Wikieup is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) located on

U.S. Route 93 U.S. Route 93 (US 93) is a major north–south U.S. Numbered Highway in the western United States, that connects U.S. Route 60 (US 60) in Wickenburg, Arizona, with British Columbia Highway 93 at the Canadian border (north of ...

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 ...

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. It is located approximately northwest of Phoenix and southeast of

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population of Wikieup was 135.

History

There is a vandalized historic marker in Wikieup whose inscription once read: "First exploration probably by early Spanish explorers, Espejo in 1582 and Farfan in 1589. Explored later by Lt.

Amiel W. Whipple Amiel Weeks Whipple (October 21, 1817 – May 7, 1863)Anderson, TSHA was an American military officer and topographical engineer. He served as a brigadier general in the American Civil War, where he was mortally wounded at the Battle of Chanc ...

in 1854. Important agriculture, mining, milling, and smelting area in our early days. The McCrackin Mine discovered by Jackson McCrackin and H. A. "Chloride Jack" Owen in 1874, lies 18 miles south. The Signal Mine was 12 miles south. Stamp mills were at

Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ...

, 8 miles southwest and at Virginia City, 9 miles southwest. Cofer Hot Springs 3 miles east."

Geography

Wikieup is in southeastern Mohave County in the valley of the Big Sandy River, between the

Hualapai Mountains The Hualapai Mountains are a mountain range located in Mohave County, Arizona, Mohave County, east of Kingman, Arizona, Kingman, Arizona. Rising up to 8,417 feet at its highest peak, the higher elevations of the Hualapai Mountains support Madrea ...

to the west and the

Aquarius Mountains The Aquarius Mountains are a 45-mi (72 km) long mountain range in southeast Mohave County, Arizona. The range lies in the northwest of the Arizona transition zone, and at the southwest of the Coconino Plateau, a subsection of the Colorado Pla ...

to the east.

passes through the community, leading northwest to Kingman, the Mohave

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, and southeast to

Wickenburg Wickenburg is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa and Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapai counties, Arizona, United States. The population was 7,474 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and was estimated to be 7,920 in 2022. H ...

Climate

Wikieup has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''BWh''). The lowest recorded temperature was in 1990, with a high of recorded in 1995. Average lows for January range from , with highs in July ranging from . Rainfall averages annually.

Demographics

Education

Residents are zoned to the

Owens-Whitney Elementary School District Owens Whitney School District 6 a.k.a. Owens School District No. 6 is a public school district based in Mohave County, Arizona. The district includes Wikieup and sections of the Hualapai Indian Reservation. For senior high school, students m ...

, which operates one

K-8 school K8 or K-8 may refer to: * K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas * K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight * K8 telephone box, designed by Bruce M ...

. Students may choose to attend Bagdad Unified School District or

Kingman Unified School District The Kingman Unified School District is the school district for Kingman, Arizona and nearby areas. It includes 11 schools. It was founded in 2001 with the merger of the Kingman Elementary School District No. 4, Mohave Union High School District N ...

for high school.

Notable people

Donald Machholz Donald Edward Machholz (October 7, 1952 – August 9, 2022) was an American amateur astronomer who was credited with the discovery of 12 comets that bear his name. Personal life and death In 2014, he married photojournalist Michele Machholz ...

(1952-2022): American amateur astronomer who was credited with the discovery of 12 comets that bear his name.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Census-designated places in Mohave County, Arizona Census-designated places in Arizona Unincorporated communities in Mohave County, Arizona Unincorporated communities in Arizona