Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of the east side of the Dragoon Mountains around the Black Diamond site: shadowed ridges at left and brown foothills cut by tree-lined washes

Copper mining town

Black Diamond

A mining company camp below Black Diamond Peak, with a hotel, a store and a post office in the 1900s. The record is thin, and we haven't verified land status or access, so this page shows its gaps.

31°50′37″N 109°54′24″W · ≈5,140 ft

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).

Not verified

We found no dated report on the Black Diamond townsite. The Forest Service's land ownership map puts the GNIS point inside Coronado National Forest, right on the edge of a parcel the Forest Service doesn't own, so we can't say who owns the ruins or whether they are open. An undated listing rates the road 4WD and warns against taking the road marked Black Diamond Mine. Respect fences, gates and posted signs.

Overview

A company camp under Black Diamond Peak

Black Diamond grew up on the east side of the Dragoon Mountains in Cochise County, below the peak of the same name. The Black Diamond Mine was found in 1880. The Black Diamond Mining Company was organized in 1898, with its main office in New York and a local office in nearby Pearce. It was a copper camp: the company shipped copper ore, with some silver, and smelted it at a plant on the townsite, which the USGS mineral database still lists as the Black Diamond smelter site.

By 1902 the camp, first called Black Diamond Camp, had a hotel, a store and a post office. The Arizona Historical Society says the post office ran from 1902 to 1908; an undated listing says 1901 to 1908, and puts the population at around 100. The society's collection holds photographs of the old smelter ruins and the mine entrance. In 1912 the property was sold at auction for unpaid taxes.

Not much else is on record. A hiker who climbed the peak just south of Black Diamond Peak in 2024 wrote only that a town grew at the east base of Black Diamond Peak and didn't last long. The 1958 USGS map marks the spot as a site, east of Dragoon Camp.

Timeline

What we know

Black Diamond (Site) on the 1958 USGS Pearce sheet, east of Dragoon Camp and below Black Diamond Peak
Black Diamond (Site) on the 1958 USGS Pearce sheet, east of Dragoon Camp and below Black Diamond Peak · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
  1. The Black Diamond Mine is found.
  2. The Black Diamond Mining Company is organized, with its main office in New York and a local office in Pearce.
  3. A post office opens. The Arizona Historical Society gives 1902; an undated listing gives 1901.
  4. Black Diamond Camp, later just Black Diamond, has a hotel, a store and a post office. N. O. Bagge is the first manager and E. D. Kennedy the company president.
  5. The post office closes.
  6. The property is sold at auction for unpaid taxes, to J. G. Hearne and F. C. Hoffman.
  7. The USGS Pearce sheet marks the spot as "Black Diamond (Site)", east of Dragoon Camp.

Site map

Where the camp stood

The historic maps below place the camp. The 1916 Pearce sheet shows a cluster of buildings east of Dragoon Camp, with Black Diamond Peak and Gordon Camp to the northwest, and the 1926 Courtland sheet shows the same cluster where several roads meet. By 1958 the USGS labels it "Black Diamond (Site)." The detailed 1985 Black Diamond Peak sheet shows no buildings at all, only tracks meeting at the site and a small pond to the north. The 1994 sheet names Black Diamond Spring just northwest and marks the tracks around it as 4WD.

An undated listing names foundations, walls, a tramway tower, mines and tailings, and we found no dated report that confirms what still stands.

USGS topographic map of the Black Diamond site with Coronado National Forest boundary lines and forest roads 4389, 4391 and 4394
USGS The National Map, topo. Green lines are Coronado National Forest boundaries; the square at left is land the Forest Service doesn't own. Forest roads 4389, 4391 and 4394 meet at the site, and Black Diamond Tank lies just north.
Aerial view of the Black Diamond area: tree-lined washes crossing grassland, a track across the middle and a small pond at the top
Aerial imagery, same area. A track crosses the middle past a dark patch near the center; the small pond at the top is Black Diamond Tank.

Historic maps

Black Diamond on USGS maps, 1916–1994

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Black Diamond, 1916
Pearce sheet, 1916, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Sunsites is the closest community. The routes below were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us. Their last 5.5 miles follow Middlemarch Road and dirt tracks. The router allows about 75 minutes for them, about 3 mph on Middlemarch Road and 6 mph on Black Diamond Road, so the drive times are slow for the distance.

USGS topographic map between Sunsites and the Black Diamond site with the routed approach drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From Sunsites12.2 miabout 1 h 36 min
  1. From Sunsites, take Justin Street to US 191 (Douglas–Willcox Highway) and turn left.0.8 mi
  2. Turn left onto Ironwood Road.2.7 mi
  3. Turn left onto North Willcox Road.3.0 mi
  4. Turn right onto West Pearce Road, then left onto Middlemarch Road.2.4 mi
  5. Turn left onto Black Diamond Road.3.2 mi
  6. Turn right onto FR 4389 (Gordon Tank) to the site area.0.1 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • We haven't driven these routes. OpenStreetMap (October 2026) tags Middlemarch Road as gravel and Black Diamond Road and FR 4389 as dirt tracks.
  • An undated listing rates the road 4WD and says not to take the road marked Black Diamond Mine.
  • The Forest Service describes Middlemarch Road as a scenic but rugged route over the Dragoons. Check with the Coronado National Forest before you go.
  • Old mine workings are dangerous. Stay out of shafts and adits, and respect fences, gates and posted signs.

Photos

Have photos of Black Diamond?

We haven’t added more photographs of Black Diamond yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

The Arizona Historical Society holds photographs of the smelter ruins and mine entrance.

Visitor reports

Been to Black Diamond?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Black Diamond

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arizona index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. USGS Mineral Resource Data System, "Black Diamond Mine", read October 2026: copper the primary commodity, operated by the Black Diamond Copper Mining Co., ore produced intermittently from 1903.
  2. USGS Mineral Resource Data System, "Black Diamond Smelter Site", read October 2026: a copper smelter of 1903 on the townsite.
  3. ghosttowns.com, "Black Diamond": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office dates, population) and the warning about the road marked Black Diamond Mine.
  4. Wikipedia, "Black Diamond, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation (GNIS 24324).
  5. Arizona Historical Society, "MS 505, Black Diamond Mining Company Collection, 1883–1969" (finding aid revised July 2008; Internet Archive copy of June 1, 2025, as the live file blocked us): the company, the camp, the hotel, store and post office, the managers, the 1912 tax sale and the photographs.
  6. Scott Surgent, "Peak 7160 (7155)", climbed March 3, 2024 (Internet Archive copy of March 13, 2026; the live site's security certificate had expired): the town at the east base of Black Diamond Peak, and Middlemarch Road marked as FR 345.
  7. USDA Forest Service, "Middlemarch Road #345 Scenic Drive" (updated January 30, 2026): "a scenic, but rugged, route from Tombstone over the Dragoon Mountains," by way of Middlemarch Pass between Cochise and Black Diamond Peaks.
  8. USDA Forest Service, Basic Ownership map layer, queried October 20, 2026: "USDA Forest Service" land at the GNIS point and to its north, east and south; "Non-FS" land just west.
  9. Road surfaces: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

Record5 of 10
  • Coordinates (GNIS)
  • Company history
  • Post office dates (two versions)
  • Site on USGS maps
  • Historic maps, 1916–1994
  • Land ownership
  • Access status
  • Road condition, last 5.5 mi
  • Photos of the townsite
  • Dated field report
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.