Castle Dome City

-

About 30 miles north of Yuma sits the ghost town of Castle Dome City.  It began in 1863 as a shipping yard and mining camp in the Arizona Territory.  At its most prosperous, the town enjoyed its success with more than 3,000 residents calling the tiny town home.  The Castle Dome Landing office shut down on June 16, 1884.  The mines did revive in 1890 becoming a momentous foundation for lead for WWI and WWII.  The company resurrected the mines in 1943, and it was flourishing with enough lead to fulfill the needs of the time of war.  After the WWII was over, the requirement for lead demised the town felt the blow.  In the 1950’s, the school was closed; the mines quit producing, everyone left town, so Castle Dome became a ghost town. 

Today, there are over 20 restored historic buildings still standing and well maintained for visitors to see.  You can take a self-guided tour through the bygone days, and be sure to stop by the museum with relics from the town’s past in displays.  You will see mining equipment, furniture, and even newspaper clippings.

Call for days and hours of operation (928) 920-3062.  Sharon and I just recently drove to see this old west town but it was not opened.  We went there on a Friday in September, but it is only opened on weekends in the summer.  It is open in December – April, daily 10-5; May – September, call for times; and October, Tuesday to Sunday, 10-5.







Comments

  1. Vitalii AnufriievOctober 14, 2015 at 9:12 AM

    I was making a post dedicated to a topic Castle Dome City - that is a place you have to visit. There are so many places that we have to visit. That is a topic of my new article that Im going to post at the blog of Writers Per Hour. Everybody may check out some useful tips by clicking the link.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 2, 2015 at 4:11 AM

    I have visited a Castle Dome City last week - I was attracted by this place so I even decided to use an offer to write essay for me at the local directory.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

26 Bar Ranch (John Wayne Ranch)

-
Image
Immersed in the Hereford’s history in Eagar, AZ, sits the 26 Bar Ranch.   It was first known as the Milky Way Ranch in the 1940’s with its big white show barn which housed many Hereford cattle.   The barn is now a local landmark.   In 1964 the ranch became the 26 Bar Ranch or John Wayne’s Ranch, who was one of the owners.   Wayne, along with Ken Reafsnyder and Louis Johnson, his business partners, kept the ranch until John Wayne’s death in 1979 from lung and stomach cancer.   Lately, I have heard rumors that Bigfoot has been seen near the ranch.   I don’t know if that is true or not, but it would be worth checking out.  John Wayne and Louis Johnson
Read more

Historic Downtown Payson

-
Image
Located in the northern part of Gila County is the town of Payson, Arizona.  Because of where it is located in the state, it has been christened “The Heart of Arizona”.   Payson was established in 1882 and was first identified as Green Valley.  Two years later in March, a post office was erected with the assistance of Lewis Edwin Payson.  The people showed their gratitude by changing the town’s name to Payson.  Also that same year, the first rodeo was held and deemed the “world’s oldest continuous”.   It is still held in Payson till this day.  In the 1950’s, after many complained about the trip from Phoenix to Payson taking eight to twelve hours, a new paved highway was constructed.  State Route 87 (or the Beeline Highway), made travel quicker and easier for those wanted to get away from the heat of the valley to the gorgeous, serine forests in Payson. Website:   http://paysonrimcountry.com/ GREEN VALLEY PARK ...
Read more

Cowboy Mummy Found in Desert

-
Image
  There are many strange stories in the Arizona files. One that is told is about the mummy found in the desert near Gila Bend nicknamed “Sylvester”. Many believe that he once was a 19th century cowboy, a con that loved to play cards. Stories are told that he finally got caught cheating and was shot in the stomach. He made a hasty exit while bleeding profusely from his wound. He got as far as Arizona’s Gila Bend desert when he fell off his horse and died face down in the sweltering heat. Shortly afterwards, he was covered by the blowing sands, which appeared to have dried his body overnight. This apparently preserved his body resulting in the mummified form he was found in. The more believable story was that he was found shortly after death and preserved in a high level of arsenic. Arsenic was used to stop the physical occurrences of a corpse rotting by killing bacteria and insects that invaded it. This custom of using arsenic was found to be poisonous by the 1900’s and never ...
Read more