Mineral Park

Overview

A county seat at the edge of a copper pit

Mineral Park was laid out in 1871 in a juniper basin in the Cerbat Mountains, at the foot of Ithaca Peak and about 18 road miles northwest of Kingman. Silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc came out of the surrounding mines, and the camp grew to almost 700 people, the largest town in Mohave County. It had assay offices, smelters, hotels, saloons, two stagecoach stations and, from 1882, a weekly newspaper, the Mohave County Miner.

Mineral Park took the county seat from Cerbat, its neighbor to the south. Wikipedia and Legends of America date the move to 1873, while Wikipedia's own article on Cerbat gives 1877. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was completed about 20 miles to the south in 1883, and the railroad town of Kingman grew fast. In the 1887 county seat election Kingman took 271 votes, Hackberry 132 and Mineral Park 93. Legends of America tells how Mineral Park officials refused to hand over the county records and Kingman residents came and took them. The newspaper moved to Kingman, silver prices fell and the mines slowed. The post office closed for good in 1912.

Large-scale mining returned in 1963, when Duval Corporation opened an open-pit copper mine beside the old townsite. The town itself was never rebuilt. The mine has changed hands several times, closed in a 2014 bankruptcy and reopened under new owners, who rebuilt its mill. In May 2026 Wheaton Precious Metals reported the refurbished concentrator ramping up to commercial production. Mineral Park's cemetery and last ruins lie inside the mine property.

Timeline

From turquoise to copper

1. c. AD 600Hohokam stone hammers found at the turquoise deposits show the site was worked long before Europeans arrived. Navajo hammers have been found too.
2. 1871Mining begins in the district, and Mineral Park is laid out in a juniper basin at the foot of Ithaca Peak.
3. Dec 1872The post office opens. Sources give December 23 or December 31.
4. 1873 or 1877Mineral Park takes the Mohave County seat from Cerbat. Wikipedia and Legends of America give 1873; the Wikipedia article on Cerbat gives 1877.
5. 1882The weekly Mohave County Miner starts publishing in town.
6. 1883The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad is completed about 20 miles to the south.
7. 1887Kingman wins the county seat election with 271 votes to Hackberry's 132 and Mineral Park's 93. The newspaper moves to Kingman.
8. Late 1880s–1900sA series of companies mine turquoise at the site.
9. 1893–1894The post office closes on April 30, 1893, and reopens in September 1894.
10. Jun 15, 1912The post office closes for good.
11. 1963Duval Corporation opens an open-pit copper mine beside the old townsite. One account gives 1964.
12. 1970sMembers of the Colbaugh family begin mining turquoise here.
13. 1986–2003Cyprus Amax buys the mine in 1986 and sells it in 1997. Mercator Minerals takes over in 2003.
14. Dec 2014The mine closes as its owner files for bankruptcy.
15. Jan 2015Origin Mining, a Waterton subsidiary, buys the property.
16. 2026The rebuilt concentrator ramps up. Copper concentrate is being sold, and silver deliveries to Wheaton Precious Metals begin in January.

Kingman turquoise

Turquoise came first

People dug turquoise here long before the silver rush. Archaeologists have found stone hammers at the deposits, Hohokam ones dated to about AD 600 and Navajo ones as well. From the late 1880s into the early 1900s a string of companies worked the turquoise, among them the Aztec Turquoise Co., the Arizona Turquoise Co. and the Mineral Park Turquoise Co. Members of the Colbaugh family have mined it since the 1970s, and the stone is sold as Kingman turquoise.

Legends of America says the open pit has now removed Ithaca Peak entirely. The 1982 USGS sheet in the historic maps below still shows the peak, with the pit beside it.

What's left

A townsite inside the fence

Whatever survives of Mineral Park is on private mine property. Wikipedia says that as of 2015 a cemetery, a few ruins and foundations remained. Legends of America mentions headframes, mill foundations and cabins among the tailings, and calls the cemetery one of the best preserved in Arizona. Neither says when the ground was last checked, and the mine has since restarted, so we can't confirm what still stands.

On today's USGS topo the GNIS point for the town sits on a slope just north of the mill's buildings and ponds. OpenStreetMap places the cemetery a little over half a mile to the southeast.

The historic maps below show the town's rise and disappearance. On the 1886 sheet Mineral Park is a crossroads, with roads north to Chloride and south toward Cerbat, Stockton and New London. The 1942 sheet doesn't mark the town at all. It is back on the 1947 sheet beside Turquoise Mountain, and by 1982 the open pit sits just southeast of the townsite.

• Cemetery
• A few ruins and foundations
• Headframes and mill foundations (Legends of America)
• Cabins among the tailings (Legends of America)

Historic maps

Mineral Park on USGS maps, 1886–1982

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.

18861:250,00019421:250,00019471:250,00019821:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Kingman is the closest city. Both routes leave US 93 at the Mineral Park historical marker and follow Mineral Park Road toward the mine. The townsite is inside the fenced mine property, so the drive ends at the boundary unless the operator has given you permission.

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

Photos

Mineral Park in photos

The Mineral Park mine from the air, 2008Turquoise from the Ithaca Peak mine near Kingman

Visitor reports

Been to Mineral Park?

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 Mineral Park

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

• Mineral Park mine1.0 mi SE · Mohave
• Chloride3.4 mi NW · Mohave
• Cerbat5.1 mi S · Mohave
• Hackberry24.0 mi E · Mohave
• Katherine24.4 mi SW · Mohave
• Goldroad26.1 mi SW · Mohave
• Polhamus Landing26.7 mi SW · Mohave
• Oatman27.4 mi SW · Mohave

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Mineral Park": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office dates, founding, population).
2. Wikipedia, "Mineral Park mine", which also covers the townsite, retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation (GNIS), post office dates, county seat, 2015 remains, turquoise history, mine owners and the 2014 closure.
3. Wikipedia, "Cerbat, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: the 1877 date for the county seat move.
4. Legends of America, "Ghosts of the Cerbat Mountain Range", updated October 2026: founding, businesses, newspaper, railroad, the 1887 vote and the county records, cemetery access, Ithaca Peak, the milepost of the turnoff.
5. Destination4x4, "Mineral Park Arizona" (2021): townsite covered by mining, cemetery and buildings on private property.
6. Sharlot Hall Museum, "Chloride and Its Corpus are Both Colorful and Historic" (2003): 1964 as the start of Duval's copper production.
7. Wheaton Precious Metals, first-quarter 2026 report (May 7, 2026): concentrator commissioning and ramp-up, concentrate sales, silver deliveries since January 2026.
8. Wheaton Precious Metals, "Mineral Park" project page, checked October 2026: operator Origin Mining, a subsidiary of Waterton Copper.
9. Cemetery location: OpenStreetMap. Elevation cross-checked with a 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

• The Mineral Park mine from the air, 2008: Doc Searls from Santa Barbara, USA, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Turquoise from the Ithaca Peak mine near Kingman: James St. John, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
• Mineral Park on the 1886 USGS sheet, with roads to Chloride and Cerbat: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• Hero aerial, area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Camp Mohave 1886, 1:250,000; Camp Mohave 1942, 1:250,000; Kingman 1947, 1:250,000; Davis Dam 1982, 1:100,000.