Arizona Ghost Towns Congress Congress' first mines were located in 1884. It had electric lights, a telegraph station and telephones. The 1890 Census lists 242 people in Congress. The Post Office was discontinued in 1938. Cochran The bee hive oven's of Cochran Cochran sits on the south bank of the Gila River, about 15 miles east of Florence. The road into Cochran was surprisingly good, although the sand was deep enough that I worried about becoming stuck at several wash crossings. To get there, take SR 79 south from Florence about two miles to the Florence-Kelvin Highway. Follow the Florence-Kelvin Highway east for roughly 15 miles until you reach the junction of Cochran Road. There are two stop signs that mark the triangular intersection of Cochran road and the Florence-Kelvin Highway. From there, follow Cochran road North about 12 miles to the banks ofthe Gila River. Cochran's roots started in 1904 as a mining town and station on the Copper Basin railway. The town took its name from the postmaster, John Cochran. One hundred or so people lived in the town. The post office closed in 1915. Cochran's most notable feature is the row of charcoal kilns on the north bank of the Gila. The land that they sit on is private property, so you will want to bring binoculars or a telephoto lens. The kilns were built to reduce wood to charcoal around 1880. They stand over 20 feet tall and are visible as you come over the hill into Cochran. Besides the kilns, several concrete foundations and part of a large water tank mark the site of Cochran. The scenery is spectacular and makes for a wonderful sunset. Jerome Jerome is Arizona's largest and most famous Ghost Town. There are many buildings still standing in the town The museum at Jerome is excellent and affords a spectacular view of the town. You can see all the way to the San Francisco peaks, and most of the buildings in the town as you walk around the grounds. Displays detail what life was like around Jerome, mining equipment and history. Jerome also sports coffee houses and restaurants, so unlike many of the towns on these pages, it is possible to sample the local cuisine. To reach Jerome, take I-17 North from Phoenix to Cordes Junction. Then, SR 69 into Prescott. From Prescott, take Alt-89 to Jerome. Easy enough. Jerome dates to 1883, but mining goes as far back as 1598. U.S. Census figures for 1890 show 250 people in Jerome and 2393 in 1910. There were as many as 15,000 people in Jerome in its prime. Telephones and many stores and saloons were present in the town. The town has a colorful history, an especially large series of dynamite blasts caused some of the town to slip as far at 300 feet down the side of the hill. Many fires marked the evolution of Jerome, one of which destroyed 24 saloons and 14 Chinese restaurants. Oatman To reach Oatman, take I-40 West from Kingman to the Oatman Road (US 66) turnoff. It's about 25 miles from the turnoff at I-40 to Oatman. Along the way, you'll pass through Goldroad. Mining in the area dates to 1863, but Oatman's first mine was claimed in 1902. The Vivian mining company ran the mine and the town was originally known as Vivian. In 1909, the town's name was changed to Oatman, in honor of a woman taken captive by Apache Indians in 1851. The mines were closed in 1942 by order of the War Department, as they were unnecessary to the war effort. Clark Gable spent his honeymoon in Oatman with Carole Lombard. The room can be viewed at the hotel for a $1 fee. A portion of the movie "How the West Was Won" was also filmed in Oatman, the store (photo above) was refurbished for the movie. Today, the owners ban photography inside the store and cheerfully post the sign "Shoplifters will be shot, survivors will be shot again." Oatman today is a gaudy tourist stop. Cars and people line the streets and there are so many shops that some proprieters sell their wares from under tents. Ample build ings from the mining days of Oatman are still standing, including the Hardware store at right and the town Jail. The original town gallows are available for photos. Burros walk the streets and probe pedestrians for carrots or other treats which are sold i n the shops. It is the meeting point for one of the largest motorcycle gatherings outside of Sturgis. Ruby To Reach Ruby from Phoenix, take I-10 South to Tucson. Turn South on I-19 to Nogales. Just North of Nogales, you will come to the "Ruby Road" exit. Take Ruby Road West until you come to a gate on the South side of the road, about 17 miles from the highway. Ruby was originally known as Montana Camp, and was established in the 1870's. In 1909, Julius Andrews made an application for a post office. The post office and the town then received the name of Ruby on April 11, 1912. More than 300 people called Ruby home. The town had a school and store. The town's mines drew Lead and Gold until 1941. Silver King Silver King's most famous building was the mine superintendant's quarters. It is known by many as the building that offers the cover photo of Ghost Towns of Arizona by James and Barbara Sherman. Sadly, the building itself was burned by vandals in 1978. Bits of foundation and the staircase that lead up to the house are all that remain of the building. Up until 1978, it was said you could still see the pattern on the imported wallpaper, that all of the fixtures were still intact and that the mirrors on the entryway just inside the doors were unbroken. The building was elaborate, supposedly the first in Arizona with indoor plumbing. Most every book on the subject cites a soldier named Sullivan with discovery of the Silver King mine. He was working on Stoneman¹s Grade, a road into the Pinal Mountains to combat the Apache while under command of General George Stoneman. Sullivan found some rocks which he found curious and pocketed them. His term of service being nearly up, he sought work with a man named Charles Mason. He showed the rocks to Mason but would not divulge where he found them. Soon after working for Mason, the soldier disappeared. Mason enlisted the help of four friends with whom he set out in 1875 to find the origin of Sullivan's samples. The bunch was attacked by apache and one of them was killed. The group recovered to the very camp Sullivan served at and buried their fallen comrade in the remnants of a brick oven. At this point, one of their mules wandered away and they embarked on a search for that mule. The mule was found standing on a ledge of black rocks, exactly like those Sullivan had displayed. With that, the Silver King mine was claimed. Not all of the luck the four men had was good. It was said that their first shipment of ore to San Francisco accrued a $12,000 freight bill and was of poor tenor. The mine teetered on the brink of bankruptcy until a group of miners offered to help for a one half share of the profits. It was found that the men had placed the richest of ore on the waste heap and had sent less profitable specimens out to be concentrated. Soon after, the mine showed a $50,000 profit and was on its way to success. The valley (almost canyon) the Silver King was located in is not conducive to milling. There is little water and the roads are too poor to ensure a stable supply of machine parts and fuel. So, the mill was established south of the mine on the North bank of Queen Creek. This milling site became an immense town, by the name of Picketpost. This name was changed in 1879 to Pinal. Several hundred people lived and worked around the mine, enough to support two hotels, a church and saloons. The town's silver lode dried up around 1887 with a drop in the price of silver, but people remained in the town for some time. The 1890 Census lists 212 people in the town. The area is marked No Tresspassing and is gated. The Silver King mine itself is in the process of being reopened, and you DO NOT want to be in or around the workings of an active mine. According to the current owners, the main shaft is 800+ feet deep. Stanton The old Stanton Hotel The Lost Dutchman Mining Association normally allows visitors to Stanton, during daylight hours. They have recently embarked on a restoration project and have closed the camp to visitors for the summer and fall of 1998. They hope to have the camp standing tall by December of 1998. Wish them luck! To reach Stanton from Phoenix, take US 60 (Grand Avenue) to Wickenburg, then follow US 89 North until you pass Congress Junction. As the road winds toward the great big hill, there will be a turn towad the Southeast (right hand side) that says Stanton and Octave. Follow the Road, from there, you can't really miss the town. Stanton has come back from the dead. I just about didn't stop when I saw the sheer volume of RV's and Campers in the town. Funny, I have a notion that a Ghost Town should NOT offer dog grooming. But anyway, back to our normal program Stanton is named for Charles P. Stanton, a somewhat unscrupulous individual who through a series of plans came into possession of the town. It was named Antelope Station. A little over 200 people once lived in Stanton. Three old buildings still stand in Stanton. The Hotel, the Store and another adobe building, a sign expounds value of the town as a landmark. Stanton is rather close to Congress.

There's many Ghost Towns in Arizona and it would take many pages to list them all. These are just a few.