A few days ago I noticed a Facebook post done by one of our Montana neighbors who has a reporting weather station—between October 1, 2013 and the present our little neck of the Montana woods has received 158 inches of snow containing 12 inches of moisture. The Billings news is reporting record breaking snow levels for their area also—record snowfall previous to this year was in 1997-1998 with a recorded 98 inches. Billings has so far this year recorded 111 inches of snow. I’d say it has been one heck of a winter!
Michael needed a jeeping fix today and we were off just before lunch heading to Wickenburg and returning to Congress over the Stanton Ghost Town Road. In 1863 a band of explorers camped for the night along Antelope Creek and discovered a rich field of gold nuggets—so rich the nuggets were plucked out of the ground using nothing but a pocketknives. We kept our eyes peeled but didn’t find any gold nuggets, dang it!! This discovery of gold formed the starting point for the three mining towns—Stanton, Octave and Weaver. Stanton is named for Charles P Stanton, a dastardly, nasty murderer who got his rewards by having the favor returned—he was gunned down in his office.
Stanton today is owned by the Lost Dutchman Mining Association which has restored some of the original buildings and there is a RV park on site for the members who come to prospect for gold in the surrounding hills. There isn’t much to see at Weaver or Octave—a company is now mining again at Weaver and there is no access to the town site. The graves in the two cemeteries are marked only with stones and metal crosses—no headstones.
This road isn’t suitable for anything other than a high clearance vehicle, not a passenger car. Much of this trip was bone jarring, teeth rattling and didn’t smooth out until we were leaving Weaver and Octave. The scenery was nothing to write home about—not a trip we would do again we don’t think.
Someone turned off our heat today—cool, windy and cloudy!
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Love those old ghost town places..... old gravesites and such..... you just KNOW a rattlesnake is lurking closeby ;-)
ReplyDeleteNot having a high clearance vehicle, I'll be sure to never go there. ;)
ReplyDeleteGlad Michael got his Jeep fix !!! That snow info really puts it in perspective ..... Sooooo happy you two are soaking up the SUNSHINE and HAV'IN FUN !!!!
ReplyDelete"Bone jarring and teeth rattling" does not sound appealing to us either. But there seem to be some very nice 'jeeping' roads on the area that you two have become fond of though.
ReplyDeleteStanton is a very interesting little community. We were really surprised to see the RV park. Al wrote about their trip there last year so we followed his post. Also, Al wrote about this hunt for more crested saguaro. My husband didn't have great faith in the directions (as you read the post you'll see why) but they were spot on!! We found several crested wonders and had a nice walk around the mine area. Here's the link to our blog, check it out:
ReplyDeletehttp://ohtheplacestheygo.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/gold-mines-and-crested-saguaros/
There's a nice easy & scenic drive from Stanton up to Yarnell the back way. Used to be the old stage line for getting up & down the mountain. The Yarnell Ranch House Restaurant is just a short distance north of where you come out on highway 89 at the top & they always have a good breakfast in there:))
ReplyDeleteThose roads are the reason you have a groovy Jeep! We can't wait to get ours back out in the hills and washes of our beloved desert.
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