The Ghost Town of Weaver

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The town of Weaver in 1888. Rich Hill is in the background.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Not far from the ghost towns of Stanton and Octave in Arizona, sits what is left of the minuscule abandoned settlement of Weaver.  First known as Weaverville, this town was once a booming gold mine community.  Right after gold was unearthed on Rich Hill in May of 1863, Weaverville was founded nearby.  The town, like the mountain range, was named after Pauline Weaver.  He was born in 1797, and spent his career as a mountain man, trapper, military scout, prospector, as well as an explorer.  He led a collection of explorers and prospectors into the mountains where a huge vein of gold was found.  They ran into it after the men were trying to capture a runaway donkey.

Not long afterwards, Weaverville was condensed to Weaver and the power was ruled by Francisco Vega.  He, along with his group of no-good bandits, put the fear in those who were living there and wanted to pass through the town.  The neighboring towns of Stanton and Octave reaped the benefits of his ordeal with many doing business with them and travelers staying in their hotels.  Even the post office, which was opened in May or 1899, ended up moving to Octave in April of 1900.  It is told that Vega was the one who killed Charles Stanton; he was possible arrested in Mexico and then killed; or he lived a long life pillaging on many and living off their wealth.  I looked, but could not find an answer on what became of Francisco Vega.

Today, Weaver is a ghost town with scatterings of rusty mining machinery throughout, a small cemetery, and the remains of an old stone house.

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