The town of Chloride is roughly 45 miles east and a bit north of Bullhead City on highway 93 toward Vegas. It's an old silver mining town that first got a post office in 1873, although mining started in the area in 1860. The town got it's name from the Silver Chloride mineral found in the hills. It is considered the oldest silver mining camp in Arizona. Although not a ghost town its population is only about 300 or so residents today. At one time prior to 1930 there were 75 mines in the area and about 3500 people called the town home.
We headed over today to have a look around. Many of these small towns are pretty much shut down on Monday and Tuesday. Their big tourist days are on the weekends. This being Tuesday many of the shops were closed, but it also meant there weren't too many people wandering around.
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| Interesting fenceline |
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| Well weathered wheels. |
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| Cyanide Village. They use this area for the gunfights held every Saturday. |
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| A lot of hard miles on this horseshoe. |
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| The 'village' is just a row of facades. Still, pretty cool. |
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| Yesterday's was closed today as it was yesterday but it would be open tomorrow. Got it? |
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| This is also the tourist info place. A friendly lady gave us a map of the town and directions to the rock murals. |
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| Many homes had interesting yard art. This is a balance beam. See the two large stones at either end? No real purpose to this, just kinda neat use of old steel, a couple of rocks and ingenuity. |
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| Heated and air conditioned. What luxury! |
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| The bar was closed. |
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| Old bank vault building. Now a residence. |
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| A bottle fence. |
Another feature of the area is a number of rock murals just up in the hills outside of town. These were originally painted by artist Roy Purcell back in the 1960's, and then redone by Purcell and his grandson in 2006.
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| The 1.3 mile dirt road is a bit rough in spots. |
On our return to highway 93 we come to the junction. This is called Grasshopper Junction. It has seen better times.
A bit further along hwy 93 is this oddity, called Santa Claus. Wanna buy a town? It's a bit of a fixer upper!
After a great day trip, we headed back to Bullhead City.
........and that was Our View From Here!
Thanks for the tour Dave. Chloride was on my list as a possible place to see a couple of years ago but we never made it. :) Now we don't have to. lol
ReplyDeleteOh yes you do! Pictures help but you really need to experience it for yourself. This is a lesson I have learned from following folks blogs (like Kastle's Journey!) for a few years. There is nothing like experiencing these places first hand.
DeleteYou sure have found some interesting things to do while in Bullhead City!
ReplyDeleteWe've been here three weeks and I think we are getting close to finishing our list. It's been fun.
DeleteSi much to see and do wherever you go , one checkin out those old western towns.
ReplyDeleteThese towns all have very interesting history. I've only scratched the surface.
DeleteWhat a very cool looking spot...thanks for taking us there! Great pictures.
ReplyDeleteYes, cool. It was at least 15 degrees cooler there than at Bullhead.
DeleteInteresting little town. Love the old buildings and equipment.
ReplyDeleteThey sure found good use for all their old 'stuff'.
DeleteThanks for taking us along. The murals were definitely interesting. I'm not really sure what all of them were but I hope Mr. Purcell found whatever he was searching for.
ReplyDeleteLove the names of these places. So cute.
It was his journey to find his inner self........or so the brochure says. I guess each of us would have our own interpretation of what that means! Not sure what my mural would look like. :-)
DeleteGreat pictures Dave! Certainly looks like an interesting place I gotta say! Love the old tractors! The rock murals are certainly interesting! You two have really been covering some great places!
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