San Xavier is a
populated place
In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community of people living in a particular place. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to t ...
in
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, situated seventeen miles southwest of
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 ...
, and six miles northwest of
Sahuarita. Originally a small
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
mining camp
A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry.
Historical mining communities Australia
* Ballarat, Victoria
* Bendig ...
from the 1880s, today San Xavier is little more than a collection of rural homes and partially abandoned mines. The
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 ...
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; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) 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 pinkish-orang ...
, 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
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 suppor ...
*
Copper mining in Arizona
In Arizona, copper mining 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 billion. Arizona's copper pro ...
*
San Xavier Indian Reservation
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