Tiger is a
former populated place in
Pinal County
Pinal County is a county in the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 census, the population of the county was 425,264, making it Arizona's third-most populous county. The county seat is Florence. The county was est ...
in 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 ...
of
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 was settled as Schultz ''circa'' 1881 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 ...
, then later reestablished as Tiger after
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
History
The area that was to become Tiger was first settled in 1881 after Frank Schultz located
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...
in what was to become the Mammoth Mine. The camp that settled around the
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
*Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
M ...
took the name Schultz, and a post office was established under that name on July 12, 1894.
Since water, needed for refinement of ore, was not present near the mine, a mill was established away on the west bank of the
San Pedro River, in a town that came to be known as
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...
, after the mine and the mill. The ore was hauled to the mill by way of mule teams, until just after the start of the 20th century when an aerial tram was completed between the Mammoth Mine and the Mammoth Mill. As the tram's construction neared completion, and the need for the town waned, the Schultz post office was closed on May 1, 1902.
The mines reopened in 1915 due to
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
's increased demand for the molybdenum and vanadium found in the area. When the war was over, the prices fell, and the mines closed again in 1919.
Shortly thereafter, the Mammoth Mine property was purchased by Sam Houghton, who renamed both the mine and the town after his college mascot, the
Princeton Tiger
''Princeton Tiger'' or ''Tiger Magazine'' is the second-oldest college humor magazine in the United States, published by Princeton University undergraduates since 1882. It is best known for giving the start to literary and artistic talent as wi ...
.
When the price of gold increased in 1933,
the town again grew in prosperity, and the new Tiger post office opened on March 1, 1939. It was as Tiger that the town reached its peak in the early 1950s. Soon after, the local mines, as well as the town of Tiger, had run their course, and the post office was discontinued on November 26, 1954.
Remnants
After the San Manuel Copper Company acquired the land, they demolished all remaining structures in order to mine the silica on site for its gold content and as flux material for the San Manuel Smelter. However, the material contained too much lead, and the plan proved fruitless. As such, nothing is left of the town of Tiger today, but the filled-in shaft of the Mammoth mine in the middle of town.
Mining
The Tiger or Mammoth mine is a famous
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...
locality, especially for
matlockite
Matlockite is a rare lead halide mineral, named after the town of Matlock in Derbyshire, England, where it was first discovered in a nearby mine. Matlockite (chemical formula: PbFCl) gives its name to the matlockite group which consists of rare ...
and
wulfenite
Wulfenite is a lead molybdate mineral with the formula Pb Mo O4. It often occurs as thin tabular crystals with a bright orange-red to yellow-orange color, sometimes brown, although the color can be highly variable. In its yellow form it is some ...
. In addition, the mineral
yedlinite is a hydrated oxychloride of lead and chromium found only at Tiger, and first noted on preexisting specimens in 1967.
The various mines at Mammoth and Tiger had combined recorded production of around:
* 400,000 oz gold
* 1,000,000 oz silver
* 3.5 million lbs copper
* 75 million lbs lead
* 50 million lbs zinc
* 6 million lbs of molybdenum
* 2.5 million lbs of vanadium
At 1991 prices, this would be worth about $300 million.
A History of the Mines at Tiger
1991, ''History of Mining in Arizona''
Geography
The site is located approximately west of the town of Mammoth
Demographics
US Census
The United States census (plural censuses or census) is a census that is legally mandated by the Constitution of the United States. It takes place every ten years. The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 under Secretar ...
data places the population of the town at 500 in 1940 after its re-founding as Tiger, and 783 in 1950.
See also
*American Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...
*Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...
*History of Arizona
The history of Arizona encompasses the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Post-Archaic, Spanish, Mexican, and American periods. About 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians settled in what is now Arizona. A few thousand years ago, the Ancestral Pu ...
*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 ...
References
Further reading
*Howell, K.K., 1991, A History of the Mines at Tiger, ''History of Mining in Arizona'' v. 2. Full text
External links
Minerals of Tiger, Arizona
photo gallery
at Ghosttowns.com
{{authority control
Ghost towns in Arizona
Populated places in Pinal County, Arizona
San Pedro Valley (Arizona)
Mining communities in Arizona