 
Today, the historic mining camp of Chloride has a population of about 300.
This little community is inhabited by retirees and a few working people, and belies its unbelievable history. For example, in 1916, there were sixty-two working mines in a proximity of fifteen miles. Million and millions of dollars flowed through this camp. Among the metals mined in the Cerbat Mountains just east of Chloride were gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper and turquoise. Chloride took its name from the nature of the most prominent ore mined in the area; silver. At one time Chloride had its own railroad, a spur of the Santa Fe Rail line that connected at McConnico near Kingman. The Tennessee Mine alone shipped 500 tons of ore daily. Chloride also had its own bank, The Arizona Central, which boasted its capital of $800,000.00, deposits of $3,073,000.00 and so declared to be very solid. At that time Chloride had a population of over 2,000. There was a four-block business section which contained the bank, a meat market, emergency hospital, a movie theatre, drug store, saloons, two general stores, two hotels, two gas stations, a garage, post office and six restaurants. There was also a volunteer fire department, six churches, two schools, delivery stables, train depot, barber shop, and numerous boarding houses, all adding to the prosperous community. Chloride has suffered numerous fires due to an acute water shortage. Two fires were very disastrous burning down most of the business district. The large Ryan Hotel burned and was never rebuilt. Chloride rose from the ashes and rebuilt most of the other structures only to face approaching disaster in the financial world. The Great Depression saw mines closing, and the rail service ended in 1932. Today visitors are always welcome by the friendly folks in Chloride. A must stop on your visit to Chloride is Cyanide Springs, hosted by the Chloride Historical Society. There are gunfights every Saturday at High-Noon, the Melodrama Playhouse that houses many pictures of old Chloride and the Jim Fritz Museum, plus some of the original miner's houses. In addition stop by the old jail and the old cemetery that has graves dating back to the 1800's. In the 1960s the community was briefly a counterculture magnet, with Roy Purcell, a hippie artist, leaving behind the "Chloride Murals" outside of town. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloride,_Arizona) "In Cerbat mountains, northern end branch railroad from Kingman. From character of local ores. Station Chloride branch A.T. and S.F.R.R. 27 miles north of Kingman. "Chloride flat 6 miles north of Mineral Park, had two smelting furnaces several years ago. There are several gold mines in this vicinity and some indications of cinnibar." Hinton Post Office established March 27, 1873, Robert H. Choate, Pm. Smith Map, 1879 calls it Chloride City." Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona Place Names University of Arizona Press. 1997 P. 93 "The name for this former mining community derived from the fact that the exposed ores carried heavy silver chloride. The community was the first Arizona mining village to come into being in the 1860s and it continues to survive. The first mines discovered included those at Silver Hill in 1863 where Hualapai Indians laid their hands on the settlers's guns and used them to kill four miners. One was shot and two others were killed by stones thrown down the mining shaft. It was a mining camp by 1864 and developed into a town so that by 1900 its population was two thousand. Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona's names : X marks the place Falconer Pub. Co. : distributed by Treasure Chest Publications, c1983 P. 147 (from http://jeff.scott.tripod.com/chloride.html) |