, nothing much happened until the 1890^/^when someone saw the deeps mine potential. Eight men got together, bought the claim, and named the place Octave^ appropriate to the eight-way split. No Information is available as to how long the original eight held on to the claim. It would have meant a fortune for each, since somewhere between|^8 and|^15 million in gold was eventually ex^^ tracted from the Octave. The town proper was built between I896 and I9OI, The post office moved in from Weaver in I9OO, The mines were shut down in 1942, due to L-208, and in 1944 all the buildings were razed to save on taxes. Visible today are the huge yellow tailings of the mill, some foundations, some walls of the bullion room, the reservoir, and extensive multi(** leveled rock foundations. Across the knoll, under a modern power line, is a totally forsrotten cemetery. I had just visited the cemetery and was swinging back through the site of Octave to say goodbye to when I was hailed down by a nondescript old character in a battered pickup, "WheresW Rich Hill?" he asked. got to be around here somewhere." "It’s �Like an old hand and longrtime resident I waved toward the hill and hollered,"Your best bet for nuggets is just over the crest MAP NOTE* the area. too bad it ain’t rained lately." No topographic maps are presently available for �Iahizowa arsa 3 L J GOLDROAP, ARIZONA The road from Kinsman slants southwest with little ohanc:e in direction or elevation. accommodate a dry wash. Occasionally it dips to The native knows enough to slow down and check the wash for water. The tourist might plow into two feet of water at @ miles per hour, but he’ll only do it once. The resulting baptism quickly makes one a native. After to meander Pass, miles the road angles west and proceeds another miles up the slope to Sitgreaves ^50 feet above sea level. Its famed "100: mile view" is now marrf^ at mld^^stance by the smoke of a huge electrl> cal generating plant located on the Colorado River, As the road writhes its way down the west slope, signs of the abandoned town of Goldroad appear. there an old rock foundation. frame. Here a tunnel, Beyond these, a shaft and gallows The switchbacks become more frequent, and at one point, where the grade is particularly steep, most of deserted Goldroad is visible straight ahead and sharply below. Most of the remains are rock or adobe walls. Assured that the town would never come to life again, the owners decided in 19^9 to save the tax on surface improvements tlonally ^irned the town to the ground. and inten*"'^^ The Mexican part of �town, on the treeless flat to the west, survived in part, due to its adobe construction. Traces of gold were found here in 1863, The outcrops were low grade, and the prospectors moved on. The gold was there but remained hidden for another years. Jose Jeres (Jenerez, according to the February 1916 Los Angeles Financial Mews) was grubstaked by Henry Lovin of Kingman to the extent of $1,300. Jerez, or Jenerez, headed into the thoroughly workedsover region near Sitgreaves Pass, by the Old Fort Mohave Military Road. The stories vary ~ but Jose was either tracking a lost burro or tying one up when he stumbled across a knobby outcrop. He chipped some samples, then quickly laid out his claimy^and headed for Kingman Lovin wouldn’t believe Jerez when he learned the '•strike'* was in an area already tramped over by a thousand prospectors, and it wasn’t until Jerez started asking for another stake that Lovin decided to go look, Jerez was right, and excitedly the two of them proceeded to dig the required hole to prove up the claim. The vein held steady and strong. Word got out, and the rush was on. gone over thoroughly a second time. The ground was Two other paying shafts were developed. Meanwhile, Lovin and Jerez sold out for $25,000 each. Lovin also got the freighting and mercantile �concessions, which paid handsomely, Jerez drank his share and within a few years departed this world by swallowing rat poison. In 1901 there were ^00 people In town. In 1902 the boom was well under way, and a post office was opened under the name of Acme, In I906 the town reached Its peak. That year the post office was redesignated as Goldroad, It remained so until 1941, when Law 208 closed down the mine, the town^and the post office. Around the bend, and two miles on down the highway. Is the delightful old town of Oatman. Al^^ though not as dead as some ghost town buffs desire, one can couple It with the more: than^dead remnant of Goldroad and come up with an enjoyable tour. < # MAP NOTE: The town. Important mines, and cemetery shown on the Oatman and Mt. Nutt are minute United States Geological Survey topographic maps. Iti plfc i/ie ! �OATMAM, ARIZONA The geology of the area would excite even the most dejected prospector. the surface. Igneous intrusions stand boldly above Quartz outcrops abound/^ and where there is quartz, there is the likelihood of valuable mineralization. Iff Quartz, one of the last minerals to solidify upon cooling, often carries rare metals in its cracks and fissures. To the east of Oatman, the nearly whlje Elephant's Tooth and black Boundary Cone thrust their way above the horizon, sure signs of mineral separation and reliable indicators of valuable deposits nearby. The Vivian Mine was located in 1902 by Ben Paddock. A mine camp grew up around it^and in 1904 the post office of Vivian was established. The population reached 150^and the //2^ town boasted two banks, two stores, and a chamber of commerce. Discovery of rich gold ore in the Tom Reed Mine in 1908 brought the first boom. The town grew and became so respectable that a move was made to select a new name. They decided on Oatman, in honor of a family of pioneers who^ in 1851• The entire family was killed, had been attacked by Indians^ end %ho fa«H.y-igilloAy except for two girls and a boy. The girls were taken captive and the boy left for dead at the site of the massacre. A rescue party found the boy and^after years of effort^managed to free one of the girls. The other sister died captivity. �George W. Long had a theory about the veins around Oatman. He studied the shafts and tunnels in existence and determined that a healthy vein of gold ran north and south about 380 feet below ground. He formed the United Eastern Mining Company, which in 1913 bought up a number of claims that included the theoretical streak of gold. He was right. The vein was there — and at the depth predicted. With the Eastern and the Tom Reed both producing well (the Tom Heed averaged $70,000 in gold per month) the town boomed, and the area's population neared the 10,000 mark. Later a figure of 15,000 was claimed, but^was probably an exaggeration. With the best ore removed, the mines went into slow decline during the thirties. The town began to shrink. Its life was sustained by its location on Route 66, Even the *6^es*’*'p^sing through to California did their share to contribute to the survival of Oatman, But Law 208, passed by "those tin heads in Congress " to quote *^.0, Carlson of Octave, Arlzona^y^brought the rftmaipjng gold mining to a halt. hundred or so The number of residents dropped to one and in I968 fell to half that, or less than^^®®’^^ of its "honest" peak population. There are a few more folk living in Oatman now. In fact it may be on the comeback as a winter residence for reA tired trailerites^following the sun south for the winter fleeing the Arizona heat each summer. but �Ill Ths old Tom Heed Mine and Mill, long idle, has enough property remaining to warrant a caretaker. A few mines in the area are still operating:, either on a one: man basis or under strict secrecy. In one case the secrecy is maintained by a rif let carrying .guard. Wild burros make it a habit to visit town each day. Somewhere between © and of them wander in for a tour of the stores, poking their heads S?%oors and walking in if not met at the threshold. They like popcorn and dog food, and the tourists love to provide it^even at the risk of nipped fingers. The burros are b+wj. descendants of the pack animals They are not turned loose by retired prospectors. herd supremacy sometimes occur ° on^main street. Storekeepers close their doorsy.while visitors 7^ take cover and grab for their Instamatics. Occasionally samoles of high-grade ore appear in the glass showcases of the grocery store. I was offered a chunk about the size of a marshmallow. It was perlfa^s® gold. A You could easily scratch the yellow portion with a knife blade to check that it was not pyrite. The sample probably had an eighth of an ounce of gold in it. was tlO. Too high, I figured, and passed it up. The price Later, half-jA way to Kingman, it dawned on me that^at the present $180 an ounce, that sample was probably worth twice the asking price. //^ �J MAP NOTE* The Oatman, Arizona.7| minute United States / Geological Survey topographic map shows Oatman and part of Gold road. �MIM3HAL PARK, ARIZONA/ You can see the plume of dust from miles away, SM»^ the closer you approach, the more it seems to rise from the exact site of the s^host town of Mineral Park, A mile away you can hear the hum and clatter of heavy machinery. On a rise to the south of the suspiciously smoothy^broady^gravel road is an old roofless adobe building, doubtless a remnant of Mineral Park, Just around the bend the noise becomes suddenly louder, and the field of view is filled with signs of "progress The Duval Mine and Mill is operating at a level that would have been beyond the imagination of residents of Mineral Park ninety years ago. The site is a study in contrasts. On the left side of the road are the pitiful wrecks of three or four buildings, some mill foundations, one head frame about to collapse, and an old wooden separation tank. From these relics you can look across to the monstrous mine dump of the Duval, matched only in size by the massive mill below. Periodically the ugly sound^ of rocks falling causes one to look quickly about. The trucks are dumping rock over the dump a mile away, and boulders the size of barrels roll hundreds of feet down the man-made talus slope, A brief hlstory,to match the meager extent of the Z remains, starts with the town being laid out in 1870 near a �^tstamp mill. months. There were (2/ saloons In operation within^ The biw boom of the 188^^ found many adobe and frame buildlnajs built on both sides of a wide main street. A flay^p^e stood at the uphill end. An old picture shows waaon ruts forming a series of figure eights as people drove to the front^ of each store^ then cut across to one on the other side of the street. In 1884 the population was 700 and Increasing. There were two newspapers and a Ghlna^^wn. Strangely, there were no banksand no churches. evident. Perhaps a basic truth was Without one, perhaps you have a lesser need of the other. When the Atlantic and Pacific tracks were laid along a route justmiles away. It was found that ore of lesser A* quality could be mined. The town took on new life — tempor^ly. Soon a junction town popped Into existence at the loadlnv site. Within three years that town exceeded Mineral Park In size. An election showed that the majority approved of the new town as the county seat. Mineral Park refused to give up the records. The new town went on to A midnight raid solved, the problem. become a success L * MAP WOTSi they named It Kingman. -------------------- hmmW ■kUHL.aWL.il. IB IB UU WUi — The 1939. 15 minute Chloride, Arizona, United States Geological Survey topographic map shows the site of Mineral Park, but gives no Indication of the present mining complex. �Silver was found here in 1892, and hy 1894 the White Hills Mining Company had built a towi^^a mill and had dug miles of tunnels. The mines were paying hand"^^ somely, and the fifteen hundred residents in the area didn’t mind the occasional gully washer that rushed down the IThlte Hills and floated away an outhouse or two. What they did mind was the shortage of drinking water and its ”hauled-ln’' price I The White Hills Mining Company fell into financial dlfficult^^and an English outfit took over in 1895, A 0xmile pipe brought springwater to town and supplied the needs of a new(^:stamp mill. Most of the water went to the mill, and the town folk still felt the shortap:e. In two years the original owners regained the property^due to the English outfit's inability to make theta? payments. A big promotional effort was started, and the town experienced its best year. Then, with thinning veins and promotional claims unfulfilled, the mines and White Hills began to fade. A bad flood wiped out much of the town. Men caught 200 feet underground could not climb out against the water and debris pouring in. Luckily, the shaft went deeper and acted as a reservoir, or the men would have been trapped and drowned. V �The post office closed in 191^, but by then most of the town had been moved away or had collapsed from flood­ damaged foundations. Until recently, several old shacks still remained, stubbornly fighting the pull of gravity. A new retirement village, built a few miles beyond the site, did little to protect the meager remains. In 197^ the last shack collapsed to a point where its eaves touched the ground. The cemetery has a number of graves, each lined with rocks, a few replete with accidental barrel cactus head/^ boards. The ultimate Insult to a dead town is sickenlngly evident there. Two graves have been dug up and robbed. One of them was that of a child. _____________________5k MAP NOTSj , Arizona, The White Hillsyyl5 minute United States Geological Survey topographic map shows the site. ARIZO^^^^ � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Norman Weis Manuscripts Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1971-1987 Description An account of the resource A collection of manuscripts by Casper College professor Norman Weis. <br /><br />This collection includes manuscripts of:<br /><em>Ghost Towns of the Northwest: Known and Unknown<br />The Starduster<br />Two-Story Outhouse<br />Helldorados<br /></em><br />Each manuscript contains written in edits by Norman Weis Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Norman Weis Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Norm Weiss Manuscripts and Photographs, CCA 10.2003.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 10.2003.01_Weis_Manuscripts Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Manuscript Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Helldorados</em> Part II: Arizona Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <p><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a></p> </div> Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Norman Weis Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Norm Weiss Manuscripts and Photographs, CCA 10.2003.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 10.2003.01_Weis_Helldorados_Ariz Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF