Ghost Towns, Swansea, Arizona

Swansea
Swansea is a ghost town in La Paz County in the U.S. state of Arizona. It was settled around 1909 in what was then the Arizona Territory. It served as a mining town as well as a location for processing and smelting the copper ore taken from the nearby mines.

History:
Prospecting and mining in the area first began around 1862, but the remote location and lack of transportation kept activity to a minimum. By 1904, the railroad was coming to nearby Parker, and local miners Newton Evans and Thomas Jefferson Carrigan saw an opportunity to develop the area. Within a few years, the two miners had built a 350 ton furnace, a water pipeline to the Bill Williams River, and hoists for five mine shafts. By 1908, the claims in the area had been consolidated by the Clara Gold and Copper Mining Company, which setup its headquarters in the mining camp that would become Swansea. That same year, what was to become the Arizona and Swansea Railroad connected Signal to Bouse some 25 miles (40 km) away. These two factors spurred the growth of the town, and its population quickly grew to about 300 residents.

Date: 04.30.2004
Temp: 74°
Elevation: 1283 ft
DMS (degrees, minutes, secondes)* Latitude: 34.1696
Longitude: -113.84282

History: wikipedia