Goldfield Ghost Town
Loved this little Arizona Ghost Town! 👻
Visited Goldfield Ghost Town shortly after starting our drive on Highway 88. Saw a western gunfight, visited the old jail, we couldn’t believe how tiny it was, and that the hangman’s noose was just a few feet outside the jail door, yikes! We visited and toured the Mine and a Bordello. Learned a lot about the towns history. For instance, the average life span was only 35 years, the kids started mining at 12-13 years old, and usually lit the dynamite fuses. The Mines were only lit by candles and extremely dark and very dangerous to work in. The Bordello ladies (a step up from a brothel) were generally educated, licensed but unfortunately used arsenic for birth control. Obviously, they were not aware that it was killing them slowly. Some would have their lower ribs removed, (without painkiller) to make their waist smaller. They were generally voluminous women. The same life span for them, 35 years. Sadly, if you were widowed, you usually ended up in that line of work. This town only existed for 5 years. They mined gold, silver and copper. They hit water deep in the Mines, which provided for the town, but could also flood the Mines, if not careful, they had pumps on every level which was a full time job for someone. The Mines were very dark! We were only 20 feet below and were amazed at the conditions they had to work in. To think, they only had candles for light. The term widow maker came from the dangerous equipment they had to work with, it was insanely dangerous and eventually outlawed.
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