A Day In Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz County is still sparsely populated and remains an excellent destination for bird and wildlife photographers, hikers, ghost town hunters, kayakers, and other outdoor enthusiasts.
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Fairbank AZ: Ghost Town
Fairbank is a Southern Arizona ghost town, and one of the best preserved, thanks to numerous conservation efforts. It’s located in the San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area about 10 miles west of Tombstone. Here conservation efforts have saved the San Pedro River, a haven for dozens of species of critters and birds.
Continue readingKlondyke Arizona: (Almost) Ghost Town
Klondyke is a near-ghost town in western Graham County. In the second decade of the 21st century, the only roads out there are still unpaved. The Klondyke cemetery is just southeast of town. There you will find the graves of the Thomas Jefferson “Jeff” Power and his family. Few know the sad story of these [...]
Continue readingKentucky Camp, AZ: A Ghost Town With Accommodations!
More than a hundred years ago, Kentucky Camp was the headquarters for the Santa Rita Water & Mining Company, which was formed to extract placer deposits from the Greaterville Mining District in the foothills of the Santa Rita Mountains 9 miles NW of Sonoita.
Continue readingMescal AZ: A Pictorial
I had been waiting months to return to Mesca AZl and photograph the old western movie set with dramatic monsoon clouds.
Continue readingGhost Town Slideshow – Gleeson, Pearce, Courtland, Cochise, AZ
Ghost Town Trail: A road trip through Southeastern Arizona from Gleeson to Courtland to Pearce to Cochise.
These were all mining boomtowns in the early decades of the 20th century. While each had its own distinct character, they all succumbed to the same fate. When their mines played out, the inhabitants left for better pickings.
Tombstone: The Town Too Tough To Die Almost Did
By the 1930’s, Tombstone was dying. The mining boomtown of the 1880’s was long gone. In 1882, Tombstone residents numbered between 6,000 and 7,000. By the time these photographs were taken, the nation was deep in the Great Depression, and Tombstone was almost a ghost town.
Continue readingGleeson Ghost Town & Rattlesnake Oddities
Our April 2012 road trip took us first to the ghost town of Gleeson (yes, that’s how they spelled it). After a look around at some of the ruins, we headed west toward Tombstone on a dirt road for just a few miles until we saw the sign for Rattlesnake Crafts, one of Southern Arizona’s stranger places. John & Sandy Weber make and sell wallets, belts, and other items out of rattlesnake skins. They also have a significant collection of gems and Old West artifacts.
Continue readingIn The Middle of Nowhere: Rattlesnake Crafts & Rocks!
One of the stranger places we visited on our tour of Southeastern Arizona is John & Sandy’s Rattlesnake Crafts & Rocks. John makes wallets, belts, and other useful items and souvenirs out of rattlesnake skins and sells them out of an old trailer. He also collects a lot of stuff others have discarded as junk. Here you will find literally tons of Old West artifacts lovingly horded for decades and on display for your amusement. Old signs, bottles, tools, boots, lanterns, you-name-it.
Continue readingGhost Town Trail: Pearce To Cortland To Gleeson!
On a recent Road Trip, we stopped at a few ghost towns, namely Pearce, Cortland, and Gleeson along the Ghost Town Trail. These are all located near Sunsites east of Tombstone.
Continue readingRoad Trip – Day 1; Ghost Towns, Slaughter Ranch, & Portal
Above is the route Ms. Karen & I took on a three-day weekend to Southeastern Arizona. This is a wonderful place for children and adults. Tons of hiking, picnicking, camping, fishing, bird and critter watching. And lots of Native American and Pioneer history.
Continue readingRuby Arizona: Our Best Ghost Town
Ruby Arizona is about 12 miles from Arivaca. About half way there, the road goes from pavement to dirt. But it’s well-maintained and a standard sedan can easily travel on it (unless of course the area gets a hard rain). Again, do not rely on your GPS. ******************** Ruby was a mining [...]
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