Book review: “Ghost Towns of the Southwest” March 14, 2010

Route 66 aficionados who like straying off the beaten path will find dozens of ideas for day trips with “Ghost Towns of the Southwest” (soft cover, 256 pages, Voyageur Press, $21.99).

Subtitled “Your Guide to the Historic Mining Camps & Ghost Towns of Arizona and New Mexico,” the book by Jim Hinckley and photographer Kerrick James takes you into towns in Arizona and New Mexico that went from boom to bust in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ghost towns on Route 66 in this volume include Oatman, Goldroad, Hackberry and Two Guns, all in Arizona.

In his text, Hinckley divides the chapters by region, choosing a well-populated city from which to organize day trips to these often-isolated desert locales. From there, you’ll be introduced to colorfully named burgs as Vulture City and Bumble Bee. A few of the towns survive as tourist destinations. Others hang on for a few dozen hardy residents. Other old mining settlements feature nothing but ruins crumbling into the sand.

Hinckley advises visitors to be aware of poisonous snakes, intense desert heat and unstable mine shafts. Most towns are accessible by good roads. But a few, such as an alluring saloon in the remnants of Crown King, Ariz., is accessible by only an old railroad bed or the 40-mile Senator Highway from Prescott that “requires at least three hours to travel in good weather and a solid vehicle with good ground clearance.”

Hinckley stretches the definition of “ghost town” a bit by including cities such as Bisbee (population 6,000), Tombstone (pop. 1,500) and Jerome (pop. 300). However, as he points out, all of these towns are mere shadows of their former mining heydays.

Places such as Oatman and Chloride, Ariz., aren’t heavily populated but attract hundreds or thousands of tourists on any given weekend.

These ghost towns weren’t always mining centers, either. Chaco Canyon and Gran Quivira in New Mexico were American Indian settlements until they were abandoned centuries ago, with nothing remaining but stone ruins.

James gets co-billing with this book, and should. “Ghost Towns of the Southwest” provides generous space and color for his photography. Many of his images prove to be breathtaking, including wildflowers near the ruins of Goldroad and golden sunlight streaming on the rustic buildings of Mogollon, N.M. The photography alone makes this book worthwhile.

A purist may quibble with Hinckley on whether these places are true ghost towns or former mining settlements. However, no one will dispute that they offer spectacular scenery and unforgettable (and real) glimpses of the Old West. That’s more than commendable.

Those who wonder why Mother Road ghost towns such as Glenrio, N.M., and Twin Arrows, Ariz., aren’t included should be advised that Hinckley is working on a more expansive book about ghost towns on Route 66, slated for release later this year.

Recommended.