Echoes of the Southwest

I actually never heard of this town until recently.  When Sharon and I went to Bumble Bee, we drove a few more miles to Cleator to check it out.  It was definitely bigger than Bumble Bee, but small non-the-less. Cleator sits on about 40 acres and is privately owned by the Cleator family.  It sits inside the Bradshaw Mountains, between Bumble Bee and Crown King, off Interstate 17.  It started in 1864 as a gold mining locale known as the Turkey Creek Mining District.  In July of 1869 a post office opened but closed its doors three months later. In 1925 it was purchased by James P. Cleator and he reopened the post office.  He renamed the town and post office in honor of his family name, Cleator. On July 15, 1954 the post office closed for good. In the 1920's, many of Cleator's residents left because the mines were drying up.  By April of 1949, James descided to sale the town which was down to 60 people living there.  His son, Thomas, purchased...

Hidden in the Bradshaw Mountains and 55 miles north of Phoenix on Interstate 17, sits the teeny tiny establishment known as Bumble Bee.  It was founded in 1863 as a stagecoach stop and location for the U.S. Cavalry.  In 1879 a post office was built. The town got its name from the visitors passing through who claimed that the Indians around the locale were "thick as bumblebees".   When the mining dried up in the area and the stagecoach stopped running through the town, Bumble Bee became a ghost town.  In order to renew interest in the settlement in the mid-30's, Jeff Martin built several structures. That didn't really spark interest, so in 1960 Charles A. Penn, a retired magazine publisher, bought the property and created a museum hoping for many to want to visit.  Sadly, Penn never got to see his dream happen.  He died before it was finished turning his property back to private ownership. Today, almost all the small buildings are gone and only a handful...

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