This is where our day began on our off-roading trip to Humbug. Humbug is a gold-mining ghost town north of Phoenix in the Bradshaw mountains at about 2600 feet.
The road ahead
Arriving at the ghost town, the main house. This setting caught my attention. I love rock collections and the collection on the table was amazing. Later on the caretaker of the property explained many of the rocks and their composition. As well as explaining the process of gold mining in the mountains and panning for gold.
It was difficult to photograph its amazing glass like mica. That silver looking area looks just like a pieces of glass embedded in rock.
I didn't realize as I took this picture that the rock on the left would turn out looking a bit creepy.
Skulls and Lace
These rocks are Indian artifacts. The reddish piece would have been used to bake bread and the darker stones were grinding implements.
A shot of the ghost town from a distance.
This is a smelter. Many other pieces that were used in the smelter were scattered around the property.
An old Frigidaire
The Chicken Coup
Interior of caretaker house
An old Ford truck
A house built on this property by a wall street investor in the 1930s. Built in a santa fe style with two walls. The inner wall is made with mud bricks and the outside wall is a form of stucco. (You can see the original condition of this house in the link I provide below)
If you can see the people down below, they are lined up to walk into the mining tunnel of the Mountain Chief Mine. This tunnel is about 200 feet below ground level.Around 1882 about 5,000 oz of gold was taken out.
Late in the day and leaving the ghost town.
The drive back to the main road.
Sunset
Thanks to Dave our tour guide. If you are interested in touring this ghost town make sure you have an off-road vehicle since there are major ruts, clearance issues, and driving along ledges. You also need to call Dave in advance to meet him at the town and unlock the gate, phone number: 1-480-899-7317 More history about Humbug is related at the Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project.
6 reviews:
Nice! I love that the town is named Humbug! Glad you tweeted these!
how amazing!!! so much history in AZ - we've talked about taking our son to look for fossils, but gold might be fun, too :)
In either Jan/Feb Wickenburg has a goldrush weekend. They set up a gold panning exhibit for people to pan. It's a lot of fun....there is a parade that day and lots of other things to do as well.
What a great day trip, thank you for sharing it & the great photos, with us! I'd never heard of Humbug before, but I know there are lots of little ghost towns to visit in Arizona.
I have so much enjoyed this mini armchair trip to Humbug. What a curious name! Thank you so much Rose!
I loved veiwing these ghost scenes and artifacts. So interesting.
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