Duquesne, Arizona

Last updated

Duquesne, Arizona
Adobe Ruins Duquesne Arizona 2014.JPG
Adobe ruins in Duquesne.
USA Arizona location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Duquesne, Arizona
Location within Santa Cruz County
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Duquesne, Arizona
Duquesne, Arizona (the United States)
Coordinates: 31°22′16″N110°41′09″W / 31.37111°N 110.68583°W / 31.37111; -110.68583
Country United States
State Arizona
County Santa Cruz
Time zone Mountain (MST)
Post Office openedJune 6, 1890
Post Office closedFebruary 14, 1920

Duquesne is a ghost town [1] in the Patagonia Mountains in eastern Santa Cruz County, Arizona, near the international border with Sonora, Mexico. The town, which is currently under private ownership and closed to the public although the roads are almost all public, was once the headquarters of the Duquesne Mining and Reduction Company and is the site of the Bonanza Mine. Washington Camp is approximately one mile northwest of Duquesne and was where the mine's reduction plant was located. [2]

Contents

History

American prospectors in the Patagonia Mountains had established claims in Washington Gulch as early as the 1860s, but recurrent Apache raids prevented the area from being fully developed until the 1890s. Washington Camp was the older of the two towns and had been the site of a post office since 1880. Duquesne was founded ten years later in 1890, a year after George Westinghouse of the Westinghouse Electric Company bought up a majority of the Patagonia claims and organized the Duquesne Mining & Reduction Company to begin large-scale production. On June 6, 1890, [1] the post office in Washington Camp was closed and moved to Duquesne, which was also the location of the company headquarters and the Bonanza Mine. Major production began in 1912 and lasted until 1918, with total production at more than 450,000 tons of zinc, lead and copper ore and silver as a byproduct. [2] [3]

During its heyday, Duquesne boasted 1,000 residents, several businesses and numerous homes, one of which was a large Victorian frame house belonging to George Westinghouse. [1] The home still stands, although in disrepair. Other remains include a smaller frame house, a boarding house and brothel, an adobe commercial building and an old cemetery. The schoolhouse was located in between Duquesne and Washington Camp, to serve the students of each community, but has since been demolished. The site is now occupied by a modern A-frame cabin. There is also the ruins of various mining operations in the surrounding hills. [2]

A few residences remain in Duquesne and Washington Camp, although the post office has been closed since 1920. [1] Signs are posted against trespassers. [4] There are other ghost towns in the area as well, including Harshaw and Mowry to the north and Lochiel just to the southeast, along the border with Mexico. [2] [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Westinghouse</span> American engineer and businessman (1846–1912)

George Westinghouse Jr. was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age of 19. Westinghouse saw the potential of using alternating current for electric power distribution in the early 1880s and put all his resources into developing and marketing it. This put Westinghouse's business in direct competition with Thomas Edison, who marketed direct current for electric power distribution. In 1911 Westinghouse received the American Institute of Electrical Engineers's (AIEE) Edison Medal "For meritorious achievement in connection with the development of the alternating current system". He founded the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1886.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patagonia, Arizona</span> Town in Arizona, United States

Patagonia is a town in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 913. It developed in the mid-19th century as a trading and supply center for nearby mines and ranches. In the 21st century, it is a tourist destination, retirement community, and arts and crafts center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kentucky Camp, Arizona</span> United States historic place

Kentucky Camp is a ghost town and former mining camp along the Arizona Trail in Pima County, Arizona, United States, near the community of Sonoita. The Kentucky Camp Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been since 1995. As it is located within Coronado National Forest, the United States Forest Service is responsible for the upkeep of the remaining buildings within the Kentucky Camp Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hart, California</span> Ghost town in California, United States

Hart was a short-lived gold mining town located in the Mojave desert, in San Bernardino County, California. It existed between 1908 and 1915, and was located on the northeastern edge of Lanfair Valley near the New York Mountains. The area is now in the Castle Mountains National Monument, administered by the National Park Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Dome Landing, Arizona</span> Ghost town in Yuma County, Arizona

Castle Dome Landing, Arizona is a ghost town in the Castle Dome Mountains of Yuma County in the U.S. state of Arizona. It was first settled as a transport depot and mining camp around 1863 in what was then the Arizona Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harshaw, Arizona</span> Ghost town in Arizona, United States

Harshaw is a ghost town in Santa Cruz County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled in the 1870s, in what was then Arizona Territory. Founded as a mining community, Harshaw is named after the cattleman-turned-prospector David Tecumseh Harshaw, who first successfully located silver in the area. At the town's peak near the end of the 19th century, Harshaw's mines were among Arizona's highest producers of ore, with the largest mine, the Hermosa, yielding approximately $365,455 in bullion over a four-month period in 1880.

Noonday Camp, also known as Mill City, Noonday City, and Tecopa, is a ghost town located in the Mojave Desert east of Tecopa in Inyo County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandra, Arizona</span> Ghost town in Yavapai County, Arizona

Alexandra is a ghost town in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. The ghost town was settled during the frontier days of 1875 as a mining camp until abandoned in 1896. Alexandra is ten miles east of Mayer.

Bellevue is a ghost town in Gila County, Arizona, five miles southwest of Miami.

McMillenville, also known as McMillianville or McMillanville, is a populated place in Gila County, Arizona. Silver ore was discovered by chance in 1876 by Theodore H. Harris and Charles McMillen, and the town formed around the ore deposits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patagonia Mountains</span> Landform in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, US and Sonora, Mexico

The Patagonia Mountains are a 15-mile-long (24 km) mountain range within the Coronado National Forest, and in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States.

Christmas is an uninhabited mining community in Gila County, Arizona, United States. The mine which led to creation of the town was staked on Christmas Day 1902, prompting the name. During the three decades in which the town's post office operated it was a popular destination for holiday mail seeking a "Christmas" postmark. The mine is also the location where the minerals apachite, junitoite, and ruizite were first discovered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lochiel, Arizona</span> Populated place in Arizona, United States

Lochiel is a populated place and former border crossing in southern Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States, approximately 25 miles east of Nogales. Basically a ghost town, the townsite is located in the southwestern part of the San Rafael Valley on Washington Gulch, about 1.5 miles west of the Santa Cruz River. It was first settled in the late-1870s and mostly abandoned by 1986. The town served the ranches of the San Rafael Valley and the Washington Camp and Duquesne mining towns of the Patagonia Mountains, approximately five miles to the northwest up Washington Gulch.

Roubaix, formerly known as Perry or Lewisville, is an unincorporated community in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. It is not monitored by the U.S. Census Bureau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twin Buttes, Pima County, Arizona</span> Town

Twin Buttes is a populated place on the east flank of the Sierrita Mountains approximately twenty miles south of Tucson, in Pima County, Arizona, United States. Named after a prominent hill located next to the town, Twin Buttes was founded as a small mining town circa 1903 and abandoned around 1930. Much of the actual town site is now buried underneath mine tailings, and all that remains is the Twin Buttes Cemetery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Finley House (Harshaw, Arizona)</span> Historic house in Arizona, United States

The James Finley House is a historic home located on the Hale Ranch in the ghost town of Harshaw, Arizona. Built around 1877, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and is now the most prominent building remaining in this ghost town. Along with the rest of Harshaw, this house has been within the Coronado National Forest since 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hale Ranch</span> Cattle ranch in Santa Cruz County, Arizona

The Hale Ranch is a working cattle ranch headquartered in the ghost town of Harshaw, in the Patagonia Mountains of southeastern Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Camp, Arizona</span> Populated place in Arizona, United States

Washington Camp is a populated place in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. Little remains of the historic mining camp and what does is on private property belonging to the community's few remaining residents. The Mad Miner Inn has lodging, checkout availability and location on maps. The ruins of the ghost town of Duquesne are one mile southeast of Washington Camp. The post office in Washington Camp was first opened on May 13, 1880, and moved to nearby Duquesne on June 6, 1890.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salero, Arizona</span> Ghost town in Santa Cruz County, Arizona

Salero is a ghost town in the Santa Rita Mountains of Santa Cruz County, Arizona. As one of the best preserved ghost towns remaining in Arizona, Salero is located on private property of the Salero Ranch and is not open to visitors.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sherman, James E. & Barbara H. (1969). Ghost Towns of Arizona. University of Oklahoma. ISBN   0806108436.
  2. 1 2 3 4 John and Bette Bosma (April 2006). "Southwest Arizona Ghost Towns Harshaw, Mowry, Washington Camp, Duquesne, Lochiel" (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2015.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. 1 2 "Legends of America: Patagonia Back Road Ghost Towns". p. 2. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
  4. Varney, Philip (1980). "Nine: South of Sonoita". Arizona's Best Ghost Towns. Flagstaff: Northland Press. pp. 99–100. ISBN   0873582179. LCCN   79-91724.