Oatman, Arizona
| Oatman, Arizona | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
| Oatman Highway/Old US 66. The Oatman Hotel is the adobe building center left.
Oatman Highway/Old US 66. The Oatman Hotel is the adobe building center left.
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 Oatman, Arizona
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| Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arizona |
| County | Mohave |
| Named for | Olive Oatman |
| Elevation[1] | 2,710 ft (826 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 128 |
| Time zone | MST (no DST) (UTC-7) |
Oatman is a former mining town in the Black Mountains of Mohave County, Arizona, United States. Located at an elevation of 2,710 feet (830 m), it began as a tent camp soon after two prospectors struck a $10 million gold find in 1915, though the area had been already settled for a number of years. Oatman's population grew to more than 3,500 in the course of a year.
Oatman has the ZIP code of 86433.[2] The 86433 ZIP Code Tabulation Area had a population of 128 at the 2000 census.[3]
Contents
Name
After a few other names, Oatman was named in the posthumous honor of Olive Oatman, a young Illinois girl who was taken captive by (presumably) Yavapai Indians and forced to work as a slave. She was later traded to Mohave Indians who adopted her as a daughter and had her face tattooed in the custom of the tribe. She was released in 1855 near the current site of the town.
Early history
In 1863, mountain man and prospector Johnny Moss discovered gold in the Black Mountains and staked several claims, one named the Moss, after himself, and another after Olive Oatman. For the next half century mining waxed and waned in the district until new technology, reduced transportation costs, and new gold discoveries brought prosperity to Oatman early in the twentieth century. The opening of the Tom Reed mine followed by the discovery of an incredibly rich ore body in the nearby United Eastern Mining Company's property in 1915 brought one of the desert country's last gold rushes. The boom of 1915-17 gave Oatman all the characters and characteristics of any gold rush boom town. For about a decade, the mines of Oatman were among the large gold producers in the West.[4]
In 1921, a fire burned down many of Oatman's smaller buildings, but spared the Oatman Hotel. Built in 1902, the now-Oatman Hotel is the oldest two-story adobe structure in Mohave County, a Mohave County historical landmark and is especially famous as the honeymoon stop of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard[5] after their wedding in Kingman on March 18, 1939. Gable fell in love with the area and returned often to play poker with the miners. The Gable/Lombard honeymoon suite is one of the hotel's major attractions. The other is "Oatie the Ghost." "Oatie," actively promoted by the hotel's current owners, is a friendly poltergeist whose identity is believed to be that of William Ray Flour, an Irish miner who died behind the hotel, presumably from excessive alcohol consumption. Flour's body wasn't discovered until two days after his death and it was hastily buried in a shallow grave near where he was found.
From gold mining to tourism
1924 would see United Eastern Mines, the town's main employer, permanently shut down operations after producing $13,600,000 worth of gold (at the then government controlled market value of $20 per ounce; in today's gold market price of $1300 per oz. the equivalent gold value today is over $850,000,000). The district had produced $40 million (or $2,600,000,000 or so in today's market price) in gold by 1941, when the remainder of the town's gold mining operations were ordered shut down by the US Government as part of the country's war effort since metals other than gold were needed. Oatman was fortunate insofar as it was located on busy U.S. Route 66 and was able to cater to travelers driving between Kingman and Needles, California. Even that advantage was short-lived as the town was completely bypassed in 1953 when a new route between Kingman and Needles was built. By the 1960s, Oatman was all but abandoned.
Oatman today
Oatman has undergone a renaissance of sorts in recent years thanks to burgeoning worldwide interest in Route 66 and the explosive growth of the nearby gaming town of Laughlin, Nevada, which promotes visits to the town. Wild burros freely roam the town and can be hand-fed hay cubes otherwise known as "burro chow," readily available in practically every store in town. Though normally gentle, the burros are in fact wild and signs posted throughout Oatman advise visitors to exercise caution. The donkeys are descended from pack animals turned loose by early prospectors, and are protected by the US Department of the Interior. Weekends in Oatman can see anything from classic car rallies to mock "Wild West" shootouts right down the middle of old 66. Independence Day celebrations include a contest where participants attempt to cook an egg on the sidewalk with the aid of solar devices known as the Oatman Egg Fry Along with the rest of Arizona's US 66 towns, Oatman is fiercely proud of its Route 66 heritage and replicas of 66's black-on-white US highway shield are posted all over the town. Route 66 souvenirs abound and many tourists have pasted autographed one-dollar bills on the walls and ceiling of the Oatman Hotel's bar and restaurant. Estimates of the number of bills run into the thousands.
From Laughlin, Needles or Bullhead City, Arizona, Oatman is a short drive on State Route 95 to its intersection with Boundary Cone Road in Fort Mohave. About 10 miles (16 km) east of SR 95, Boundary Cone Road meets with old 66, now named the "Oatman Highway." Oatman is only about four miles (6.5 km) from there.
Oatman has a high desert climate, significantly cooler than the Colorado River lowlands in both summer and winter. In summer, while the Colorado River Valley may be sweltering in temperatures well above 100 degrees F.. Oatman is often 10 or more degrees cooler.
See also
- Bullhead City, Arizona
- Fort Mohave, Arizona
- Mohave Valley, Arizona
- Yucca, Arizona
- Santa Claus, Arizona
References
- ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Oatman
- ↑ Zip Code Lookup
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
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Wikivoyage has a travel guide for [[Wikivoyage:Oatman#Lua error in Module:Wikidata at line 863: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Oatman]]. |
- Oatman and Gold Road Chamber of Commerce - Information and events
- Oatman at Western Mining History
