PINAL COUNTY

Pinal County Ghost Towns

Adamsville, a farming town located on the south bank of the Gila River west of Florence, was one of the first two towns formed in Pinal County in 1866. It was named for its original settler Fred Adams. The first census Adamsville appeared on was in 1870 as an unincorporated village located in Pima County, becoming part of Pinal County during its formation in 1875. A post office was established in 1871. There were stores, homes, a flour mill, a cemetery, and water tanks. The post office was discontinued in 1876. In 1900 the Gila River overflowed and wiped out most of the adobe homes in the town. Survivors of the flood moved to the town of Florence. Adamsville was known for shootings and knifings being very  commonplace. Is it any wonder the entire settlement became a ghost town by 1920? Adamsville was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Alma, founded in 1891 by Frank Doll, who was also the first and only postmaster until 1898 when it closed after Mr Doll's death. Alma was located on the west bank of the San Pedro River south of Winkelman and  appears to have been a mining town. All that remains is on private property but some of it visible from the road. All that remains are wooden water tanks, an ore chute, metal ore buckets and a small heap of slag.

American Flag, five miles southeast of Oracle, was founded by prospector Isaac Lorraine as a mining camp in the late 1870s. The town was small with a population of about 40. In 1881 the town was sold to a mining company and Isaac Lorraine built the American Flag Ranch to raise cattle. At the same time, the town's post office was moved to the ranch. The town's population slowly dwindled and by 1890 the town was abandoned. The post office building still stands, preserved by the Oracle Historical Society, and is now on the National Register of Historic Places

Cochran was settled in 1905 in Arizona Territory. Named after its postmaster, John Cochran, the small mining camp also served as a stop on the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway. The post office closed in 1915 leaving a general store, boarding house, and other establishments. All that remains are intact beehive coke ovens across the Gila River on private property.

Copper Creek was a mining town located about 10 miles east of Mammoth, via a dirt road. At its peak, the population was about 500 with about 50 buildings including a post office that was established in March 1906 until its closure in 1942. The town was built in tiers due to it being in a canyon in the Galiuro Mountains. Much of the town site remains however it appears to have been heavily vandalized. Several mining companies have proposed opening a mine there in recent years.

DeNoon, founded by James DeNoon Reymert in 1889, served as a milling town for the Reymert Mine two miles away. The post office opened in 1890 and closed the following year with the town disappearing soon after.

Goldfield, later known as Youngberg, was located near gold mines with a post office opening in 1893. The gold mines closed in 1897 and the post office closed in 1898. The population dwindled and George Young, who was Secretary for the Arizona Territory from 1909-1910, formed a new community named in his honor. A new post office opened in 1920 until 1926. The town is now a popular tourist attraction known as Goldfield Ghost Town. See Towns.

Pinal City was developed by prospectors and ranchers in about 1870 when silver was discovered. A post office opened in 1878 and the town grew to as many as 2,000 residents. When the silver mine ran out in 1891, the town became deserted. The Silver Queen Mine continued and gradually became a copper producer forming a new town of Superior by 1900 which currently has a population of over 3,000.

Ray, which was surrounded by rugged mountains, was likely originally founded by copper miners in 1870, and was mainly known for copper and silver mines. By 1909, according to census records, there was a hospital with a doctor, three nurses and a cook. The Arizona Copper Camp newspaper was published in Ray from 1910-1920. Ray had many businesses, four churches, a cemetery, an elementary and high school. By 1958 a new town, Kearny, was constructed a few miles away and soon residents began moving there when Ray was named officially as a ghost town. It is only accessible by four wheelers or horseback due to the open pit mine that swallowed everything up.

Raymert, named for its founder James DeNoon Reymert (the editor of the Pinal Drill newspaper) was started around a post office in June 1890. Most of the town, about 75 people, worked at Reymert Mine until the 1950s. Not much is known about Reymert. The post office closed in 1898 and in the 1970s the town was bulldozed. Only the two processing kilns and a number of stacked stone foundations remains.

Sasco's post office started in July 1907 and was discontinued September 1919. Sasco stands for Southern Arizona Smelting Co. During its prime, 600 people lived there in company housing. Sasco had saloons, stores and the Hotel Rockland. In 1910 the smelters closed due to lack of profit. Only the foundations of the smelter and a few buildings remain. The cemetery is still there as well.

Tiger was originally known as Schultz when gold ore was discovered by Frank Schultz in 1881 in the then Arizona Territory. In July 1894 the Schultz post office was started and operated until it closed in May 1902 when the town waned. Due to World War 1's increased demand for certain trace elements, the mines reopened until 1919. Shortly after the war, the town was purchased and the name changed to Tiger. A new post office opened in March 1939 and the town peaked in the early 1950s with as many as 1,800 residents. After the local mines and the town ran their course, the post office closed in Nov 1954. A copper company acquired the land and demolished all remaining structures in order to mine the silica on site for its gold content. The material contained too much lead and today, nothing is left of the area but a filled in shaft of the mine in the middle of town.