San Xavier 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
Pima County
Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the population ...
,
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, situated seventeen miles southwest of
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
, and six miles northwest of
Sahuarita
Sahuarita is a town in Pima County, Arizona, United States. Sahuarita is located south of the Tohono O'odham Nation and abuts the north end of Green Valley, 15 miles (24 km) south of Tucson. The population was 34,134 at th2020 census
His ...
. Originally a small
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
mining camp
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
from the 1880s, today San Xavier is little more than a collection of rural homes and partially abandoned mines. The
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
s of Azurite and Mineral Hill were located about one mile north of San Xavier.
Twin Buttes was five miles southeast.
History
The San Xavier Mining & Smelting Company was established in 1880 by Colonel C. P. Skyes, who named his company after the
San Xavier Mission, ten miles northeast. Soon after, the town of San Xavier was formed in between Helmet Peak and White Hill. Several mines and associated camps were located in the immediate area, including Azurite, Mineral Hill, Wedge, and the Michigan Maid, though there were no smelters, and ore had to be shipped elsewhere. Miners were paid with checks.
In the early 1880s, the Olivette Mine was established just southwest of San Xavier. As a result, the town was renamed Olive, in honor of Mrs. Olive Stephenson Brown, who was the wife of one of the mine's owners, James Kilroy Brown. The Brown family also owned the nearby Sahuarita Ranch, which eventually became the town Sahuarita. James E. Sherman, in his book ''Ghost Towns of Arizona'', says that Mrs. Brown treated the local miners to a free chicken dinner every Sunday until the late 1880s, when the Olivette Mine was sold and the Brown family moved to Tucson.
After the Brown family moved away, silver prices fell and mining in the Pima District switched to
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
, leading to the decline of the town. The Olive Post Office was briefly open from March 4, 1887, to May 23, 1892, although operations at the nearby San Xavier Mine continued until 1918. Since then, the area has been known as San Xavier. In 1943, the Eagle-Picher Mining Company purchased the San Xavier Mine and placed it back into production. However, operations were curtailed in 1952 due to low metal prices.
A few residents remain in San Xavier, and since 1958 the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
has maintained an underground mining laboratory inside one of the old mine shafts. The large, modern Pima-Mission Mine is located immediately east of San Xavier. The ruins are not open to the general public because of the dangerous mine shafts throughout the area.
Gallery
File:San_Xavier_Arizona_October_2013_Number_3.jpg, Ruins of timber structures
File:Stone_Building_San_Xavier_Arizona_2014.jpg, The ruins of a stone building in San Xavier.
File:Helmet_Peak_Arizona_October_2013.jpg, Helmet Peak
See also
*
List of ghost towns in Arizona
This is a partial list of ghost towns in Arizona in the United States. Most ghost towns in Arizona are former mining boomtowns that were abandoned when the mines closed. Those not set up as mining camps often became mills or supply points supporti ...
*
Copper mining in Arizona
Copper mining in Arizona, a state of the United States, has been a major industry since the 19th century. In 2007, Arizona was the leading copper-producing state in the country, producing 750 thousand metric tons of copper, valued at $5.54 billi ...
*
San Xavier Indian Reservation
The San Xavier Indian Reservation ( O’odham: Wa:k) is an Indian reservation of the Tohono O’odham Nation located near Tucson, Arizona, in the Sonoran Desert. The San Xavier Reservation lies in the southwestern part of the Tucson metropolitan ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Xavier, Arizona
Populated places in Pima County, Arizona
Populated places established in 1880
1880 establishments in Arizona Territory
Company towns in Arizona
Mining communities in Arizona
Populated places in the Sonoran Desert