Jerome, Arizona: once wicked, now peaceful

The view from Jerome

Perched on Cleopatra Hill overlooking some pretty awesome Arizona scenery, Jerome isn’t the town it once was. 

Some 140 years ago, Jerome was a wild copper mining town, known as the “wickedest“t own in the West. Founded in 1876 mining camp to retrieve the rich copper ore beneath the soil Jerome, at one time was the fourth largest city in the Arizona Territory. Its population peaked at 15,000 in the 1920s. But has shrunk to a mere 450 people today.  (Its low point was about 50 people in the 1950s and 1960s.) The city now bills itself as the “largest ghost town in America.” 

Downtown Jerome

The town is on the National Historic Register. As you drive by the commercial buildings and aging houses, it’s easy to see why. Many buildings boast plaque describing what businesses were there in the town’s heyday. 

Home of the deepest existing wooden mine shaft

Jerome was home to the largest copper mine in Arizona, digging up about 3 million tons of ore a month at its peak. Mining equipment is sprinkled around in a few places, including Aubrey Headrame Park, which  overlooks the city. 

The town doesn’t draw too many miners these days, but lots of tourists as it is reinventing itself as a tourist destination and artist colony. 

This northern Arizona town is just 20 miles from Sedona with its gorgeous red rock formations and 90 miles from Phoenix.

See more photos of Jerome on my YouTube channel.

Goldfield, Arizona: replica of an old ghost town

Goldfield GhostTown

For about five years, Goldfield, Arizona, was a booming town with 4,000 residents. Then the gold played out and it became a ghost town.

Gold was discovered around 1892. It wasn’t a high grade of ore, but the mines were considered some of the richest in the world at that time. In 1890s dollars, around $3 million was taken out of the mines. That was a lot of money for that time. That figure translates to $80 million in today’s dollars.

By 1898, the gold had been mined out, and people left. The post office closed that year, too.

Located a few miles northeast of Apache Junction, Goldfield Ghost Town is a thriving tourist attraction. It’s not on the original town site, but nearby on the Goldfield Mill hill.

Old shovels artistically displayed

Reconstructed buildings include a saloon, a couple of eateries, church, sheriff’s office/jail and small shops. It’s free to wander through the dirt-street town, but the museums charge admission, and there’s a charge to ride the only narrow gauge railroad in Arizona.

Rusty mining equipment can be found throughout the town. This equipment is perhaps more interesting to see than the buildings, some of which appear to be very old.

Gunfights take place hourly on the town’s only street on weekend.  The gunfights aren’t as believable as those staged in Tombstone or Old Tucson, but kids will enjoy them.

The Superstition Mountain Museum and Apacheland buildings are just a mile away, so a visit to them and Goldfield could easily make a good day outing.

Goldfield Ghost Town

Gunfight at Goldfield

Old mining equipment