Cochise County Ghost Town Trail

The Ghost Town Trail consists of the towns of Gleeson, Courtland, and Pearce.

Gleeson’s heyday was between 1896 and 1901 when the Copper Belle Mine produced $300,000 in copper.  But, by 1909 there were only 500 residents.

Courtland’s boom time lasted just 12 years.  In 1909, the Calumet & Arizona and Great Western Company were the two big early developers in the area which was considered to be one of the most promising copper areas in Arizona.  They were soon joined by Copper queen and Leadville Companies, and by August 1909, the four companies had developed 8,000 feet of underground shafts.  The town had a population of 2,000 with telephones, two stage lines, automobile dealerships, motion picture theater, … .  While the surface ore was 7.5% copper, by 1917-18, the high grade ore had been mined out at 300 feet.  By 1920-21, the town was fast becoming a ghost town.  The post office closed in 1942.  Remains include the old jail, a couple of buildings and a sidewalk to nowhere.

Pearce was an old gold camp, dating from 1894.  At one time, Pearce’s Commonwealth mine was the richest gold digging in southern Arizona.  The boom peaked in 1919 with a population of around 1900, but the mine played out in the 1930s.

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