Klondyke is a

populated place Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

in Graham County,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States that was founded ''circa'' 1900 by some

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

s who had recently returned from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

after participating in the Klondike Gold Rush. The town is located west of Safford in the

Aravaipa Valley Aravaipa Creek is a drainage between three mountain ranges in southwest Graham County, Arizona – the Galiuro Mountains, the Santa Teresa Mountains and the Pinaleno Mountains. These mountains are part of the high altitude Madrean Sky Islands ...

. The

Galiuro Mountains The Galiuro Mountains are a large sky island mountain range of southeast Arizona, United States. It is a northerly mountain range in the Madrean Sky Islands region of southeast Arizona, northern Sonora in northwestern Mexico, and the extreme ...

lie to the southeast and the

Santa Teresa Mountains The Santa Teresa Mountains are a mountain range located within the Coronado National Forest and partly within the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, in western Graham County, Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣona ...

to the north.

History

The mainstay of the town was the lead and silver mines, as well as the nearby

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

es. Klondyke's population peaked at 500, but today there are only about a dozen residents. The first general store in town was started by a Mr. Bedoya inside a tent, but in 1904 he built a saloon, a wooden store, and a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

that was opened in 1907. The store burned down at one point, but Bedoya immediately built a new one. The town also had a

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

and a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, half of the town's residents left and the post office closed in 1955. The site today may be classified as barren, although the Klondyke General Store and the Power's Cabin, located south of the town, have been preserved and are now open to

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

Power's Cabin Shootout

According to Bobby Zlatevski, "''Klondyke is the home of one of Arizonas most notorious stories which has elements of

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

tragedies.''" The Klondyke Cemetery, located southeast of town, holds the remains of "Old Man" Jeff Power, his mother, Martha Jane, his sons, John and Tom, and his daughter, Ola May. In 1915, Martha Jane was killed in a buggy accident and two years later, Ola died of an unknown cause. Then, just weeks after Ola's death, Jeff Power and three lawmen were killed when the latter attempted to make an arrest for draft evasion and perjury at the former's cabin in the Galiuro Mountains. Both John and Tom were also slightly wounded and with the help of a family friend, Tom Sisson, they managed to evade what was then the largest manhunt in Arizona history and escape into Chihuahua,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. However, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

picked up their trail and captured them on March 8, 1918, without resistance. All were later found guilty of first-degree murder and sent to the prison at

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. Tom Sisson died in custody in 1957 and the Power brothers were released in 1960.

References

{{coord, 32, 50, 07, N, 110, 19, 56, W, type:city_region:US-AZ_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Ghost towns in Arizona Former populated places in Graham County, Arizona History of Graham County, Arizona Mining communities in Arizona 1904 establishments in Arizona Territory