Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of the Cibola area: the Colorado River's channel curving down the left side, fields and scattered buildings along a road in the middle, and desert washes to the east

Farm and ranch town · River and lake town

Cibola

A farm town founded in 1898 on the Arizona bank of the Colorado, built on the hope of a 16-mile canal that was never finished. The old town's remnants are on private land, and a small farming community still lives in the valley.

33°18′59″N 114°39′54″W · ≈243 ft

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

Farming community · remnants private (2013)

A historical marker put up in 2000 says all the remnants of Cibola are on nearby private property, and an undated listing says permission is required to visit them. The marker has since been reported missing. The newest dated report on the old town, a 2013 cemetery survey, found a locked gate on the road to the Bishop family cemetery, on a private ranch. Today's Cibola is a small community of 198 people (2020 census). Stay on public roads and respect private property.

Overview

A canal that stopped at two miles

Cibola lies on the Arizona side of the lower Colorado River, about 24 road miles south of Blythe, California. Its name comes from the legendary cities of gold that drew Spanish explorers north in 1540, and promoters in the 1890s gave it to the rich bottomland along the river. In 1899 the Yuma Sun counted 20,000 acres of fertile irrigable land.

The town formed in 1898. Settlers, Louis W. Bishop among them, started digging a canal to bring water from the river, and a post office opened in 1903. Bishop served as its postmaster. The plan called for a canal 16 miles long, 12 feet wide and 4 feet deep. Only 2 miles were built. The river flooded the valley most years until dams tamed it, and by 1930 the census found 40 people, several of them beekeepers. The post office closed in 1933.

People never left entirely. An undated listing says farms and ranches still work the valley, a bridge built by farmers in 1957 links it to California, and the 2020 census counted 198 people in the Cibola area. In 2025 the local water district was still serving the residents of Cibola. What survives of the old town is on private land.

Timeline

A farm town on a wild river

Cibola on the 1955 USGS sheet: a few buildings at a road junction on the edge of the river bottom
Cibola on the 1955 USGS sheet: a few buildings at a road junction on the edge of the river bottom · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
  1. River steamers stop at Cibola Boat Landing to unload freight and take on wood for their boilers.
  2. Louis W. Bishop and his brother arrive by wagon from San Diego. The town of Cibola forms, and settlers start a canal to bring river water to the valley.
  3. The Yuma Sun praises the valley's 20,000 acres of irrigable land.
  4. The post office opens. APCRP names Louis W. Bishop as its postmaster but gives no dates for his term.
  5. Stephan B. Sealy, who owned most of the valley and its canal, is shot dead when his son and two neighbors return his fire, the Arizona Sentinel reports.
  6. Carl Bishop builds a cottonwood-log cabin on higher ground, away from the floods.
  7. The Arizona Sentinel reports about 100 people in the valley and little development.
  8. The census lists 40 people. Five keep bees.
  9. The post office closes. Residents get their mail in Blythe, California.
  10. Farmers build a bridge across the Colorado at a ferry site. It is repaired and renamed the Oxbow Bridge in 2011.
  11. Cibola National Wildlife Refuge is established, partly on old farmland.
  12. The census counts 198 people in the Cibola area.
  13. The local water district still serves "the residents of Cibola".

Pioneers

The Bishop family

The American Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project traced Cibola's story through one family. Louis W. Bishop, born in Missouri in 1850, came by wagon from San Diego with his older brother in 1898 and helped start the canal. He homesteaded in the valley, with a notice of final proof published in 1910, and served as postmaster. His family farmed, kept bees and ran cattle; in 1930 his son Joe carried the mail.

Life on the river bottom meant floods. In 1910 Carl Bishop built a second home on higher ground, a cottonwood-log "dog trot" cabin with two rooms separated by a covered breezeway. The family buried its dead in a small cemetery near the Bishop ranch, from Louis in 1919 to a grandson in 2002.

The valley had its violent side too. In June 1910 Stephan B. Sealy, who owned most of the valley and its canal, locked one of his sons in a room and went hunting for another, Toney, with a rifle. He opened fire on Toney and two neighbors, Carl Bishop among them, and was killed when they fired back. The Arizona Sentinel called him a progressive citizen whose troubles had unbalanced his mind.

The 2000 marker says Wyatt Earp is said to have served a year as Cibola's sheriff in the 1890s. The researchers who traced the Bishops call that unconfirmed. Treat it as legend.

What's left

Remnants on private land

The marker that E Clampus Vitus and La Paz County Parks put up in 2000, at the park where River Road meets Baseline Road, says all the remnants of Cibola are on nearby private property. An undated listing names numerous buildings and says permission is required. HMdb's page, last revised in February 2026, lists the marker as missing. The Bishop family cemetery sits on a private ranch, and in 2013 the researchers who documented it found a locked gate on the entry road and asked visitors to contact the family first. They also reported a BLM plaque at Carl Bishop's 1910 cabin, south of Hart Mine Road near Cibola Road, but showed only an artist's drawing of the cabin. We haven't found a newer report on any of it.

The historic maps below follow the town through the 20th century. The 1942 sheet shows Cibola beside the road along the valley, with the Old Ferry Site on the river to the southwest. The 1955 sheet shows a few buildings at a road junction, and the 1965 sheet adds a cemetery just southeast of them, where APCRP places the Bishop family cemetery. By 1986 the river ran in a smoother channel than on the 1942 sheet, and the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge covered the bottomland to the west.

  • Old town buildings (private)
  • Bishop family cemetery (private)
  • BLM plaque at the 1910 Bishop cabin (reported 2013)
  • Farms and ranches
USGS topographic map of Cibola with River Road and the Colorado River at lower left
USGS The National Map, topo. Cibola sits east of the river bottom; River Road crosses the top, and the Colorado shows at lower left.
Aerial view of Cibola: farm fields and thickets on the left, a straight road on the right and a cluster of buildings at the bottom
Aerial imagery, same area. Fields and thickets on the old river bottom at left; a cluster of buildings sits near the bottom of the frame.

Historic maps

Cibola on USGS maps, 1942–1986

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 Cibola, 1942
Blythe sheet, 1942, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Blythe, California, is the nearest city, about 47 minutes away. Both routes leave I-10 at Neighbours Boulevard west of Blythe, head south through farmland, cross the Colorado River into Arizona and follow River Road and Cibola Lake Road to Cibola.

USGS topographic map between Blythe and Cibola with the route along Neighbours Boulevard and River 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 central Blythe, California24.2 miabout 47 min
  1. From East Hobsonway in central Blythe, take Lovekin Boulevard to I-10 and head west.3.8 mi
  2. Exit and turn left onto South Neighbours Boulevard (CA 78), heading south.13.1 mi
  3. Bear right, cross the Colorado River into Arizona and continue on River Road.3.2 mi
  4. Continue onto South Cibola Lake Road to Cibola.4.1 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • OpenStreetMap (October 2026) tags South Neighbours Boulevard (CA 78), River Road and South Cibola Lake Road as asphalt and the river bridge as paved; a 1.1-mile stretch of Neighbors Boulevard has no surface tag. In 2013 the cemetery researchers called the road from the bridge paved to the Cibola area.
  • An undated listing rates the roads 4WD and says two dirt roads reach Cibola from Arizona and one paved road from California. These routes use the California road.
  • The old town's remnants and the Bishop cemetery are on private land. Stay on public roads.
  • Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, on the river bottom west of town, has no charge to visit. Its lands, roads and trails are open sunrise to sunset, and its visitor center is open daily from November 20 to March 31, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except federal holidays. Cibola Lake is closed to all entry from October 1 to March 14 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
  • Summer heat along the river is severe. Carry water.

Photos

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Visitor reports

Been to Cibola?

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 Cibola

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

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Cibola": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office dates), the three roads in, the farms and ranches, and the remnants on private property.
  2. Wikipedia, "Cibola, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: coordinates (from the Census gazetteer), elevation, GNIS ID 24371, census figures and the water district.
  3. HMdb, "Cibola Arizona" (page last revised February 4, 2026; read October 20, 2026): the 2000 E Clampus Vitus and La Paz County Parks marker text, its location and its missing status.
  4. Kathy Block, "Bishop Family Cemetery, Cibola", American Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project (2013; Internet Archive copy of December 25, 2024): the Bishops, the 1899 Yuma Sun report, the canal, the homestead notice, the 1914 and 1930 counts, the post office, the Sealy shooting, the cabin plaque, the steamboat landing, the bridge and road, and the cemetery.
  5. Cibola Water Improvement District (formerly Cibola Mutual Water Company), notices from February to June 2025: service to "the residents of Cibola."
  6. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "Cibola National Wildlife Refuge: Visit Us", read October 20, 2026: refuge and visitor center hours, the Cibola Lake closure and no charge to visit.
  7. Bureau of Land Management, national PLSS survey layer, queried October 20, 2026: township, range and section at the GNIS point.
  8. Road surfaces: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Elevation: Wikipedia. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Status checked against the sources above on October 20, 2026.

Photo and map credits

Record6 of 9
  • Coordinates (GNIS)
  • Post office dates
  • Founding and canal history
  • Community status (2025)
  • Historic maps, 1942–1986
  • Bishop family cemetery
  • Which old buildings survive
  • Access to the remnants
  • Photos
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.