ON THE ROAD AGAIN

With Ghost Town USA

A Tour Guide to the Ghost Towns Along

OLD U.S. HIGHWAY 80

From Yuma to Gila Bend, Arizona

PART 1

Yuma to Mohawk

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!!! It had been a year since our last long, multi-state road trip. Adventure was calling again, and we answered. This time however, the route planned was to cover multiple blue highways, in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. I will NOT attempt to replicate that journey in whole on these pages, but only highlight one small area that absolutely enthralled me on my first day out. It was July 2^nd 2010, the Ghost Town Express was packed and I hit the road. This would prove to be a challenging trip weather-wise, with a hurricane heading towards the southeastern coast of Texas, but I expected that and was well prepared. As always, maps were marked up and keyed to notebook pages overfilled with historical minutiae, including numerous alternative routes in case of detours, there was a fresh batch of CDs in the player, my laptop and camera batteries were fully charged and the GPS was plugged in and set to “Map Mode”. After zipping past the east shore of California’s famed Salton Sea, we climbed aboard the Superslab (Interstate 8) south of El Centro, California and headed east towards Yuma and our first planned adventure along some of the surviving sections of old US Highway 80. US-80 originally ran from San Diego, California, all the way across the country to Tybee Island, Georgia, but today the section between San Diego and Dallas, Texas, has pretty much been supplanted by I-8, I-10, I-20 and other roads. However, there are three individual stretches of old highway in the 118 miles between Yuma and Gila Bend, Arizona that draw us into a world littered with ghost towns and other dying towns. This is where our journey will take us.

In this far southwestern corner of Arizona life is far from easy. Vicious heat bakes a desiccated landscape into a toasty brown, forbidden region where even Gila Monsters, tarantulas and rattlesnakes wear sunglasses, slather on sunscreen and head off on vacation to cooler places. Forget frying eggs on the sidewalks. You can almost cook a fancy dinner on the highway. Solar power is not a fallacy on this open and nearly flat land, with just enough mountains dimpling its surface to keep the scenery from being boring. Little moves out here, and little changes except the long line of cars and trucks zipping along I-8 at 75+.

To the south, no roads lead to adventure as that part of the desert is reserved for The Boys in Blue and their jet-powered birds dropping things that go boom. Off to the north, the once-mighty Gila River is just a winding scar in the dust, a dam-tamed, near-dry dribble eviscerated by water-sucking civilization and agriculture. A hundred years ago this once wild river flooded, shoving turbulent waters into the Colorado River at Yuma, jumping puny manmade dikes, and flooding Southern California’s Salton Sink, birthing the Salton Sea. Today, the Gila is one of the few tame things in a wild land where few farms, fewer towns and even fewer roads punctuate the desert.

Early in the morning of July 2, 2010, the temperature slithered past 100 as the Ghost Town Express sat in the weak shade of a Yuma gas station canopy, sucking up its fill of diet gasoline, while this intrepid ghost towner sucked down a nice sweaty bottle of cold water. After topping our tanks we jumped onto I-8 towards a string of dead and dying townlets, most of which are nothing more than named map dots scattered every few miles or so along the routing of former US-80. Yuma’s urban sprawl faded into desert behind us, while in front of us I-8 squirmed and disappeared behind mirages. The Ghost Town Express took aim at a low pass through the dry, heat-blasted Gila Mountains, eastbound and westbound lanes wrestling for dominance as they crossed and recrossed each other seeking the best grade. Dropping down the east side of the pass, white sparkles in the mountain-base crotch where the railroad divorces itself from the frontage road and I-8 announced our first stop. Approaching EXIT 21, we hit…

LIGURTA

In the 1880s a bustling Southern Pacific Railroad station established itself here. Forty years later, as cars became more numerous and numbered highways pierced America’s Outback, the railroad station busted, morphing into a tiny road town servicing travelers along what became US 80. Another 40 years later, the interstate sidestepped the old highway, relegating it to frontage road status. Both the highway and Ligurta died. Now dried-up and nearly forgotten a transformation began. Before another 40 years passed, Ligurta was reborn - as an RV Park. From the freeway, the only things visible were scores of shiny white motor homes and travel trailers - in July! Wonder what it looks like in January and February at the peak of snowbird migration season?

Unfortunately, due to road construction in the pass, ALL the freeway traffic had been shoveled into the west-bound lanes, and as we passed EXIT 21, I knew that further investigation would have to await another journey. As the east-bound line of cars transitioned back to the normal side of the freeway and the cone zone fell behind, we pasted wandering eyes along the side road, looking for anything that would mark the site of…

ADONDE

ADONDE is shown on a 1938 map three miles west of Wellton and while researching sites to visit on this trip, I pinpointed it on the GPS. As we passed the coordinates, I saw nothing from The Slab except a few scattered farms. Oh well. Strike one of what I knew would be many. Relegated to “only-a-map-name-now” status, Adonde began life as a Butterfield Overland Stage line station. That stage route was the first major road across this region piercing the wilderness in 1858-1861. The route actually trailed a bit further north, up along the Gila River, and that is where the station was located. However, when the Southern Pacific Railroad punched through the region in 1879, the Adonde name was applied to a railroad station/siding/watering stop along the new rails. Its barren site is across from the junction of Old US 80/S. Ave 26E.

WELLTON

Another railroad stop that developed along the Southern Pacific line popped up where copious amounts of underground water were discovered three miles to the east of Adonde. As a result, the railroad company shifted its station and watering stop to the wells, calling it WELLTON. (NOTE: The early history of Adonde and Wellton is intertwined and very confusing.)

Bailing off the Interstate at EXIT 30, we checked out Wellton. Since the population of this desert outpost hovers on the shady side of 2000 people, it in no way even comes close to being a ghost town. Wellton’s buildings scatter along old US 80, with most of them appearing to have a mid 20^th Century air about them. A few older or newer ones are tossed in for good measure. In any case, Wellton is no ghost.

During the early 1940s, throughout southwestern Arizona, many Army Air Force landing fields were constructed for training purposes in the depths of World War II. Many of these airfields were full on bases housing thousands of flyers and support staff, and are still visible on aerial photos. One of these airfields was located just southeast of Wellton, and can be accessed via a passenger car accessible road.

WELLTON ARMY AIRFIELD

From the east side of Wellton, I turned south on S. Ave 31E, crossed the railroad and the interstate, then continued south for about a mile and a half. Upon reaching the southwestern corner of the triangular-shaped, former WELTON AIRFIELD I noticed little except a few occupied homes anchoring that corner just north of an aqueduct. From there, a dirt road runs along the north bank of the aqueduct and from that slightly elevated road good views of the nearly invisible 4000’ south runway could be had. The paving has decayed to where it is just a dark strip of crumbling gravel barely visible through the desert scrub.

ASHER

On my return towards the Super Slab, I continued east on the aqueduct road the junction with S. Ave 33E, Hanging a north, I crossed the Interstate, then the railroad and landed on the former site of ASHER. Nothing of this old railroad station remains except the name and a farm.

NOAH

Next on the Ghost Town USA menu is NOAH, a wandering name whose history is interlinked with that of Tacna, the next town. This is a difficult place to pin down the early day story, but today’s site is easy. From what I can determine, the parent location that birthed both communities was known as FILIBUSTER’S STATION, which appeared in 1859 as a Butterfield Overland Stage line station, and was located on the west side of a lone hill now called Antelope Hill. The station was located about five miles east of an earlier Gila River settlement known as FILIBUSTER CAMP.

Just east of Wellton, the railroad line splits, with one line running alongside I-8 to Gila Bend, thence northwest through Maricopa and then looping south towards Tucson. The other line heads in a more direct line towards Buckeye and Phoenix. As they pass Antelope Hill, the two divergent lines are only two miles apart, with the northern line skirting the northwest side of Antelope Hill. When that line was built in 1879, the tracks were graded and laid across the site of the former Butterfield station. Off on the southern route, a railroad station/siding called TACNA was established, when in 1888, the TACHNA Post Office opened. (Note the different spellings.)

A decade later the post office closed and relocated to Crystoval, about 15 miles to the east. In 1921, a gentleman named Max Noah arrived at the former Tachna Post Office site and set up a gas station and restaurant called Noah’s Ark. In 1927 the Tachna Post Office returned to the Noah’s Ark site which was now simply called Noah. The post office remained active until 1941, when Max Noah sold out. The post office and rail siding were then relocated four miles east, and the town of TACNA was born.

Noah (the townlet) remained, and in July 2010 had a truly abandoned air about it. It consisted of an old shack, a pair of dead mobile homes and a mid 1900s, squat, concrete block, gas station/store. Just up the road are the modern Antelope Union High School and a pair of small subdivisions known as Antelope Acres and Antelope Heights.

TACNA

The Ghost Town Express continued east on old US 80, passing a couple sad-looking subdivisions, then arrived in “modern” TACNA. This more modern town was founded in 1941, and by 2010 turned more of a dead than living face out to travelers brave enough to leave the Interstate at EXIT 42. At the time of my early morning visit I noted the following businesses: Gila Ranch Supply (dead), what appeared to have been a gas station/garage (dead), Gonzo’s Tacna Market (active), Alamo Saloon – Food & Junk (active), Patio Café (active), Chaparral Motel (active), gas station (active), Basque Restaurant (active), car wash & weigh station (active), Post Office (active), unidentified building skeleton (dead), and another gas station (dead). Even the active businesses seemed real sleepy, but then again it was still early on a Friday morning.

COLFRED

Three miles east of Tacna is the dead 1881-era Southern Pacific Railroad station named after COLonel FRED Crocker, Treasurer of the Southern Pacific. All that remains in COLFRED are some recently abandoned late-20^th Century warehouse-looking buildings, a loading platform and a cluster of trees. I didn’t even bother to photograph them as I had a more pressing goal still ahead.

MOHAWK INN / OWL

Rolling on east, the site of the old MOHAWK INN is reached in 6.5 miles. Don’t bother stopping here as the site called OWL on some old maps, is not a friendly stop. Whatever it was called, or was, has changed. At the time of my visit, the former travel stop had regressed into a massive junkyard complete with a handful of ugly, nasty, stereotyped junkyard dogs that disliked me so much, that when I stopped on the road shoulder to view the site they were making the metal fencing a snack. I decided that there was no reason to antagonize them further, nor invite a lead shower, so I quickly retreated without photos or making any detailed observations.

MOHAWK

The next stop named mohawk, was my first major goal on this leg of the journey. While doing the preliminary research for this trip, this site fascinated me. When reviewing online aerial photos I could see what appeared to be several foundation outlines and what looked like former highway routings. Hmmm. Methinks this was worth a stop. So. With my heart still pounding from the canine reception at the last stop, I relished the quiet of what was originally established as PETERMAN’S STATION, another Butterfield stage station. In the 1880s, the railroad station named Crystoval was established nearby. Then in 1898, the Tachna Post Office arrived and was renamed Crystoval, operating until 1927, at which time it returned to Noah as the Tacna Post Office (See Noah – above.) Finally, in 1905, a group of settlers from New York arrived and renamed the little railroad town Mohawk.

This active railroad town, embraced new technology, and in the 1930s, became a busy little roadside community with some 120 people. In July 2010, all that remained were a restaurant slab, an old two-holer outhouse, a forgotten car, a collapsed billboard, lots of rusty cans and memories etched into the concrete, all rooted in a highway turnout just west of the summit of Mohawk Pass. On the surface not much remains, but by stopping, and really looking at the remains, followers of Ghost Town USA can see the flesh returning to the bones of this desiccated town sitting alongside a dead highway, deep in the heart of Southwestern Arizona’s desert.

CONTINUED in PART 2…

This was our Ghost Town of the Month for August 2013.

PART 1: Yuma to Mohawk

PART 2: Mohawk to Gila Bend

Click here to see more ghost towns in Arizona.

GPS and Standard Township/Range locations for the sites featured above.

SITE NAME	ELEV.	LATITUDE	LONGITUDE	TOWNSHIP/RANGE
Adonde	246’	32.6611594 / 32° 39’ 40” N	-114.1924390 / 114° 11’ 33” W	NE¼ Sec 10, NW¼ Sec 11, T9S, R19W GSRM (Gila & Salt River Meridian & Base Line)
Antelope Hill (HILL)	804’ (summit)	32.7039358 / 32° 42’ 14” N	-114.0157671 / 114° 00’ 57” W	NW¼ Sec 28, T8S, R17W, GSRM
Asher	305’	32.6756032 / 32° 40’ 32” N	-114.0735467 / 114° 04’ 25” W	North end of Sec line 1 (east) & 2 (west), T9S, R18W, GSRM
Colfred	331’	32.7044917 / 32° 42’ 16” N	-113.9015963 / 113° 54’ 06” W	NE¼ Sec 28, SW¼ Sec 27, T8S, R16W, GSRM
Filibuster Camp	225’ APPROX	32.7042195 APPROX	-114.1034889 APPROX	NW¼ Sec 27, T8S, R18W, GSRM APPROX
Filibuster’s Station	300’ APPROX	32.7086611 APPROX	-114.0187740 APPROX	SW¼ Sec 21, NW¼ Sec 28, T8S, R17W, GSRM APPROX
Liguta	233’	32.6744925 / 32° 40’ 28” N	-114.2949421 / 114° 17’ 42” W	NW¼ Sec 2, T9S, R20W, GSRM
Mohawk	560’ APPROX	32.7288084 / 32° 43’ 43” N	-113.7521517 / 113° 45’ 08” W	Ctr Sec 13, T8S, R15W, GSRM
Mohawk Siding	535’	32.7267144 / 32° 43’ 36” N	-113.7552022 / 113° 45’ 19” W	S-Ctr Sec 13, T8S, R15W, GSRM
Noah	331’	32.6847694 / 32° 41’ 05” N	-114.0221562 / 114° 01’ 20” W	Sec line 32 (west)/33 (east), T8S, R17W, GSRM
Owl	443’	32.7291920 / 32° 43’ 19” N	-113.7921480 / 113° 47’ 32” W	NW¼ Sec 22, T8S, R15W, GSRM
Tacna	351’	32.6975472 / 32° 41’ 51” N	-113.9535427 / 113° 57’ 13” W	SE¼ Sec 25, T8S, R17W / SW¼ Sec 30, T8S, R16W, GSRM
Wellton	246’	32.6728256 / 32° 40’ 22” N	-114.1468821 / 114° 08’ 49” W	NE¼ Sec 6, NW ¼ Sec 5, T9S, R18W, GSRM
Wellton Army Airfield	325’	32.6517149 / 32° 39’ 06” N	-114.1046587 / 114° 06’ 17” W	Sec 10, T9S, R18W, GSRM

Historians estimate that there may be as many as 50,000 ghost towns scattered across the United States of America. Gary B. Speck Publications is in process of publishing unique state, regional, and county guides called:

The Ghost Town Guru's Guide to the Ghost Towns of “STATE”™

These original guides are designed for anybody interested in ghost towns. Whether you are a casual tourist looking for a new and different place to visit, or a hard-core ghost town researcher, these guides will be just right for you. With over 30 years of research behind them, they will be a welcome addition to any ghost towner's library. Thank you, and we'll see you out on the Ghost Town Trail!

For more information on the ghost towns along this portion of old US HIGHWAY 80, contact us at Ghost Town USA.

E-mailers, PLEASE NOTE: Due to the tremendous amount of viruses, worms and “spam,” out there, I no longer open or respond to e-mails with unsolicited attachments, OR messages on the subject lines with “Hey”, “Hi”, “Need help”, “Help Please”, “???”, or blank subject lines, etc. If you do send E-mail asking for information, or sharing information, PLEASE indicate the appropriate location AND state name, or other topic on the “subject” line. THANK YOU! :o)

IMPORTANT

These listings and historical vignettes of ghost towns, near-ghost towns and other historical sites along this portion of US HIGHWAY 80 above are for informational purposes only, and should NOT be construed to grant permission to trespass, metal detect, relic or treasure hunt at any of the listed sites.

If the reader of this guide is a metal detector user and plans to use this guide to locate sites for metal detecting or relic hunting, it is the READER'S responsibility to obtain written permission from the legal property owners. Please be advised, that any state or nationally owned sites will probably be off-limits to metal detector use. Also be aware of any federal, state or local laws restricting the same.

When you are exploring the ghost towns along US HIGHWAY 80, please abide by the

Ghost Towner's Code of Ethics.

Also visit: Ghost Town USA’s

CURRENT Ghost Town of the Month | PAST Ghost Towns of the Month

Ghost Towner's Code of Ethics | Publications | Genealogy | License Plate Collecting

A few LINKS to outside webpages:

Ghost Towns | Treasure Hunting | License Plate Collecting | Genealogy

***

THIS PAGE

FIRST POSTED: August 06 2013

LAST UPDATED: June 15, 2014

***