Principal mines at Stockton Hill were discovered in the early 1860's. Twenty years later a small but prosperous community had grown to meet the needs of the miners. By 1884 the rich silver-bearing mines boosted Stockton into first place as the liveliest mining camp in Mohave County. Mills at Mineral Park and Cerbat treated the ore before it was shipped to smelters in San Francisco and New Mexico.
A few deserted buildings, possibly of a later date, still nestle at the base of Stockton Hill.
Aubrey Landing
County: Mohave
Location : 2 mi. northeast of Parker Dam
Francois Xavicr Aubrey (b. Maskinonge, Canada, 1824; d. Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1854) was a pioneer trapper and hunter. Because of an event in 1850, he received both fame and the nickname "Skimmer of the Plains." On a thousand-dollar wager that he could do it, Aubrey rode horseback from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Independence, Missouri, in eight days. Spurred on by success, he later repeated this same eight hundred-mile ride in less time. Aubrey's short life was brought to an abrupt end by Major Richard H. Wcightman during an argument and stabbing in a Santa Fe saloon. A river landing founded at the mouth of the Bill Williams River ten years after Aubrey's death was named in his honor. Aubrey Landing became an important distributing point for the southern part of Mohave County, and freight and supplies were landed there for the McCracken and Sandy districts.
Although Aubrey Landing was believed to be ideally located, the town never grew to its anticipated size. The break in the copper market in 1865 left the place almost abandoned; however, enough stragglers remained to warrant a post office the following year. By 1878 the sights of Aubrey Landing were few but varied. In addition to the assorted piles of copper ore and slag left from the smelting furnaces, there was a combination post office, hotel, store, and saloon under one roof, and an old ship's cabin where W. J. Hardy, an agent for Colorado Steam Navigation Company, resided. Aubrey Landing supported a small number of people for nearly a decade longer. Now nothing is left of the town.
Above—Aubrey Landing. Possibly an early photograph of Aubrey Landing looking south toward the
Buckskin Mountains in Yuma County.—Courtesy Yuma Territorial Prison Museum
Goldflat
County: Mohave
Location: 3 mi. southwest of Kingman
Goldflat. a small community, functioned as a result of the Gold Flat Mining and Milling Company. It seemed to have been short-lived, leaving few indications of its former existence. In 1909 Goldflat reported a population of sixty-five, and a
blacksmith, barber, carpenter, hotel, general merchandise store, livery stable, and restaurant.
GoldroadCounty: MohaveLocation: 30 mi. southwest of Kingman
Goldroad—present-day ruins of a once thriving mining town.
Jose Jerez, grubstaked by Henry Lovin, a Kingman merchant, located the Goldroad Mine about 1899. As the story goes. Jerez stumbled upon the gold outcrop while tracking his burros, which had strayed from camp.
Gold was first discovered in the area by John Moss in 1863. Although the Moss Mine stimulated prospecting, somehow the Goldroad outcrop was overlooked. Then, during the '80's, attention shifted to the silver ore in the Cerbat range, so
it was not until Jerez's find that miners hurried back into the previously-prospected region. After Jerez and Lovin sold the mine in 1901, considerable work on the property generated the active, prosperous community of Goldroad. Businesses and dwellings sprang up to form a community of four hundred citizens. Jose Jerez seemed to have disappeared from the scene, but Henry Lovin stayed around and reaped greater wealth in the new camp by erecting and owning the Gold
Road Club and a general merchandise and freighting company.
Goldroad Mine produced mostly low-grade ore. After about thirty years, work stopped. Goldroad is now reduced to rocks, rubble, and roofless, door-less, rock and adobe buildings.
Goldroad. circa 1918. Over $7.000.000 worth of gold was mined in this camp between 1903 and 1931.
Germa
County: Mohave
Location: 2 mi. southwest of Oatman
In 1896 a gold deposit was discovered just west of Vivian (Oatman). Four years later the property came into the hands of the German-American Mining Company. Both the mine and the smalt community supported by the mine became known as Germa. An insufficient water supply lo run the mill on a double shift closed the Germa Mine in 1906. As a result. Germa camp died, A few foundations still mark the site.
Katherine
County: Mohave
Location : about 5 mi. northeast of Davis Dam
The Katherine Mine was discovered in September, 1900. by S. C. Baggs and developed by the New Comstock Mining Company. The ore was treated at the Sheep Trail Mill at Pyramid, on the Colorado River. In 1904 the Arizona-Pyramid
Gold Mining Company acquired the mine-mill property and began a more extensive development program. Little profit was made during these early years, because of the expense of wagon transportation and the relatively inefficient amalgamation process used. Operations were suspended in 1906.
When the Katherine Gold Mining Company took over in 1919, active exploration resumed at the mine. A new shaft was sunk, and a 150-ton cyanide mill built at the mine. The gold mine began to attract a crowd to Katherine camp. Single miners and married men as well were induced to settle in Katherine. As part of the promotion to lure a growing population, a free town lot was offered to the parents of the first female baby born at the camp. There was one provision to the generous offer—the child must be given the name Katherine.
In the 1930's, Katherine boasted of becoming one of the most comfortable camps in the country. It had a big boardinghouse, large enough to feed the entire working crew in thirty minutes.
The mine is still visible, but there does not appear to be anything left of Katherine.
Signal and Liverpool Landing
SIGNAL—County: Mohave
Location: 22 mi. south of Wikieup
.
The discovery of ihc McCracken silver mine in 1874 generated excitement in mining circles and produced the inevitable rush to the newly-formed Owens district. Signal burst into life about 1877.
Oldtrails
County: Mohave
Location: 1 mi. south of Oatman
To commemorate ihc famous trails which once linked early settlements, the National Old Trails Association and the Daughters of the American Revolution marked old trails. A now-vanished community located on one of these trails was appropriately named Oldtrails.
Oldtrails burst to life within four months during the spring of 1915. Situated near not only the famous Tom Reed and United Eastern mines, but also many other great mining properties, the new town grew rapidly, soon reaching a population
of five hundred.
The town boasted of more than just the necessities of a mining camp. There were electric lights, graded streets, a district hospital, steam laundry, wholesale ice cream and bakery shop, bottling works, sheet metal works, and telephone and telegraph connections.
Oldtrails had every apparent reason to be an ideal settlement, but gradually the future began to look less promising, as mining prospects dimmed. By 1925. with only a handful of people remaining, the post office closed.
Today two buildings remain at Oldtrails. One is an old motel and service station recently converted into a restaurant. The other, a stone house, was once an assay office, but is now a private home.
Owens
County: Mohave
Location : about 4 mi. south of Wikieup
Situated at the base of McCracken Hill, the camp was named for "Chloride Jack" Owen, who with Jackson McCracken discovered the famous Mc-Cracken silver mine in 1874. Owens camp was born less than two years later. There were several substantial frame buildings, a hotel, a store, and a saloon.
After its beginning, there is a gap in Owens' history. Little or nothing seems to have been reported of the camp until a post office was established in 1899.
In addition to mining, there were also farming and stock raising in the area. At one time the population was about 150 residents.
