White Hills is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) in

Mohave County Mohave County is in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is the fifth largest county in the United St ...

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. It is northwest of

Dolan Springs Dolan Springs is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. The population was 1,989 at the 2020 census, down from 2,033 at the 2010 census. Geography Dolan Springs is located in nor ...

. As of the 2020 census, White Hills had a population of 345.

History

In 1892, Henry Shaffer discovered

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 ...

deposits in the area, with the help of local Native Americans. The resulting mining efforts led to the creation of the town of White Hills, which reportedly grew to a population of 1,500. The mines consisted of of tunnels, and a full fifteen mines were being worked within one mile (1.6 km) of the town. In 1894, the White Hills Mining Company was formed to run the operations, but they sold out in 1895 for a price of $1,500,000. The new owners, part of an English company, constructed a 40-stamp mill in the town. However, water had to be piped in from away, and the supply was never able to meet the mine and mill's demands. Production peaked in 1898, and soon after the mill began operating only half of the time. The town went into decline, and eventually became a

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'' ...

. White Hills received media attention in 2014 when Charles Vacca, a shooting instructor, was accidentally shot and killed by a 9-year-old girl at a local gun range. In 2020,

NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, Inc. is an American energy company with about 58 GW of generating capacity (24 GW of which were from fossil fuel sources), revenues of over $18 billion in 2020, and about 14,900 employees throughout the US and Canada. It is the ...

began construction of a long-planned 127-turbine

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

in the White Hills area, with initial power output expected by the end of the year. Southern California Clean Power Alliance has a 20-year power purchase agreement for 300 megawatts from the wind farm. ''See''

Wind power in Arizona In 2016, Arizona had 268 megawatts (MW) of wind powered electricity generating capacity, producing 0.5% of in-state generated electricity. History Utility-scale wind power in Arizona began in 2009 with the commissioning of the first phase of the ...

Geography

White Hills is in northwestern Mohave County, in the Detrital Valley and at the base of the White Hills, which rise to the east.

U.S. Route 93 U.S. Route 93 (US 93) is a major north–south United States highway, numbered highway in the western United States. The southern terminus is at U.S. Route 60 in Arizona, US 60 in Wickenburg, Arizona. The northern terminus is at the ...

runs through the west side of the CDP, leading southeast to Kingman, the Mohave

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

, and northwest to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, Nevada.

Demographics

References

External links

Mohave Museum of Arts and History
entry for White Hills
Historical Marker Database
entry for White Hills

– ghosttowns.com {{authority control Census-designated places in Mohave County, Arizona Ghost towns in Arizona Census-designated places in Arizona Former populated places in Mohave County, Arizona