List of historic structures in Oatman, Arizona | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 35°01′35″N114°23′01″W / 35.02639°N 114.38361°W |
Part of a series of the |
Cities, towns and CDPs in Arizona with lists and images of historic properties, forts, cemeteries or historic districts |
---|
This is a list with images of some of the structures in the historic mining town of Oatman, Arizona which is located in the Black Mountains of Mohave County. Two of the structures are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Black Mountains of northwest Arizona are an extensive long mountain range. The Hualapai Native-American Tribe inhabited the area. Tensions between the Hualapai people and settlers began with encroachment of Indian lands. Between 1867 and 1869, the Hualapai were at war with the American settlers from the east coast who lived in this area after the death of the prominent Yavapai leader Anasa. The United States Army arrived in the defense of the settlers in what now is known as the Hualapai War. Skirmishing continued for almost two more years in the area after the majority of the Hualapais surrendered due to an outbreak of dysentery and whooping cough in 1869. [1] [2]
John Thomas Moss was a frontiersman and prospector from Utica, New York who learned the languages of many of the tribes in the area. In 1862, he discovered gold in the Black Mountains and staked a claim in what became known as the Moss Mine. In 1863, he went into the Hualapai Mountains and organized the profitable Wauba Yuma Mining District. [3] [4]
Soon after a tent city was established and named "Vivian" nestled in the southern portion of the Black Mountain range. [5] The tent city of Vivian grew as miners and prospectors continued to arrive in the area. Burros, which is the Spanish word for Donkey, were used by the miners to carry essential supplies, including rock and metals in those days. The wild burros, roaming the streets of Oatman today, are the offspring of the burros that were let lose after they became useless to the miners as resources ran out and mines closed. [6]
In 1902 John Durlin built the Drulin Hotel which provided shelter and food to many of the miners in the area. The hotel, which was renamed "Oatman Hotel" in 1960, is the only historic two-story adobe building in Mohave County. [7] By 1904 the Vivian Mining Company began operations and a Post Office was established. Between 1903 and 1905, the town and mines were served by a narrow gauge rail line. The narrow gauge trail line ran 17 miles to the Colorado River near Needles, California. [8]
In 1909, Vivian was formally named Oatman in honor of Olive Oatman, a 14-year-old girl whose family was attacked by a small group from a Native American tribe believed to be Tolkepayas (Western Yavapai). All were killed except for three of the children: Lorenzo, age 15 (who was left for dead), Olive, and Mary Ann, age 7, who were taken to be slaves for the Yavapais. [9] Olive and Mary Ann were sold as slaves to the Mohave who tattooed both girls on their chins and arms. [10] Olive survived the ordeal, but her younger sister Mary Ann died while in captivity. Eventually. Olive was released when the Mohaves were told by a messenger that the whites would destroy the Mohaves if they did not release her. The trade items included were blankets and a white horse. [11] [12]
In 1915, another boom was provided to the settlement when two miners struck a gold find. However, in 1921, a fire of huge proportions consumed many of the structures in the town. The townspeople worked hard to rebuild the small town. Five years later the main mining company, United Eastern Mines, shut down operations for good. [8] [7] The town continued to survive due to the travelers who passed through the old U.S. Route 66 which was built in 1920. The town's economy was once again affected when the route became what is now Interstate 40 and was completely bypassed in 1953. [8] [7]
In 1995, the Gold Road Mine was reopened, however the decline of gold prices resulted in its closure in 1998. A renewed interest in the town and travel in Route 66 began with the growth of the nearby gaming town of Laughlin, Nevada. The hotels in Laughlin promotes visits to the town. Oatman is now a tourist attraction. [13] [8] [7]
Before reaching Oatman through the historic Route 66, there is a gas station, the Cool Springs camp and service station, which originally was built in 1920. The original building burned to the ground in the 1960s and a new one was rebuilt in its place. The pillars are the only items which remained from the original structure. Part of the movie "Universal Soldier" was filmed there. [14] Between the station and Oatman there is a stone bridge on the narrow Route 66. The stone bridge is located in what is known as "Bloody 66" in Sitgreaves Pass. According to the book “The Big Roads”, authored by Earl Swift, the 18-foot stone bridge that crossed the wash was too narrow for two speeding cars to pass safely in opposite directions. One car would hit another or worse impale itself, and sometimes its driver, on the wooden guard rail. [15]
The National Register of Historic Places includes:
Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is the fifth largest county in the United States.
State Route 66 is a surface road in the U.S. state of Arizona in Mohave and Coconino Counties. In 1914, the road was designated "National Old Trails Highway" but in 1926 was re-designated as U.S. Route 66. In 1985, U.S. Route 66 was dropped from the highway system. Parts of the highway were either absorbed into I-40, turned over to the state, or turned over to Yavapai County.
Olive Ann Oatman was a White American woman who was enslaved and later released by Native Americans in the Mojave Desert region when she was a teenager. She later lectured about her experiences.
Mary Ann Oatman was the sister of Olive Oatman. She is notable for surviving a gruesome attack on her family, “the Oatman Massacre” by south-western Native Americans who, according to historian Brian McGinty, were likely Tolkepaya, of the Yavapai, in what is now Arizona. Mary Ann and her sister Olive were both abducted. Following their abduction, the sisters were traded to the Mojave tribe. The date of her death is uncertain. According to Olive Oatman, Mary Ann died of starvation as a result of a severe drought.
Oatman is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Black Mountains of Mohave County, Arizona, United States, at an elevation of 2,710 feet (830 m). In 1915, it began as a small mining camp when two prospectors struck US$10 million in gold, though the vicinity had already been settled for several years. Oatman's population grew to more than 3,500 in one year. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 102.
The Big Sandy River is both an intermittent and perennial stream in Mohave and La Paz counties in northwestern Arizona in the United States. It begins where Cottonwood Wash and Trout Creek converge in the Hualapai Indian Reservation east of U.S. Route 93 then flows past Wikieup south of Kingman. The Big Sandy River then passes the Signal Ghost Town Site, meanders through the Arrastra Mountain Wilderness, and joins the Santa Maria River in Southern Mohave County to form the Bill Williams River. The Bill Williams River then empties into Alamo Lake State Park. The Big Sandy River is 55.7 miles (89.6 km) long.
The Hualapai is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Arizona with about 2300 enrolled citizens. Approximately 1353 enrolled citizens reside on the Hualapai Reservation, which spans over three counties in Northern Arizona.
The Hualapai Mountains are a mountain range located in Mohave County, east of Kingman, Arizona. Rising up to 8,417 feet at its highest peak, the higher elevations of the Hualapai Mountains support Madrean Sky Island habitats, and are host to a plethora of unique flora and fauna in a wide range of microclimates, high above the surrounding Mojave Desert.
The Black Mountains of northwest Arizona are an extensive, mostly linear, north-south trending 75 miles (121 km) long mountain range. It forms the north-south border of southwest Mohave County as it borders the eastern shore of the south-flowing Colorado River from Hoover Dam.
Hackberry is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is located on Arizona State Route 66 28 miles (45 km) northeast of Kingman. Hackberry has a post office which as of 2015 served 68 residential mailboxes with ZIP code 86411. As of the 2020 census, Hackberry had a population of 103.
The Hualapai War, or Walapai War, was an armed conflict fought from 1865 to 1870 between the Hualapai native Americans and the United States in Arizona Territory. The Yavapai also participated on the side of the Hualapai and Mohave scouts were employed by the United States Army. Following the death of the prominent Yavapai leader Anasa in April 1865, the natives began raiding American settlements which provoked a response by the United States Army forces stationed in the area. By the spring of 1869 disease forced the majority of the Hualapais to surrender though some skirmishing continued for almost two more years.
The Durlin Hotel, which was renamed the Oatman Hotel, is located on Main St. in Oatman, Arizona, United States. It was built in 1924 by John Durlin and includes Spanish Colonial Revival architecture.
Irataba was a leader of the Mohave Nation, known as a mediator between the Mohave and the United States. He was born near the Colorado River in present-day Arizona. Irataba was a renowned orator and one of the first Mohave to speak English, a skill he used to develop relations with the United States.
Olive City, or Olivia, was a short-lived town, steamboat landing, and ferry crossing on the Colorado River in what was then Yuma County, Arizona Territory, from 1863 to 1866. It was located on the Arizona bank of the Colorado River, 1 mile above its rival Mineral City and 1/2 mile above the original site of Ehrenberg, Arizona, 3 miles southwest of the location of La Paz. The GNIS location of Olive City (historical) is indicated as being in La Paz County, Arizona, but its coordinates in the present-day now put it across the river just within Riverside County, California. Olive City was named after Olive Oatman who had been, with her sister, survivors of the massacre of her family and a captive of the Yavapai until purchased from them by the Mohave who they lived with for several years.
John Thomas Moss was an American frontiersman, prospector, and miner, who discovered several new mining districts in what is now Arizona and Nevada. After living with and learning the languages of many of the tribes in the area, he was a go between and peacemaker between American miners and local Native Americans, in the Southwestern United States.
Antares is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 132. It exists along part of historic U.S. Route 66.
Fort Tyson was a privately owned fort built in 1856 by Charles Tyson in the area which is now called Quartzsite, Arizona. He built the fort to protect the local miners and water supply from the raids of the Yavapai (Mohave-Apache), a Native-American tribe. The area in which Fort Tyson was located has been known as Fort Tyson, Tyson’s Well and is now called the town of Quartzsite because of the large amount of quartz found in its surrounding areas.
Shaffer Springs, sometimes called Shaffer's Fish Bowl, is a natural seep and minor roadside attraction in the Black Mountains of Arizona, United States. Located in Mohave County, alongside the old alignment of Route 66 that runs between Kingman, Arizona and Oatman, the water from the seep flows into a manmade basin stocked with domestic goldfish. Shaffer Springs serves a vital water source for wild burros.