Gold Road, Arizona - Gone ... For Now

ARIZONA LEGENDS

Goldroad, Arizona - Gone .... For Now

Route 66 passes the Gold Road Mine in 1940

Route 66 passes the Gold Road Mine in 1940, courtesy Mohave Museum of History and Arts

The ghost town of Gold Road stands in a canyon just beyond Sitgreaves Pass when traveling westbound Route 66. From Gold Road, one has a sweeping view of California to the southwest, and the gambling Mecca of Laughlin, Nevada to the west.

Prior to the town’s beginning, a man named John Moss discovered traces of gold in the area during the early 1860s, but when silver was found in abundance in the Cerbat Mountains, Moss abandoned his diggings and headed north to the Chloride area.

However, that didn’t stop prospectors from crawling all over the mountains and in 1900 a miner by the name of Jose Jerez hit “pay-dirt.” Grubstaked in the amount of $16.00 by store owner, Henry Lovin of Kingman, Jose was searching for his lost burro when he literally stumbled over a rich ledge of gold-bearing quartz.

Knowing the glittering quartz contained his beloved yellow metal, he packed it up and took it to an assay office. He was ecstatic when he found it assayed at 40 ounces to the ton. Immediately, he contacted his partner, Henry, and the two wasted no time returning to the site to start digging. Within just a few months, they dug a 15-foot shaft. Their frenzied activity soon attracted the attention of a California group who bought their claim for $50,000 in 1901.

The California group soon sold their right to another group of investors for $275,000, who brought in the necessary equipment and built a mill to operate a large mine. Soon 180 miners were bringing up hundreds of thousands of dollars in ore.

Around the mine, a settlement sprang up with a number of new businesses. The post office was established on April 15, 1902. Henry Lovin used his money to open a new store in Gold Road, a successful freighting company, and the Gold Road Club. Unfortunately, one of Lovin’s regular customers at the club was his former partner, Jose Jerez. Drinking away most of his share of the money for the claim, Jose soon ended his life by swallowing Rat-Be-Gone poison.

Gold Road ruins with mine in background, Kathy Weiser,

April, 2008.

This image available for photographic prints

and downloads HERE!

The Gold Road Mine peaked during 1905 and 1906, but the following year the rich veins began to give out and the mine closed. It was estimated that more than two million dollars in ore was taken from the mine during its short duration. However, the immediate area surrounding Gold Road continued to be a haven for other miners until 1931. In total, the district took in over seven million dollars worth of gold over this period.

Still, the town hung on, as the post office wasn’t discontinued until October 15, 1942. However, just a few years later, in 1949, the entire town was razed in order to save taxes.

Seemingly, Gold Road was completely dead until a company called Addwest Minerals acquired the Gold Road Mine in 1992. After three years of development work, the mine began producing gold again. Hard-rock miners worked three shifts a day until 1998, when the bottom dropped out of the gold market again.

Shut down once more, the mine sat waiting for the day when it would once again be profitable. In the meantime, the mine operated gold mine tours. In 2007, that profitable point returned as gold prices once again soared. The mine tours were closed as mining operations will again be reopening.

Because the entire town was razed in 1949, we will never see the once popular businesses that thrived in this gold mining boomtown. However, there are visible remains that often tend to blend with the surrounding terrain. Slowing down for a moment will provide you a peek at old water tanks, cement stairs, rock retaining walls and roofless buildings. A search of the nearby hills displays a number of old mining shafts.

Just two miles further on Route 66 you will enter Oatman, Arizona, that has revived itself from ghost town status to a tourist destination, where more than 500,000 people visit every year.

Gold Road Mine Shaft, April, 2008, Kathy Weiser.

This image available for photographic prints

and downloads HERE!

Gold Road Mining Remains, April, 2008, Kathy Weiser.

This image available for photographic prints

and downloads HERE!

A view of the valley from Sitgreaves Pass, Kathy Weiser,

April, 2008.

This image available for photographic prints

and downloads HERE!

To Oatman

Return to Route 66

To Sitgreaves Pass

From the Rocky Mountain General Store

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