Hunting Ghost Towns

Arizona is a different kind of critter, with some amazing topography from long valleys to crazy hoodoo shapes in the surrounding mountains.  In and around the entire area, you will see mine tailings.  Silver was the name of the game back in the late 1800's and in the early 1900's it turned to copper.  So how better to spend your day than hunting for the remains of the old west towns where whiskey and guns were an every day pair.

Over the hill into Benson and then south past Texas Canyon, you end up in Indian territory.  Not far from here is the Chiricahua National Monument, but that is for another day.  We are hunting for Courtland, founded in 1909 by the Great Western Mining Company owner Courtland Young.

On a side note, this valley shown here is known as the Kansas Settlement.  After World War II farming expanded greatly due to new markets.  This valley had great water reserves below deck, but with so much pumping of the aquifer, in 1963 water levels dropped 50 feet, making it a losing proposition.  Although there is still a bit of farming going on, most of the country looks like this.

Evidence there is still some grain farming in the area.

I had checked out this route previously and discovered the entire road system is gravel.  I wasn't sure Dan wanted his pretty truck to get that dirty, but away we went.  As it turned out, Courtland was just ahead.

Our main objective was to find where the train tracks went along each side of the Dragoon Mountains.  These lines hauled tons of ore to the processing mills to remove copper.  We had to hunt a little for the roadbeds.  

This was weird ... it ran right down the middle of the road.  We thought it was a rail, but there were little square pieces set about 20 feet apart.  Maybe some kind of sight line used by surveyors?  

Here's our first sighting, up on the hill.  This is heading into a canyon and everything is up on the hill.  Courtland is located in the Sulphur Springs Valley, the scene of many skirmishes involving Pancho Villa and his men.  The only recorded murder in town was when Jennie Parker shot and killed her boyfriend over another woman in the saloon.  She spent one year in jail before being pardoned.

The only remnants of town here are what's left of cement block and rock buildings.  The town exploded so fast that the Mexico and Colorado railroad, along with the Arizona and Colorado Railroad, built lines here to serve the mines.  

Courtland's claim to fame was their jail.  Originally the jail was an old mine shaft with a wooden door.  When an inmate almost died by setting his mattress on fire, they built a REAL jail.  Miners quickly figured out it was so much nicer to live in that jail and be fed three times a day, compared to their tent, that they took turns being arrested. 

Soon it became known as the Bright Hotel.  John Bright was the only deputy sheriff here until they did away with his position in 1916.  The bill for food had become so huge, it was unaffordable, so they dismantled part of the jail and moved it to Benson.

Here's a picture of the Crescent Cafe in Courtland back in the day.

All around the area you can see evidence of small mining still going on.  

Then we came to the sign.  CLOSED.  Who knew this was a private ghost town?  Apparently they are more about the rocks you can find here, as they set up tours just for that purpose.  This is why there are no pictures of the jail.  We might have snuck in the back door down the hill, but went on to the next town instead.

It's a very cool place to visit.  Maybe when all this virus stuff has subsided you might want to take a look.  The country is beautiful and the drive, although slow due to the gravel, is well worth it.

In the meantime, I don't know what got into me.  There I was at the grocery store minding my own business when this darn bag jumped in my cart.  What the heck?  Why in the world did I buy these?  They are totally NOT on my edible list, but they sure will go good with those hot dogs I got.

Arizona has now sent out an order urging people to stay home.  Only essential travel they say.  Personally I think it's essential that I drive out and say hello to Doug.  If you don't hear from me tomorrow, please come bail me out.

Day 21