"What have they done to the old home place?
  Why did they tear her down?
  And why did I leave the plow in the field,
  And look for a job in town?"

The deserts of the American Southwest hide many ghost towns.  Southern Arizona, and Cochise County in particular, has more than its fair share, thanks to the boom-and-bust silver trade of the late 19th and early 20th century.  Some of the towns that flourished in those days -- Tombstone and Bisbee, for example -- still flourish today, due in no small part to the efforts of residents.  Most others are in their own individual state of decay; some are relatively well preserved, some stand as a shell of what they once were, and still others have vanished without a trace.

Most of the black and white images on this page were shot with Ilford SFX 200, a near-infrared film, to add a more dramatic effect than that offered by more conventional monochromatic films.  The color photos were shot with Kodak E100VS professional slide film.

To learn more about these ghost towns (after seeing my photos, of course!) visit Ghost Towns.com or Arizona Ghost Towns.com for more detailed history.

Brunckow Cabin

    Like ghost stories? Here's a good one.  The ruins pictured below are of the bloodiest cabin in Arizona history.  Before Ed Schieffelin hit paydirt, Prussian-born Frederick Brunckow was mining a silver claim along the San Pedro River not far from the future site of Tombstone.  Brunckow came to the United States in 1850 and built the cabin in 1858 after striking silver near the river.  He hired W. M. Williams as the mine superintendent, James Williams as a machinist, and John Moss as an assayer; as well as a German cook and several Mexican laborers whose names have been lost to the ages.  Many stories of how Brunckow met his end abound.  According to one of the more credible versions, in September, 1860, W. M. Williams left for a supply run to Fort Buchanan, some 40 miles west.  When he returned four days later, he found Moss and the other Williams dead in the cabin and Brunckow in the mine shaft with a rock drill through him.  The German cook later surrendered to Captain Ewell at Fort Buchanan and claimed that the Mexican laborers had robbed and killed the other three but had taken the cook prisoner.  The murders were never solved.  Nor were they the last to occur at the site; including Brunckow and his men, at least 21 murders took place at or near the cabin.  And before we forget about Ed Schieffelin, it's said that he used the Brunckow Cabin fireplace in 1877 to assay the samples that led to his successful Tombstone mines.  Cochise County, Arizona.  Photographed February 2003.
 
 

Vulture, a/k/a Vulture City

    Vulture was a booming mine, discovered by Henry Wickenburg in the late 19th century.  The mine eventually produced over $200 million in gold and silver (an estimated 2-4 times this amount remains in the ground today), but due to a bad business deal Wickenburg never saw much of that take; he eventually hanged himself.  The mine was closed in 1942 due to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's wide-reaching executive order that all mines not producing metals conducive to the war effort should be shut down.  All the equipment was left in place with the expectation that the mine would re-open after the war, but it never did.  Today the mining town is a privately owned attraction.  The highlight of the complex is the assay office, which contains a great deal of original equipment including bottles of chemicals used to test ore rocks.  Its walls are made of ore rocks from the mine, containing an estimated $600,000 in precious metals.  Located south of Wickenburg in Maricopa County, Arizona.  Photographed May 2002.
 

Inside the assay office	Trapdoor to the gold storage room
Read the seat of the chair carefully -- it was made out of a dynamite crate.	One of the houses at Vulture	Inside the old workshop
Assay office, viewed from the workshop	The bunkhouse	And, an outhouse.
Foundations of the old ore mill, with the powerhouse and the new mill behind.	Apparently there's still some mining work being done in Vulture.	Gigantic diesel engine used to power the town, built in 1904
	The dynamo for the generator	Internal temperature gauge, frozen over 700 degrees.
Empty cyanide can	Inside the newer ball mill
Headframe over the mine shaft	Smithy next to the mine shaft	The new (ca. 1930) school, viewed from the old (ca. 1890) school

Copper Creek

    A large mining complex located on its namesake creek.  Few structures remain of the town, but there are many mines still semi-active around the area.  The highlight is definitely the Sibley Mansion, formerly a three-story, 20-room edifice along the creek built for mine manager Roy Sibley in 1908.  This isn't a drive-up ghost town; to see the good stuff, you'll need to hike to it.  My hike was gorgeous, though -- trees and hummingbirds everywhere along the creek.  Located east of Mammoth, in Pinal County, Arizona.  Photographed May 2002.
 
 

Broken sign and stairs to nowhere	The old dam, for the hydro powered mill
		2-cylinder diesel engine
The Sibley mansion		The general store
Mining remains	On the road to Copper Creek

 

Sasco

    Like the mines in the nearby ghost town of Silverbell, Sasco's stamp mills were a great asset to local industry.  Unlike the nearby town of Silverbell, Sasco isn't buried under tons of tailings from a new mining operation.  Looks like Sasco is a new favorite for paint ball enthusiasts, and it also seems to be a local shooting gallery; last time I was there, there were literally bullets flying over my head from someone who badly needed target practice.  Bottom line, be careful when you visit.  Located just outside the new Ironwood National Monument, Pima County, Arizona.  Photographed December 2001 and March 2004.
 
 

	Remains of the  mill	Picacho Peak looms in the distance
Top view of some foundations	Inside the foundations	You are here
Self portrait inside the smelter	Ruisn of the Rockland Hotel

Pearce

    Mining town with some residents still remaining.  This was shot with Kodak T-400CN film, before I disovered Ilford SFX.  The developing was poor, with spots left on the negatives showing up as very uneven skies; normally I'd be angry but here I think it adds to the mood.  Cochise County, Arizona.  Photographed May 2001.
 

Russelville and Johnson Camp

    Two mining towns that have virtually vanished off the face of the earth.  At least at Russelville I could find remnants of a mill and what could arguably be the rusting hulk of a Russelville car, but all that remains of the town of Johnson Camp is under the tailings pictured below.  At least, that's all I could find before security politely but firmly escorted me off the property; Johnson is now private land.  Cochise County, Arizona.  Photographed January 2003.
 
 

More to come.