Utah Adventure Online Magazine

Bradshaw Mountains, Arizona, Ghost Towns

By Doug Duncan

 This story is on ghost towns of the Bradshaw Mountains. My trip --- I'll call it a ghost town trail, covers Mayer, Cordes, Cleator, Crown King, and the hamlet with the strange name, Bumble Bee, in the old mining country southeast of Prescott.

Mayer was founded in 1882 by Joe Mayer who built a store with overnighters facilities, and later added a stage station and a saloon. It was to grow as a smelting center and to be connected to Prescott by the Santa Fe, Prescott, and Phoenix railroad in 1898. Later, the railroad president, Frank Murphy, proposed to extend that line 25 miles to the Crown King mines, what appeared to be impossible to critics, as the objective was at 2000 feet higher elevation.

Murphy did it! The railroad came to be called "Murphy's Impossible Railroad". Today the auto road to Crown King is a zig-zag up the mountains. You drive the even grade of a rail bed and make numerous U-turns, but you don't have to back and fill alternatively, as the trains did. Caution is needed in the drive as there are long stretches of single lane through narrow cuts and across bridges.

Cordes, 8 miles to the southeast of Mayer, was founded by German immigrant John Cordes in 1883, as a stage stop. It later became a supply depot for miners and a center for sheep drives. Eventually, a siding for Murphy's Impossible Railroad was established 3 miles west of town.

Cleator, at the start of the railroad climb to Crown King, was settled by James P. Cleator, an immigrant from the Isle of Man. As a mining and railway center the town was a lively one. The Cleator General Store and Saloon still stands and looks as though it has not, nor ever will change. "Bar Open" is a sign I saw in passing.

Crown King was originally named for the Crown King Mine, discovered in the 1870's. The mine was expected to be a great producer, but it was hampered by its location. Arrival of Murphy's Railroad solved that problem, but other troubles, such as owner disputes, hindered profitable exploitation.

Crown King today is still picturesque, with its old Saloon - Hotel - Restaurant, and the General Store is still standing. The Saloon, reported to have been brought to its location in pieces, by pack mule, is a photo museum with hundreds of early day shots. Once a mining center, the area now has a summer resort character, with many houses, mostly hidden in the surrounding forest land.

Following directions in my Arizona Highways book, "Arizona Ghost Towns and Mining Camps", an invaluable guide to this ghost town trail, I was able to locate the Red School House (which also serves as a library), and the Crown King Cemetary, of which the book says, "It is one of the most peaceful scenic spots of the Bradshaws".

     Down the ex-railroad grade then, through Cleator, and a right turn to Bumble Bee, 8 miles south of Cordes. My Arizona Highways guide book offers two sources for the unusual name. One has it that a US Calvary officer, who led an outpost there, reported that "Indians were as thick as bumblebees". Another is that placer prospectors were attacked by a swarm of creatures of the same name.

From the mining standpoint, Bumble Bee was not much of a success. On my visit, the trading post was closed. But of great interest was a "made for tourists street scene" that had been allowed to deteriorate into a photographic pseudo ghost town. It was there that I met professional photographer Kelsy Cain, from Mt. Pleasant, Utah. We spent an interesting spell there, sharing what knowledge we each had of ghost towns and backroads adventures. I sent him a shot of him in the ghost street. He responded with 11 shots by email. I am eager to see them, but I don't seem to have the software necessary to download them.

A short drive south from Bumble Bee put me on interstate 17 (at exit 248) heading toward Flagstaff. At the big rest-stop a mile or so north, I looked down into the valley and identified Bumble Bee, and could see the winding dirt road from there to Cleator. Thanks to interstate at 75 miles per hour and the 65 mile per hour limit beyond Page, I was home in Kanab in less than 5 hours.
 

.