The quest for wealth has led men into the most stark and hostile lands, and they have left their mark throughout the Southwest USA. (Photo above is Adam’s Cabin at Castle Dome City Ghost Town and Museum, just outside Yuma, Arizona)

Prospecting and mining plays a major part in the settling and eventual "white man" civilizing of the west. Ghost towns and mining camps remain--once lively and bustling--as remnants of a part of our "romanticized" western heritage.

Every faction had ties in some way to the mining industry. River towns provided a means of getting supplies to prospectors and miners; soldiers and forts protected them; farmers fed them; merchants and saloonkeepers sold them wares; and eventually the railroads carried the valuable ores to market. The need for banks brought in the bankers and the fabled shoot outs, drunken saloon brawls and petty robberies brought in the lawmakers and enforcers. (Artifacts and memorabilia from the late 1850s to the 1990s...photo to left)

One of the best areas to imagine what it was like "back then", is along the Colorado River. Not only was it an important source of water for both Arizona and California, it was also a major form of transportation from 1852 until the arrival of the railroad in 1877. The most inexpensive and reliable way to bring supplies to the mining camps and towns in the Arizona territory was by paddle wheelers or riverboats. The arrival of the railroad and the construction of the Laguna Dam in 1909, which blocked river ports north of the dam, from Yuma and the sea, virtually caused the demise of these small upriver mining camps.

Castle Dome City Ghost Town and Museum is comprised of twenty original and reconstructed buildings reminiscent of the world’s largest silver-galena deposit from 1858. Mining for silver began in 1862 but by World War II, the mines produced ore primarily for lead to make bullets. Reportedly, Castle Dome City was even a target for the Japanese. The buildings are packed with mining gear and memorabilia of this once thriving community that even exceeded Yuma’s population in the 1880s. Owners Allen and Stephanie Armstrong have carefully collected (some artifacts being found 300 feet down a mine shaft perfectly preserved) historical accounts and artifacts which include everything from 1890s Levi jeans to mining tools and huge winches and a well digger. (The hotel at Castle Dome city, overlooking the Castle Dome Mountains, photo above.)

Buildings include a hotel, saloons, dentist office, assay office, a sheriff’s office and jail, a mercantile, a dress shop, blacksmith shop, Adams cabin, a church and more. For directions and touring details, please call (928) 920-3062. (Photo to right, one of the four saloons at Castle Dome City.)