McMillenville, Arizona
McMillenville, Arizona | |
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MST (no DST )) | |
Post Office Opened | November 12, 1877 |
Post Office Closed | October 12, 1882 |
McMillenville, also known as McMillianville or McMillanville, is a populated place in Gila County, Arizona. Silver ore was discovered by chance in 1876 by Theodore H. Harris and Charles McMillen, and the town formed around the ore deposits.
History
On March 26, 1876, Harris and McMillen were heading 28 miles northeast of Globe on a prospecting trip. While traveling through the White Mountains Harris got off his horse as he was too hungover to proceed farther. He went to sleep so McMillen stopped, dismounted and sat down on a nearby ledge. Boredom led McMillen to drive his pick into the rock and discovered silver. The pair founded the Stonewall Jackson mine which eventually turned into McMillenville, named after McMillen who discovered the silver. The town grew fast and a year later on November 12, 1877, a post office was opened. At its peak, 1,000 settlers lived there. The town soon was bolstered with several adobe saloons, dance halls, boarding houses, casinos, as well as homes for hundreds of people, public buildings and the mining structures. The town's first bloodshed came in 1880 over a mining claim dispute. Jack Brown the founder of the claim established a camp which another prospector intended to exploit. After Jack Brown and his killer had a long argument, the two met on the main street and fought a duel. Both men fired their revolvers true and they both died from a gunshot wound seconds later. McMillenville's peak was in 1880, the original five-stamp mill was replaced with by twenty-stamps. A new hoisting mechanism was erected for lifting ore out of the shaft. Silver ingots here taken about 100 miles to Casa Grande. The town was booming until 1882 when Geronimo's warriors attacked; it became a ghost town by 1886.[2][3][4]
Battle of McMillenville
The Apache attack was one of many engagements of the
Remnants
Almost nothing remains of the mines and mill, and only scattered ruins of the adobe buildings of the town mark the site of McMillenville today.[3][5]
Geography
The town is located off U.S. Route 60, about 18 miles (29 km) Northeast of Globe.[5]
Geology
The Stonewall Jackson mine was one of the best producing mines in the area at the time,[6] mainly producing silver, copper and lead.[7]
References
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: McMillianville
- ^ ISBN 0806108436.
- ^ ISBN 1603540032. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
- ISBN 1558380957. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
- ^ a b "National Park Service – Prospector, Cowhand, and Sodbuster (Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings)". Nps.gov. May 22, 2005. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1889). History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530–1888. The History Company. p. 588. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
mcmillanville.
- ^ "Stonewall Jackson Mine (McMillan Silver Mines group; McMillan-Stonewall Mine; Stonewall Jackson-Little Mac Mine), McMillanville (McMillanville District), Globe Hills, Globe Hills District, Globe-Miami District, Gila Co., Arizona". Mindat.org. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
External links
- Ghosttowns.com entry for McMillenville