Cerro Colorado is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in southern

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 List of counties in Arizona, counties in the state. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1 ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. The town is located off Arivaca Road, near Arivaca, and is best known for the massacre of mining employees by Mexican outlaws and buried treasure.

History

Cerro Colorado was established around 1855 by Charles D. Poston, who owned the Sonora Exploring & Mining Company in

Tubac, Arizona Tubac is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 1,191 at the 2010 census. The place name "Tubac" is an English borrowing from a Hispanicized form of the O'odham name ''Cuwak'', which ...

. The most prosperous mine in the area was the Heintzelman Mine, named after Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman, who was the first president of the mining company and later grew famous during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The post office was established on April 17, 1879, and closed on April 15, 1911. In 1861, fifteen Mexican and Native American men were killed after being buried alive in their shaft when the roof caved in. The men were deep within the shaft so no rescue was possible or attempted. This frightened the Mexican employees, who felt the mine was haunted, so they left and went home to

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

. Several

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and American miners then became employed. When the Civil War began,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

troops left the region to fight the rebels and the town became part of

Confederate Arizona The Arizona Territory, Colloquialism, colloquially referred to as Confederate Arizona, was an Constitution of the Confederate States, organized incorporated territory of the Confederate States of America that existed from August 1, 1861, to ...

. Once again Cerro Colorado was surrounded by

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

land, leaving the settlement under constant threat. At about the same time in 1861, Charles Poston left the mine for business elsewhere, he left his brother John Poston in charge.

Cerro Colorado treasure

When Charles Poston left Cerro Colorado, the mining operations were constantly halted due to the Mexican employees who continually stole and took their plunder to Sonora. One day, Poston's foreman, known only as Juanito, was caught heading back to Sonora with a load of stolen silver bullion, so Poston had him executed as an example to other thieving employees. The silver was never recovered and was reportedly buried by Juanito somewhere near the mine. Juanito's death only made the matter worse. Within the next few nights, Mexicans stole "''whatever they could''" and took the property to Sonora, where several Mexican outlaws heard the story of the buried treasure. The outlaws immediately headed into Arizona for the mine. Once there they won the support of the Mexican employees and destroyed the mine in hopes of finding the silver. After failing to find it they tortured and murdered John Poston and two German miners. As of 2023, nobody has ever found the treasure. When the massacre was over, the outlaws left for Mexico and the mine was rebuilt. By 1864 a walled stone

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

was erected on a nearby hill and a guard tower was constructed in the town plaza. A few

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

buildings remain along with the concrete grave of John Poston, and his tombstone.

References

{{Pima County, Arizona Ghost towns in Arizona Former populated places in Pima County, Arizona Treasure of the United States Treasure in Arizona Arizona folklore 1855 establishments in the United States Forts in Arizona