Kentucky Camp 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 ...

and former mining camp along the

Arizona Trail The Arizona National Scenic Trail (AZT) is a National Scenic Trail from Mexico to Utah that traverses the whole north–south length of the U.S. state of Arizona. The trail begins at the Coronado National Memorial near the US–Mexico border an ...

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 ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, near the community of Sonoita. The Kentucky Camp Historic District is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and has been since 1995. As it is located within

Coronado National Forest The Coronado National Forest is a United States National Forest that includes an area of about 1.78 million acres (7,200 km2) spread throughout mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. It is located in parts of ...

, the United States Forest Service is responsible for the upkeep of the remaining buildings within the Kentucky Camp Historic District.

History

A freak accident that killed a mining engineer allowed Kentucky Camp to persist as it is today, a scenic canyon dotted with

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s, tall grasses and

cacti A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

. The plans for the Kentucky Camp area in the realm of gold mining were ambitious but never really came to fruition.

Early days

In 1874 gold was discovered on the eastern slope of the

Santa Rita Mountains The Santa Rita Mountains ( O'odham: To:wa Kuswo Doʼag), located about southeast of Tucson, Arizona, extend from north to south, then trending southeast. They merge again southeastwards into the Patagonia Mountains, trending northwest by sout ...

. The area became known as the Greaterville mining district and proved to be one of the richest

placer deposit In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation from a specific source rock during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish language, Spanish word ''placer'', meaning "alluviu ...

s in southern Arizona. Placer deposits consist of a mixture of gold, sand and gravel; to separate the substances, water is required. Generally, water is readily available to wash the mixture of sand, gravel, and gold. However, the

arroyos Arroyo often refers to: * Arroyo (watercourse), an intermittently dry creek Arroyo may also refer to: Places United States * Arroyo, Pennsylvania * Arroyo, Puerto Rico, a municipality * Arroyo, West Virginia Spain * Arroyo (Santillana del Mar), ...

of the Santa Rita Mountains are dry. Miners were required to haul the sacks of dirt to the few running streams in the area. Sometimes they would carry packed water, in canvas and goatskin bags, on the backs of burros to their claims. By 1886, much of the rich deposits that were worth such an effort were worked out and many miners gave up and moved on.Kentucky Camp History
U.S. Forest Service, Coronado National Forest. In 1902 a California mining engineer, James Stetson, had an idea to solve the water problem. His scheme involved channeling seasonal runoff from the mountain streams into a reservoir that would hold enough water to last ten months allowing him to keep a mine in operation. Stetson was able to convince a wealthy Californian, George McAneny (not to be confused with New Yorker

George McAneny George McAneny (December 24, 1869 – July 29, 1953), was an American newspaperman, municipal reformer and advocate of preservation and city planning from New York City. He served as Manhattan Borough President from 1910 to 1913, President of th ...

), to invest in his plan and with other investors from

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

they formed the Santa Rita Water and Mining Company. The pair prospected the area of Greaterville and finally settled on a mining site in Boston Gulch. The headquarters was set up at nearby Kentucky Gulch and from 1902 until 1906, the buildings at Kentucky Camp served as the offices and residences for the mine employees. By mid-1904, the company's water system was complete and they were doing hydraulic mining at Kentucky Camp.

The fall of a camp and engineer

One day before a meeting with stockholders in 1905 tragedy befell Stetson. He was killed in a fall from a window at the

Santa Rita Hotel Santa Rita Hotel was a historic building located in downtown Tucson, Arizona. It was designed by architect Henry Trost in the Mission Revival Style and built in 1903 by Quintus Monier. The hotel was considered the finest hotel in the Arizona Te ...

in Tucson. His partner's finances and health deteriorated and despite the effort of the other partners to keep the operation going, Kentucky Camp was abandoned by 1912.

The town after 1912

The buildings and land were purchased by an attorney for the McAneny family and until the 1960s the lands were used as a cattle ranch. During the 1960s the land was sold to ANAMAX Mining. The Forest Service acquired the land in 1989 and added it to the

. The Forest Service is currently working with volunteers and others to preserve and interpret Kentucky Camp as a historic site related to mining in the American west.

Kentucky Camp today

The town was acquired by the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

in 1989 through a land exchange. Since that time, it has been part of the Coronado National Forest and is being preserved and interpreted for a look at mining camp life.

Buildings

Today there are five

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 at the town site. They were constructed circa 1904 and the largest building was probably the headquarters for the Santa Rita Water and Mining Company. Later, that same large building became the main ranch house as the land was used for cattle ranching. The small building behind the headquarters building was used to process gold samples, evidenced by liners that came from an assay furnace. Opposite a small house where Stetson may have lived are the remains of a ruined barn and another small adobe house remains at the far end of the site.

Preservation

Historic preservation has been underway at Kentucky Camp since 1991. The Forest Service has worked to stabilize the remaining buildings, including repairing roofs and walls in hopes of preventing further deterioration. Much of the work has been done by volunteers under the auspices of the Forest Service's Passport In Time program and the Friends of Kentucky Camp. When the USFS acquired the property the buildings were in bad shape. The roofs had to be repaired first to keep water run off from contacting the crumbling adobe walls. The project was made possible by a $10,000 donation from the producers of the 1989-1992 TV show ''

The Young Riders ''The Young Riders'' is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders (some of whom are young versions of legendary figures in Old West history) based ...

'', which happened to be shooting in the area.Ghost Town
Tucson Weekly, July 6, 2006. As of 2005 the Forest Service planned to restore the buildings to their original appearance during the mining era.

Gallery

Mcaneny.jpg, This sketch of George McAneny is from a 1905 San Jose newspaper. He lost more than $150,000 investing in Kentucky Camp. Hotel & Office Building Kentucky Camp Arizona 2014.jpeg, The front of the hotel/office building. Hotel & Office Interior Kentucky Camp Arizona 2014.jpeg, Inside the hotel/office building. Assay Office Kentucky Camp Arizona 2014.jpeg, The assay office, where gold ore was processed. Adobe House Kentucky Camp Arizona 2014.jpeg, The adobe house believed to have been occupied by James Stetson. Adobe House 2 Kentucky Camp Arizona 2014.jpeg, The other adobe house. Remains Of Barn & Early Automobile Kentucky Camp Arizona 2014.jpeg, The remains of an adobe barn and an early automobile.

Notes

External links

Friends of Kentucky Camp

– Ghost Town of the Month at azghosttowns.com {{authority control Ghost towns in Arizona Former populated places in Pima County, Arizona History of Pima County, Arizona Buildings and structures in Pima County, Arizona National Register of Historic Places in Pima County, Arizona Tourist attractions in Pima County, Arizona Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona Coronado National Forest Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona 1902 establishments in Arizona Territory Populated places established in 1902