Today we did the Stanton Ghost Town Trail - a trail full of history. This trail took us back in time to three communities - Stanton, Octave and Weaver.
In 1863, a party led by Pauline Weaver, a famous explorer of the Southwest stopped for the night along Antelope Creek. A Mexican man in the group climbed up a hill beside the creek and stumbled onto a rich field of gold nuggets. This lucky strike was the start of these three communities.
The first to flourish was Stanton (then called Antelope Station). The "hill" was appropriately named Rich Hill. This was a very profitable region and the earliest miners were able to pick up thousands of dollars worth of gold nuggets using only their pocket knives. Charles P. Stanton was a ruthless man with a violent temper and he ruled the settlement in the early days. The town flourished as the gold flowed into the hands of the residents but, when the gold supply dwindled, so did the town. Today, Stanton is owned by the Lost Dutchman Mining Assoc. and they have restored some of the original buildings including the store in which Charles Stanton was murdered.
The second site along the trail was Weaver, named after Pauline Weaver. It was initially a tent city and was home for a much wilder bunch. Murders and shootings were quite common as many of the thugs hired by Charles Stanton moved to Weaver after his death. It was only after the murder of a storekeeper by the name of William Senga that a newspaper article called for Weaver to be closed. Many of the decent folks relocated to Octave and in 1899, the gold was played out and the remaining folks from Weaver moved to Octave as well.
The third town to get going was Octave. The town was not developed until the late 1890s when it was purchased by a group of eight men - hence the name Octave. The Weaver post office was moved to Octave and eventually the town developed a stage stop, school and a general store. The mine netted $50,000 a month for a while and it persisted until it was eventually shut down in 1942. It is now on privately owned land so there was no access to the town site itself although you can still see what remains from the road.
We took several pictures in the various sites and I hope they all present well. Being a cemetery freak, I loved walking through the one at Weaver. It had been partially restored and each grave had a white cross on it. The graves themselves were covered by stones. It was really something to see. I can just imagine the stories that were buried in this ground. What remains of the old Weaver post office stands a short distance from the cemetery.
Time to head back. We decided to not return via the highway but simply to take the same trail back and, since the Box Canyon Trail links directly to this one, we decided we would take Box Canyon back home. It was certainly different seeing Box Canyon in the dark.
Once back in town, we stopped at the Rancher Bar and while there a fellow walked in for a beer. He turned out to be a cowboy poet so we were entertained with cowboy poetry while he had his beer. John managed to get one of his poems n video so make sure you listen to it.
You may have noticed the first two pics show a rather smashed truck resting in one of the many washes down here. Needless to say, the truck lost the battle and shall forever remain as a reminder of the power generated by rushing water!! All in all, another great day and as you can see from the pics - more great sunsets!!!
