Oatman, Arizona is on a section of old Route 66 bypassed in 1936. It was an important gold mining center from 1906 to 1923, with $36,000,000 in gold coming from its mines --- at 1930 prices! Oatman became a ghost town after 1942, but has been revived as a tourist attraction complete with boutiques and crafts dealers. Semi-wild burros roam the streets seeking handouts, descendants of those set free by departing prospectors. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their secret honeymoon at the Oatman Hotel. A look into their room costs 50c a peek!

Named after a woman who was captured and later released by the Mohave Indians, Oatman is still going today. Strike after strike kept Oatman alive, the biggest seems to be the 1915 strike of $14 million. The town had its own paper, the Oatman Miner. The population of Oatman went from a few hundred to over 3500 within a year which lead to long waits at the restaurants. In 1921, a fire burned much of Oatman, but the town was rebuilt. Mining was somewhat sporadic through the next forty years, and Oatman still survives today.

 

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Updated    07/11/99