NAVAJO COUNTY

Navajo County Ghost Towns

Adair, was a hollow originally in Apache County, settled by 12 Mormon pioneer families in about 1879. For years they barely survived by tending livestock, raising corn, sugar cane, beans and vegetables with water that was hauled from the creek. The soil had turned out to be sandy and salty and the topography invited early frost which caused crops to die. In the 1880s it became known as Fool Hollow due to this. Disease, including small pox, caused many deaths and the Apache raids led by Geronimo caused them to flee to a nearby Fort in refuge. In 1895, the area became part of Navajo County and is now the Fool Hollow Lake recreation area just north of Show Low.

Aripine, originally called Joppa, was also founded in 1883 as a Mormon farming community. Not much is known about the town other than it is said that lack of water was the reason it did not survive.

Brigham City, was founded in 1876 and settled by 20 Mormon families and 15 bachelors from Salt Lake City, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Homes were built inside protective walls. Flash flooding washed away the dams and irrigation systems and led to crop failures, causing the abandonment of the town by 1881. The population in 1880 was 191. Brigham City was added to the National Register of Historic places June 9, 1978 and is currently undergoing restoration.

Cedar Spring was established as a trading post in the 1880s with the first post office named Cedar Springs in 1910. It was changed to Cedar Spring in 1930 and ceased operation in 1934. All that remains is the Hubbell's Trading Post building and two stone cabins.

Obed was a town located south of Joseph City, settled in 1876 by members of The Church of Latter-Day Saints under George Lake. They built a fort with 10 foot high walls, and started a denominational school. The town had 123 members. There were many problems that plagued the settlement, among them disease and flooding. The settlement was abandoned in March 1877.

Sunset was a mill town settled in 1876 by members of The Church of Latter-Day Saints under Lot Smith. Drought and then flash flooding destroyed the dams and irrigation systems, causing crop failures. Consequently, Sunset was abandoned in 1887. The last settlers moved out the following year. The Sunset Cemetery remains as part of the Homolovi State Park.

Wilford was settled in April 1883 by members of The Church of Latter-Day Saints (from the failed Brigham City settlement) under Jerome Jefferson Adams. The town was originally called Adam's Valley. The name changed to Wilford in August 1883. In 1885, the Anti-Polygamy Edmunds Act led the LDS Church to urge polygamists to move south to Mexico. Nearly half of Wilford's population was lost to the migration. The following year, non LDS families and Hashknife Cowboys began moving into cabins left vacant. Cattle ranching led to years of overgrazing and in 1888 and many families abandoned the settlement and Wilford ceased by 1889, the last residents moving out in by 1926. A few loose rock foundations are all that remains.

Zeniff was founded in 1911 by Preston Bushman with the goal of dry farming and raising cattle. Water was scarce and had to be hauled from three miles away to water crops in the rocky soil. Dams were erected and wells dug to provide drinking water but as more families arrived in the 1920s, the water supply diminished. A one-room cabin served as the schoolhouse for grades 1-8. After that, children moved to Snowflake in winter to attend the Stake Academy. A post office was established in 1922 which required the town to be named. Zeniff was chosen after the Book of Mormon. The post office operated until 1933. In 1956 a paper pulp mill was built and the offensive odor caused families to relocate and the town was abandoned even though the mill operated until 2012. All that remains are three adobe buildings and some stone walls.