Gold King Mine and Ghost Town

The Gold King Mine and Ghost Town is located a very short drive Northwest of Jerome, Arizona. We had heard about this gem, or should I say nugget, before we had a clue about Jerome or knew much about Arizona mining towns at all.

Gold King is a delightfully quirky place with a brilliant store selling mining themed souvenirs as well as jewelry, rocks and minerals, t-shirts, and Arizona novelties. At the back of the store is the entrance to the outdoor museum. Buy a ticket, walk though the back door and be transported to another time.

The mine here was originally founded by the Haynes Copper Company for the purpose of finding and extracting copper, but instead they found gold. This was back in 1890. By 1908 the mining camp had grown to a size worthy of their own post office and the town of Haynes was born. But all good things must come to an end, and once the gold ran out the camp closed down and Haynes became a ghost town. The original 1,270 foot mine shaft is still there to check out today.

In 1981 Don and Terry Robertson took over the old mine and began to fill the area with all kinds of industrial revolution machines. You can visit a working sawmill and blacksmith’s shop, and wander in and out of many other buildings all with interesting facts and items pertaining to the purpose the building once held. For automotive enthusiasts, there are over 180 cars, trucks, utility vehicles, and motorcycles to investigate. We were surprised at the number and variety of vehicles hanging out on the slopes of the property’s hills. If you like photographing old cars and trucks, you cant beat this place for unique backdrops.

If you bring along the kids, there is a petting zoo and gold panning to keep them busy. We spent a solid 2 hours wandering the buildings, taking photos of the cars and trucks, learning about the history of the mine and the area. This is certainly a place that we will explore again someday.

If you live in Arizona or are just passing though, be sure and make a big day of it and visit the Gold King Mine and Ghost Town then head on down the hill into the town of Jerome for more mining history.

Please check out their website here and set a date to check out Gold King Mine and Ghost Town. Sources : https://goldkingmineghosttown.com/, atlasobscura.com, visitarizona.com,