Charleston, Arizona
Encyclopedia
Charleston is a ghost town
in Cochise County
in the southeastern part of the U.S. state
of Arizona
. It was occupied from the late-1870s through the late-1880s, and was located in what was then known as the Arizona Territory
. Located on the west bank of the San Pedro River
, Charleston's economy was based on milling silver
ore mined from nearby Tombstone
in the community of Millville, located directly across the river.
. The mills began operations in 1879, and at their peak from 1881–1882, they processed almost $1.4 million in silver bullion in one year.
Once the future site of Tombstone's mills was established, the land that was to become Charleston was claimed by Amos Stowe on October 28, 1878, and planning for the town began immediately thereafter. The town consisted of twenty-six blocks with sixteen lots each, laid out in a grid. Due to an attractive leasing system setup by Stowe, businesses flocked to Charleston, and by May 1879, the town already housed approximately 40 buildings, including a post office
which opened on April 17, 1879. Millville's post office opened shortly after Charleston's, on May 26, 1879, but shut down less than a year later on May 3, 1880 as it became clear that Charleston was to be the primary residence for the people of both towns. While Millville was named for its primary function as a milling location, Charleston took its name from its original postmaster
, Charles D. Handy.
The 1880 United States Census recorded the population as 350 people, and the town's permanent population likely peaked at over 400 a few years later during the height of Tombstone's silver boom. At its peak, the town housed a post office, four restaurants, a school, a church, a doctor, a lawyer, a drugstore, two blacksmiths, two livery stables, two butcher shops, two bakeries, a hotel, five general store
s, a jewelry shop, a carpenter, a brickyard, a brewery, and at least four saloons. One of the butcher shops in town was owned by noted frontier lawman John H. Slaughter.
Frank Stilwell
owned a saloon in Charleston, before selling it to Jacob W. Swart in 1881. In addition, the Clanton Ranch, owned by "Old Man" Clanton, and run by his sons John, Phin, Ike
and Billy, was located just five miles south of town. Some of the most infamous figures in the territory at the time were employed by or associated with the Clanton Ranch, including the Clantons themselves, Johnny Ringo
, "Curly Bill" Brocius
, Pete Spence
, and Frank and Tom McLaury.
Despite its reputation and its infamous residents, it is worth noting that the town never suffered a single successful robbery of either silver or money at the hands of outlaws, though a failed robbery of the Tombstone Mining Company which resulted in the murder of mining engineer M. R. Peel was recorded in Millville on March 25, 1882. In addition, The Tombstone Epitaph on May 6, 1882 said of Charleston that it was "well regulated and free from turmoil" and that it was "one of the most peaceful places we were ever in."
Charleston was also known for Justice of the Peace
James Burnett. Burnett was, by all accounts, a corrupt and violent individual. After a disagreement with the Cochise County Board of Supervisors who ostensibly supervised Burnett's action, Burnett declared that he would run his court independently. From that point on, he was said to administer justice on the spot, outside of his courtroom, in the form of fines that he personally pocketed. Burnett's fines were diverse, including anything from cattle to cash, and ranged from nine cords of wood for theft, through one-thousand dollars when saloon owner Jacob Swart shot and killed a man. In the absence of other governmental representatives, Burnett became the de facto dictator of Charleston until the town was abandoned around 1889, at which time he left Charleston and became Justice of the Peace in nearby Pearce
. He was shot and killed in Tombstone in July 1897 by William Greene, a local rancher who believed that Burnett blew up a dam which led to the death of Greene's daughter. There is no known surviving evidence that Burnett was responsible for the dam explosion, though Greene and Burnett did have a history of altercation.
that struck on May 3, 1887, accompanied by more than thirty minutes of aftershocks, left all of the town's adobe
structures in ruins, and sealed the town's fate. The town was quickly abandoned as none of the structures remained habitable. The Charleston Post Office shut down on October 24, 1888, and by 1889, both Charleston and Millville were already ghost towns.
, the United States Army
used Charleston as a practice site for urban combat
, often using live ammunition. The site was known to the soldiers of nearby Fort Huachuca
as "Little Tunisia" due to its climactic and geographic similarity to Tunisia
in Africa
. These activities, in and around 1943, led to further deterioration of the site. The town's location on the very bank of the San Pedro River also contributed to the demise of the town's remains as cliff erosion literally ate away at the land and the adobe structures.
All that is left of Charleston today are a few adobe ruins and scattered pieces of stone foundations, all of which are hidden amongst the underbrush. Across the river in Millville, a few stone embankments are all that remain of the mills. What little is left of the local cemetery is approximately a mile and a half north of the Charleston site, though it is difficult to locate, and very few traces remains. The site is part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area
(NCA) maintained by the Bureau of Land Management
.
Charleston and Millville are not accessible by car and can only be reached by hiking up the San Pedro River. While trails were rough and unmarked for many years, the Bureau of Land Management has begun maintaining trails to and from the area. The remains of the town can be found on the west bank of the river with Millville's ruins directly across the river on the east bank.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
in Cochise County
Cochise County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*78.5% White*4.2% Black*1.2% Native American*1.9% Asian*0.3% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*4.0% Two or more races*9.6% Other races*32.4% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
in the southeastern part of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. It was occupied from the late-1870s through the late-1880s, and was located in what was then known as the Arizona Territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
. Located on the west bank of the San Pedro River
San Pedro River (Arizona)
San Pedro River is a northward-flowing stream originating about ten miles south of Sierra Vista, Arizona near Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. It is one of only two rivers which flow north from Mexico into the United States. The river flows north through Cochise County, Pima County, Graham County, and...
, Charleston's economy was based on milling silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
ore mined from nearby Tombstone
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...
in the community of Millville, located directly across the river.
Geography
Charleston is located at 31°38′9"N 110°10′21"W (31.635833, -110.1725), on the west bank of the San Pedro River, about 9 miles (14.5 km) southwest of Tombstone. Millville is located directly across the river, on the east bank.History
Charleston was originally settled as a residence for the mill workers in Millville, on the opposite bank of the San Pedro River, where two mills were built to process ore from the silver mines of nearby Tombstone. The mills were constructed in Millville due to a lack of water, needed for refinement, in the immediate vicinity of Tombstone. The mills, one operated by the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company and the other by the Corbin Mill and Mining Company, processed or "stamped" the silver ore into fine powder in preparation for smeltingSmelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
. The mills began operations in 1879, and at their peak from 1881–1882, they processed almost $1.4 million in silver bullion in one year.
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
which opened on April 17, 1879. Millville's post office opened shortly after Charleston's, on May 26, 1879, but shut down less than a year later on May 3, 1880 as it became clear that Charleston was to be the primary residence for the people of both towns. While Millville was named for its primary function as a milling location, Charleston took its name from its original postmaster
Postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...
, Charles D. Handy.
The 1880 United States Census recorded the population as 350 people, and the town's permanent population likely peaked at over 400 a few years later during the height of Tombstone's silver boom. At its peak, the town housed a post office, four restaurants, a school, a church, a doctor, a lawyer, a drugstore, two blacksmiths, two livery stables, two butcher shops, two bakeries, a hotel, five general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
s, a jewelry shop, a carpenter, a brickyard, a brewery, and at least four saloons. One of the butcher shops in town was owned by noted frontier lawman John H. Slaughter.
Reputation
The town had a wild and lawless reputation, largely perpetuated by newspapers on the east coast. Noted outlawOutlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
Frank Stilwell
Frank Stilwell
Frank C. Stilwell was an outlaw Cowboy who murdered at least two men in Cochise County during 1877-1882. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan...
owned a saloon in Charleston, before selling it to Jacob W. Swart in 1881. In addition, the Clanton Ranch, owned by "Old Man" Clanton, and run by his sons John, Phin, Ike
Ike Clanton
Joseph Isaac Clanton was born in Callaway County, Missouri. He is best known for being a member of group of outlaw Cowboys that had ongoing conflicts with lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan Earp and Wyatt's friend Doc Holliday. The Clantons repeatedly threatened the Earps because they interfered with...
and Billy, was located just five miles south of town. Some of the most infamous figures in the territory at the time were employed by or associated with the Clanton Ranch, including the Clantons themselves, Johnny Ringo
Johnny Ringo
John Peters "Johnny" Ringo was an outlaw Cowboy of the American Old West who was affiliated with Ike Clanton and Frank Stilwell in Cochise County, Arizona Territory during 1881-1882.-Early life:...
, "Curly Bill" Brocius
William Brocius
William "Curly Bill" Brocius was a gunman, rustler and an outlaw Cowboy in the Cochise County area of Arizona Territory during the early 1880s. He had a number of conflicts with the lawmen of the Earp family, and he was named as one of the individuals who participated Morgan Earp's assassination....
, Pete Spence
Pete Spence
Pete Spence , suspected of robbery in 1878 in Goliad County, Texas, changed his name from Elliot Larkin Ferguson. He was later a suspect in a stagecoach robbery outside Bisbee, Arizona and was known for his association with outlaw Cowboys Frank and Tom McLaury and Ike and Billy Clanton of...
, and Frank and Tom McLaury.
Despite its reputation and its infamous residents, it is worth noting that the town never suffered a single successful robbery of either silver or money at the hands of outlaws, though a failed robbery of the Tombstone Mining Company which resulted in the murder of mining engineer M. R. Peel was recorded in Millville on March 25, 1882. In addition, The Tombstone Epitaph on May 6, 1882 said of Charleston that it was "well regulated and free from turmoil" and that it was "one of the most peaceful places we were ever in."
Charleston was also known for Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
James Burnett. Burnett was, by all accounts, a corrupt and violent individual. After a disagreement with the Cochise County Board of Supervisors who ostensibly supervised Burnett's action, Burnett declared that he would run his court independently. From that point on, he was said to administer justice on the spot, outside of his courtroom, in the form of fines that he personally pocketed. Burnett's fines were diverse, including anything from cattle to cash, and ranged from nine cords of wood for theft, through one-thousand dollars when saloon owner Jacob Swart shot and killed a man. In the absence of other governmental representatives, Burnett became the de facto dictator of Charleston until the town was abandoned around 1889, at which time he left Charleston and became Justice of the Peace in nearby Pearce
Pearce, Arizona
Pearce, Arizona and Sunsites, Arizona are adjacent unincorporated communities in the Sulphur Springs Valley of Cochise County, Arizona, United States. The two communities are referred to as Pearce-Sunsites, Pearce/Sunsites, or Pearce Sunsites. Pearce is best known as a historic ghost town...
. He was shot and killed in Tombstone in July 1897 by William Greene, a local rancher who believed that Burnett blew up a dam which led to the death of Greene's daughter. There is no known surviving evidence that Burnett was responsible for the dam explosion, though Greene and Burnett did have a history of altercation.
Decline
When the silver mines in Tombstone flooded in 1886, the mills were forced to shut down, and Charleston and Millville went into steep decline. The large Sonoran earthquake1887 Sonora earthquake
The 1887 Sonora earthquake occurred at 22:13 UCT on 3 May in the Teras mountain range of northwestern Mexico. It was widely felt, with some damage being recorded up to 200 km from the epicenter in both Mexico and the United States. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.6 and caused 42...
that struck on May 3, 1887, accompanied by more than thirty minutes of aftershocks, left all of the town's adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
structures in ruins, and sealed the town's fate. The town was quickly abandoned as none of the structures remained habitable. The Charleston Post Office shut down on October 24, 1888, and by 1889, both Charleston and Millville were already ghost towns.
Remnants
After it was abandoned, Charleston was briefly inhabited in the 1890s by a small population of Mexican immigrants who furthered the town's dismantling by using what was left of the wooden structures for kindling. Later, during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
used Charleston as a practice site for urban combat
Urban warfare
Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat is very different from combat in the open at both the operational and tactical level...
, often using live ammunition. The site was known to the soldiers of nearby Fort Huachuca
Fort Huachuca
Fort Huachuca is a United States Army installation under the command of the United States Army Installation Management Command. It is located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about north of the border with Mexico. Beginning in 1913, for 20 years the fort was the base for the "Buffalo...
as "Little Tunisia" due to its climactic and geographic similarity to Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. These activities, in and around 1943, led to further deterioration of the site. The town's location on the very bank of the San Pedro River also contributed to the demise of the town's remains as cliff erosion literally ate away at the land and the adobe structures.
All that is left of Charleston today are a few adobe ruins and scattered pieces of stone foundations, all of which are hidden amongst the underbrush. Across the river in Millville, a few stone embankments are all that remain of the mills. What little is left of the local cemetery is approximately a mile and a half north of the Charleston site, though it is difficult to locate, and very few traces remains. The site is part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area
San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area
The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area contains nearly of public land in Cochise County, Arizona, between the international border and St. David, Arizona. The riparian area, where some of the upper San Pedro River meanders, was designated by Congress as a Riparian National Conservation...
(NCA) maintained by the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
.
Charleston and Millville are not accessible by car and can only be reached by hiking up the San Pedro River. While trails were rough and unmarked for many years, the Bureau of Land Management has begun maintaining trails to and from the area. The remains of the town can be found on the west bank of the river with Millville's ruins directly across the river on the east bank.
See also
- American Old WestAmerican Old WestThe American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
- BoomtownBoomtownA boomtown is a community that experiences sudden and rapid population and economic growth. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons,...
- History of ArizonaHistory of ArizonaThe last Native Americans arrived in Arizona between 16,000 BC and 10,000 BC, while the history of Arizona as recorded by Europeans began when Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan, explored the area in 1539. Coronado's expedition entered the area in 1540–1542 during its search for Cíbola...
- List of ghost towns in Arizona
- Gunfight at the O.K. CorralGunfight at the O.K. CorralThe Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a roughly 30-second gunfight that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona Territory, of the United States. Outlaw Cowboys Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight, unharmed, but Ike's brother...
- Silver mining in ArizonaSilver mining in ArizonaSilver mining in Arizona was a powerful stimulus for exploration and prospecting in early Arizona. Cumulative silver production through 1981 totaled 490 million troy ounces . However, only about 10% of Arizona's silver production came from silver mining...
External links
- Charleston at Ghosttowns.com
- Charleston at Ghost Town of the Month: recent photos and visitor information.