Forepaugh

Overview

A stop on the Parker line

Forepaugh lies on the railroad across the open desert about 20 miles west of Wickenburg, below Forepaugh Peak. The track belonged to the Arizona and California Railway, a Santa Fe line that opened from A&C Junction, east of here, to Parker by June 1907 and reached Cadiz, California, in 1910. Forepaugh was one of the stations along it.

The record is thin. A post office opened in 1910 and closed in 1916. An undated listing says some mining reduction work, meaning ore processing, went on here, and lists the remains as mining and settlement debris. A 1942 wartime edition of the USGS map, spelling the name Forpaugh, shows the station surrounded by ranch wells.

The most interesting story is also the least certain. A reader who visited in 1996 wrote that the Army Air Forces built a small airfield at Forepaugh in World War II and used it briefly to train glider pilots. The 1990 USGS map does show a landing strip just north of the tracks. Today a grid of rural homesites spreads south of the railroad, and freight trains still run past.

Timeline

What we know

1. Jun 1907The Arizona and California Railway, a Santa Fe line, opens from A&C Junction, later called Matthie, west to Parker. Forepaugh is one of its stations in the open desert west of Wickenburg.
2. 1910A post office opens at Forepaugh. Some ore milling also goes on here, according to an undated listing.
3. Jul 1, 1910The line is finished through to Cadiz, California, and service over it begins.
4. 1916The post office closes.
5. 1942A wartime USGS sheet, stamped Restricted, spells the name Forpaugh and shows the station among scattered ranch wells.
6. 1940sA reader's account says the Army built a small airfield here to train glider pilots. We haven't confirmed it.
7. 1962The USGS Aguila sheet shows Forepaugh beside the tracks, with a road crossing and Joanette Tank to the east.
8. 1990The USGS Forepaugh Peak sheet shows a landing strip and a few buildings just north of the tracks.
9. 1996The same reader visits and finds a hangar, an unusable airstrip, a pump and tank, and foundations of barracks that he was told burned in 1995.
10. TodayRural homesites line the roads south of the tracks, and freight trains of the Arizona & California Railroad still pass.

Site and maps

A station, a strip and some wells

Most of what's known about Forepaugh comes from maps. The 1942 Vicksburg sheet, a wartime edition stamped Restricted, shows the station on the Santa Fe line with Aguila's airport to the west and ranch wells all around: Lapham, Engle, Campbell Sheep Company. The 1962 Aguila sheet shows Forepaugh beside the tracks where a road crosses, with Joanette and Clark tanks nearby. The 1984 Salome sheet labels the railroad Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, and the 1990 Forepaugh Peak sheet adds a landing strip northeast of the crossing, with a handful of buildings at its east end.

On today's aerial imagery the railroad cuts diagonally across the desert, and a grid of homesites fills the land to the south. OpenStreetMap still marks a disused Forepaugh site beside the tracks, just east of the road crossing.

• Station site on the railroad (disused)
• Landing strip north of the tracks (mapped 1990)
• Hangar and barracks foundations (reported 1996, not confirmed)
• Mining and settlement debris

Record and legend

Claims to check

A glider school? The account comes from a reader who visited in 1996. He wrote that the Army Air Forces built a hangar, barracks, a landing strip, shops and a well at Forepaugh and used it briefly to train glider pilots; that the barracks burned in 1995; that at least one trainee died when a tow cable failed; and that the Town of Wickenburg owned the site. The 1990 USGS map confirms a landing strip, but we found no military record of the field, and the 1942 map doesn't show one. Treat the details as unconfirmed.

The name. We found no source for the name Forepaugh. Adam Forepaugh, the 19th-century circus owner, is the famous bearer of it, but nothing we read connects him to this place.

Historic maps

Forepaugh on USGS maps, 1942–1990

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.

19421:250,00019541:250,00019621:62,50019841:100,00019901:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Wickenburg is the nearest town, about half an hour east on US 60. From Phoenix, Grand Avenue becomes US 60 and runs through Wickenburg to the same turnoff. Both routes are paved to the end and finish at the railroad on Forepaugh Park Road.

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

Photos

Have photos of Forepaugh?

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Visitor reports

Been to Forepaugh?

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 Forepaugh

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

• Congress Junction15.6 mi NE · Yavapai
• Vulture Mine15.8 mi SE · Maricopa
• Vulture City16.2 mi SE · Maricopa
• Congress19.1 mi NE · Yavapai
• Congress Mine19.4 mi NE · Yavapai
• Allah20.6 mi E · Maricopa
• Stanton22.6 mi NE · Gila
• Stanton22.6 mi NE · Yavapai

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Forepaugh": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office dates), the railroad station and ore reduction, and a reader's account of a 1996 visit and the wartime airfield.
2. Wikipedia, "Forepaugh, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: GNIS coordinates and the railroad.
3. Wikipedia, "Arizona and California Railroad": the line's opening to Parker by June 1907, the July 1, 1910 start of service to Cadiz, and today's operator.
4. Jim Forte Postal History, Maricopa County post offices: Forepaugh, 1910–1916.
5. USGS historical topographic maps: Vicksburg 1942 (1:250,000, Restricted edition), Phoenix 1954, Aguila 1962 (1:62,500), Salome 1984 (1:100,000) and Forepaugh Peak 1990 (1:24,000): the station, the Forpaugh spelling, nearby wells and tanks, the landing strip.
6. Coordinates: USGS GNIS "Forepaugh" (feature ID 24419), as on Wikipedia. Land status: BLM Surface Management Agency data. Legal description: BLM PLSS (CadNSDI). Station, rail line and roads: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Status checked against the sources above on October 19, 2026.

Photo and map credits

• USGS Aguila sheet, 1962: Forepaugh beside the Santa Fe tracks at a road crossing, with Joanette Tank to the east: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Vicksburg 1942, 1:250,000; Phoenix 1954, 1:250,000; Aguila 1962, 1:62,500; Salome 1984, 1:100,000; Forepaugh Peak 1990, 1:24,000.