Mohave City (also spelled as Mojave City) 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 ...

Mohave County Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 counties in the state. 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 th ...

in the northwestern part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. Settled in the 1860s, in what was then the

Arizona Territory The Territory of Arizona, commonly known as the Arizona Territory, was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the ...

, it was founded as a river landing and trading center for area

miners 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 (mining), face; cutt ...

and soldiers, and was named for Mohave County.

History

Mohave City

Indian threats to miners on the southern portion of the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

spurred the creation of

Fort Mohave Fort Mohave was originally named Camp Colorado when it was established on April 19, 1859 by Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman (U.S. Army), William Hoffman during the Mohave War. It was located on the east bank of the Colorado River, at Beale's ...

by the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, at the present day location of the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation. The relative safety provided by the military presence led to the founding of Mohave City in 1863 by California Volunteers troops stationed at the nearby fort 5 miles down river. Mohave City served primarily as a recreation town and its saloons and brothels thrived, thanks to the ample supply of miners and soldiers. By 1866, the town had grown large enough to become the county seat, and a post office was established on October 8, 1866. Unlike most ghost towns in Arizona, which were abandoned due to the local mine running out, Mohave City was short-lived for a different reason. Fort Mohave expanded its borders to include the town site in 1869, mostly to get rid of it. In the fall of 1869, the military demanded that all civilians leave within 30 days, and proceeded to absorb the town's land. Many residents packed up their homes and businesses, and moved on to new locations but others remained as did the post office.

Hardyville

The steamboat landing and freighting town of Hardyville (now within the limits of Bullhead City), created in 1864, 5 miles north of Mohave City, gained in prominence over Mohave City when it became the Colorado River ferry crossing of the road between

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and Prescott and a major

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

landing for the George A. Johnson & Company, closer to the local San Francisco Mining District mines than Mohave City. Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978
/ref> On January 21, 1867, Hardyville took over the title of county seat.

Fort Mohave−Mohave City

After the assumption of the land by the military, the town was referred to interchangeably as Fort Mohave or Mohave City. The town clearly continued in some capacity, as it was listed as having 159 residents in the 1870 US Census. By the 1880s, the town still housed approximately 50 residents, as well as a post office, gunsmith, a blacksmith, a pharmacist, and a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

. In 1890, the government gave the Fort Mohave land to the Indian Service by order of President

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States, serving from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia—a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, and a ...

. Shortly thereafter, the buildings came to be used as a school for the local Indian population, housing as many as 200 students. The school closed and the buildings were given up by the Indian Service in 1935, and on October 31, 1938, the post office was discontinued. From that point onward, the land has been part of the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation.

Remnants

Today, nothing remains of the fort, or the original buildings of Mohave City.

Geography

Mohave City was located at approximately (35.0444453, -114.6230214) on the bank of the Colorado River, south of Bullhead City.

References

External links

Mohave City
at Ghosttowns.com

history and time line. {{Mohave County, Arizona Ghost towns in Arizona Former populated places in Mohave County, Arizona Former county seats in Arizona 1863 establishments in Arizona Territory Populated places established in 1863