Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of Castle Creek winding through the desert canyons around the Briggs site

Copper mining town

Briggs

Two tries at copper mining on Castle Creek, in the early 1880s and again in 1890, left a pair of camp names on the map. The way in is a 4WD creek-bed track, and the record is thin.

34°03′39″N 112°28′33″W · 2,759 ft

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

Ruins · 2007 report

The Briggs site is on BLM land, but we haven't confirmed a way in. The routes below end on a ranch track about 1.2 miles short of it, and the approach described by visitors runs up Castle Creek, partly in the creek bed. The newest description we found, from visits in 2006 and 2007, covers Copperopolis, 1.4 miles north, not Briggs itself. Copperopolis isn't on public land in the federal database, so treat it as private.

Overview

Two copper booms on Castle Creek

Briggs was a short-lived copper camp on Castle Creek in the southern Bradshaw Mountains, about 16 miles east-northeast of Wickenburg as the crow flies. It was the second try at mining here. In the early 1880s the Copperopolis and Whipsaw mines fed a 30-ton smelter on Castle Creek, with a camp of about 40 workers. A post office called Kirby opened in 1883 and lasted about a year. The ore was low grade, and by 1884 the camp was largely abandoned. In 1890 a Colorado company tried again, and the settlement of Briggs grew up, only to empty in its turn. That outline comes from an undated listing. We found little else in print.

Copperopolis, the older camp, sits 1.4 miles north-northeast on Copperopolis Creek, and both names are still on USGS maps. The Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project visited in 2006 and 2007. It found the Copperopolis Mine's tailings, stone walls of unknown use, a stock well and one marked grave, Annie May White's, in a cemetery it believes holds 10 or 12 more. It found no record of a Copperopolis post office, though Will C. Barnes's Arizona Place Names lists one opening in October 1884.

Briggs itself is a site on Castle Creek, just downstream of a narrows the USGS map calls The Box. The land is BLM's, but the road in is rough. The approach in the accounts we found runs up Castle Creek, in places in the creek bed itself.

Timeline

What we know

Briggs (Site) on Castle Creek below The Box, USGS Copperopolis sheet, 1969
Briggs (Site) on Castle Creek below The Box, USGS Copperopolis sheet, 1969 · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
  1. The Copperopolis and Whipsaw copper mines feed a 30-ton smelter on Castle Creek. About 40 men work there.
  2. A post office named Kirby opens for the camp.
  3. Barnes's Arizona Place Names lists a Copperopolis post office opening this day, with Edward E. Hellings as postmaster. Cemetery researchers found no other record of it.
  4. The ore proves low grade and the camp is largely abandoned. The Kirby post office closes after about a year.
  5. A Colorado company tries to revive the mines, and the settlement of Briggs grows up on Castle Creek. It is abandoned in turn.
  6. The USGS Bradshaw Mountains map marks both Briggs and Copperopolis, with Lehman's Mill to the north.
  7. The USGS Copperopolis sheet labels Briggs as a site.
  8. Cemetery researchers record tailings, stone walls and one marked grave at Copperopolis. A new headstone and fence go up at Isaac Bradshaw's grave nearby.

What's left

Ruins, tailings and a pioneer's grave

An undated listing describes some half-standing buildings at Briggs that look as if ranchers have used them, plus mining equipment, some of it modern. At Copperopolis, the cemetery project's visits in 2006 and 2007 found the mine's tailing pile on the far slope, a well a rancher uses for cattle, stone walls and the cemetery. The UFO Mine between the two camps had been taken apart, leaving only tailings.

The same project describes a road from the Copperopolis valley past the UFO Mine to the grave of Isaac Bradshaw, near Bradshaw Spring. Isaac and his brother William are the Bradshaws the mountains are named for. A local family that looks after the grave put up a new fence in 2007, and the project added a concrete headstone.

The historic maps show the layout. The 1887 sheet marks nothing here. The 1903 sheet has Briggs on the road along Castle Creek, Copperopolis up Copperopolis Creek to the north-northeast and Lehman's Mill beyond it. The 1969 sheet labels Briggs (Site) with two small building symbols beside the creek road, and the 1981 sheet marks the Copperopolis Mine and Bradshaw Spring.

  • Partly standing buildings (Briggs)
  • Mining equipment, some modern
  • Copperopolis Mine tailings
  • Stone walls
  • Copperopolis cemetery: one marked grave
  • Isaac Bradshaw's grave, near Bradshaw Spring
USGS topographic map of the Briggs site on Castle Creek below The Box, with Thoma Butte to the east
USGS The National Map, topo. Briggs sits on Castle Creek below The Box, with Thoma Butte to the east and Copperopolis Creek at right.
Aerial view of the Briggs area: the pale bed of Castle Creek winding between brushy desert ridges
Aerial imagery, same area. The pale bed of Castle Creek winds down the middle; tracks branch off to the upper right.

Historic maps

Briggs on USGS maps, 1887–1981

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 Briggs, 1887
Prescott sheet, 1887, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Prescott is the closest city by the roads OpenStreetMap knows, but neither route below reaches the site. Both follow Wagoner Road past the Wagoner townsite and then ranch tracks south, ending about 1.2 miles west of Briggs with no mapped way across. We haven't driven any of it. The approach in the accounts we found is up Castle Creek, a 4WD track that runs in and out of the creek bed.

USGS topographic map between Prescott and Briggs with the routed approach along AZ 89 and Wagoner Road 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 downtown Prescott53.5 miabout 3 h 21 min
  1. From downtown Prescott, take Montezuma Street (AZ 89) south. It bears right onto White Spar Road.2.9 mi
  2. Continue south on AZ 89, the Wickenburg-Prescott Highway.19.5 mi
  3. Near Kirkland Junction, turn left onto Wagoner Road and follow it southeast past the Wagoner townsite.22.6 mi
  4. Turn right on Hozoni Ranch Road.2.1 mi
  5. Bear right onto unnamed ranch tracks heading south. The route ends here, about 1.2 miles west of Briggs.6.5 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • We haven't driven either route. The tracks at the end are unnamed in OpenStreetMap, may cross private ranch land, and don't connect to the site on the map.
  • An undated listing rates the road 4WD and advises carrying a winch. The Castle Creek approach sometimes runs in the creek itself, which it calls "quicksand creek".
  • The cemetery project warns that floods can change the routes and make them impassable. Don't try it after rain.
  • Briggs is on BLM land (Hassayampa Field Office). Copperopolis isn't on public land in the USGS Protected Areas Database. Respect gates and posted signs.
  • Summer heat is severe at this elevation. Go in fall or winter and carry plenty of water.

Photos

Have photos of Briggs?

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

Visitor reports

Been to Briggs?

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 Briggs

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

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Briggs or Kirby and Copperopolis": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office) and the outline of both booms.
  2. Wikipedia, "Briggs, Arizona" and "Copperopolis, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevations (GNIS 24336 and 24380).
  3. Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project, "Copperopolis" (2007): distances, remains, the cemetery, the UFO Mine, the Barnes post office entry, the route up Castle Creek.
  4. Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project, "Isaac Bradshaw": the grave, Bradshaw Spring, the 2006 headstone and 2007 fence.
  5. Wikipedia, "Bradshaw Mountains": the range is named for Isaac and William Bradshaw.
  6. USGS historical topographic maps (1903 Bradshaw Mountains, 1969 Copperopolis, 1981 Bradshaw Mts): Briggs, Copperopolis, Lehman's Mill, Bradshaw Spring.
  7. Township and range: BLM PLSS survey grid. Land status: USGS Protected Areas Database (BLM Hassayampa Field Office).
  8. Track tags: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

Record5 of 10
  • Coordinates (GNIS)
  • Site on USGS maps, 1903–1981
  • Land manager (BLM)
  • Copperopolis cemetery recorded
  • Kirby post office year
  • Mine and smelter dates
  • Briggs post office, if any
  • Road condition
  • Photos of the site
  • Field report since 2007
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.