Salero

Overview

An old silver mine behind a ranch gate

Salero sits at about 4,600 feet in rolling country at the south end of the Santa Rita Mountains, seven miles northwest of Patagonia. The name is Spanish for salt cellar. Its mine is one of the oldest in southern Arizona. The USGS recorded that missionaries from Tumacácori worked it from 1828 to 1830 and Mexican miners after them, and local tradition reaches back further still.

Americans arrived after the Gadsden Purchase. About 1858 the Salero Mining Co. of Cincinnati took over, running the mine from Tubac with a manager named Wrightson, the engineer Horace Grosvenor, a superintendent named Gilbert, the mineralogist Hopkins and the geologist Raphael Pumpelly, according to the USGS. Apaches killed all of them but Pumpelly, and the company quit in 1865. Mount Wrightson and Mount Hopkins, the two tallest peaks in the Santa Ritas, carry the names of two of the dead, and the nearby Grosvenor Hills carry a third.

George Clark re-staked the claim in the early 1870s, and the camp that grew around it had a post office from 1884 to 1890. The Salero Mines Co. bought the mine about 1900, and when USGS geologists visited it had new machinery, a 400-foot shaft and 20 men. The buildings outlived the mining because a ranch moved into them. Today they stand on the Salero Ranch, a gated private ranch community, and the townsite is closed to the public.

Timeline

Three centuries of claims

1. TraditionSpanish missionaries are said to have mined silver here and named the mine. See Legend and record below.
2. 1828–1830According to the USGS, missionaries from Tumacácori work the mine. Mexican miners follow.
3. 1856–1858The Wrightson brothers buy the mine. It soon passes to the Salero Mining Co. of Cincinnati, run from Tubac.
4. 1860sApaches kill the company's leading men, among them the engineer Horace C. Grosvenor. Only the geologist Raphael Pumpelly survives.
5. 1865The company gives up the mine.
6. After 1865John E. McGee re-stakes the mine for an English company, which lets it go because it lies on the Baca Float No. 3 land grant.
7. Early 1870sGeorge Clark of Peterson & Clark re-stakes the claim. The partners ship about $10,000 worth of ore.
8. Aug 13, 1884The Salero post office opens.
9. Apr 17, 1890The post office closes.
10. 1897–1898John Wier of New York sinks a new shaft.
11. About 1900Peterson & Clark sell the mine for $15,000 to the Salero Mines Co., led by C. H. Ferry of New York and W. P. Blake of Tucson.
12. 1904–1908The company starts a new shaft, installs heavy machinery and deepens the shaft to 400 feet.
13. 1909USGS geologists photograph the camp and mine. At the time of their visit, 20 men are at work.
14. After 1920Wikipedia says mining stopped sometime after 1920. The Arizona Geological Survey says the mine was still producing in 1971.
15. LaterThe surviving buildings are used as a ranch house, which saves them from ruin.
16. 2026The townsite lies on the gated Salero Ranch and stays closed to visitors.

Legend and record

The silver salt cellar

The legend. The story told about the name goes like this. The priests at Tumacácori were expecting a visit from the bishop of Sonora. For the feast they had a salt cellar made from silver dug at their mine, and the mine took its name from it. Variants credit Jesuits and date the work to the 1600s or 1700s.

The record. Arizona Highways calls the salt-cellar story undocumented and says the historical record makes Jesuit silver mining here unlikely. Older sources repeat it anyway. The USGS report of 1915 says the deposit was found by Jesuits in the 1600s, and a caption from the Arizona Geological Survey says the same. The earliest work the USGS gives a date for is 1828 to 1830, by the Tumacácori missionaries. We give the story as legend and the 1828 date as the earliest in the record.

Did the mine move? Wikipedia says George Clark moved it a few miles east in the 1870s. The USGS report tells one continuous history for one mine and uses relocated in the miner's sense, meaning he re-staked the old claim. We follow the USGS.

When it stopped. Wikipedia says the mine went quiet sometime after 1920. The Arizona Geological Survey says it was still producing lead, silver and copper in 1971. We couldn't find production figures to settle it.

What's left

Adobe rows on a private ranch

Salero is often called one of the best-preserved ghost towns in Arizona, and an undated listing says most of its buildings still stand. Photos taken in 2014 show long adobe buildings with wooden doors and windows, one of them believed to have held the 1880s post office, an assay office, the ruin of a small stone building and a larger adobe that is falling in. The Salero Ranch house stands just to the northwest. Steps have been taken to stabilize the adobes, and the townsite is kept closed to protect it from vandals.

Horace Grosvenor is buried in the ranch cemetery. Raphael Pumpelly, who found his body minutes after he was killed, was photographed at the grave in 1915.

On the historic maps below, the 1905 sheet shows roads meeting at the camp below Wise's Ranch. The 1922 sheet names Salero, with Wise's Ranch to the northwest, and the 1981 sheet marks the Salero Mine with a cluster of buildings just south of it.

• Adobe buildings (one believed to be the 1880s post office)
• Assay office
• Small stone building ruin
• Large adobe ruin
• Salero Mine shafts and dumps
• Ranch cemetery with Horace Grosvenor's grave
• Salero Ranch house

Historic maps

Salero on USGS maps, 1905–1996

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.

19051:125,00019221:62,50019581:62,50019811:24,00019961:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Salero is closed, so this route only shows where the public road ends. It runs from Patagonia on Blue Haven Road and Salero Canyon Road (FR 143) to the private, gated road into the townsite. From Tucson, drive to Patagonia first. The routed approach from Tucson ran through gated private roads on the ranch's west side, so we don't show it.

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

Photos

Salero in photos

The Salero (Darwin) mine and its hill, 1909Salero in 1909Adobe buildings at Salero, 2014The large adobe believed to have held the post officeOne of the old adobe buildingsA large adobe falling to ruinThe assay officeRuin of a small stone buildingThe Salero Ranch house, northwest of the townsiteRaphael Pumpelly at Horace Grosvenor's grave, 1915Grosvenor's grave in the ranch cemetery, about 1915

Visitor reports

Been to Salero?

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.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

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Nearby

Other sites near Salero

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

• Alto2.2 mi N · Santa Cruz
• Fort Buchanan10.4 mi NE · Santa Cruz
• Calabasas10.4 mi SW · Santa Cruz
• Tubac11.8 mi W · Santa Cruz
• Harshaw11.9 mi SE · Santa Cruz
• Kentucky Camp13.3 mi NE · Pima
• Mowry13.9 mi SE · Santa Cruz
• Greaterville14.2 mi NE · Pima

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Salero": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office dates) and the private ranch.
2. Wikipedia, "Salero, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: the salt-cellar story, the 1857 company, the peaks named for its men, George Clark, ranch use of the buildings, preservation, closure and signs, coordinates and elevation (GNIS 33966).
3. Frank C. Schrader, Mineral Deposits of the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains, Arizona, USGS Bulletin 582 (1915), pp. 17–22 and 193–197: the mine's owners from 1828 to about 1913, the Baca Float, shipments, shafts, machinery and workforce, stage service from Patagonia.
4. Arizona Highways archive, Sam Negri, "Nobody Stops at Alto Anymore" (undated): the salt-cellar story as undocumented, Jesuit mining as unlikely, Pumpelly and Grosvenor, running washes.
5. Arizona Geological Survey, "Miner, Salero Mine, Santa Cruz County, ca. 1908": the Jesuit claim and production in 1971.
6. Coldwell Banker listing, 37 Copper Canyon Rd, Salero Ranch (sold July 27, 2026): the ranch as a gated community with association-maintained gravel roads.
7. Desert Lavender, "Salero" (April 2007): the Salero Ranch gate and barricaded side roads.
8. Land status: BLM Surface Management Agency data, queried October 19, 2026: private land at the townsite and along the last two miles of the route.
9. Road surfaces, the private ranch road and gates: OpenStreetMap, October 2026.
10. Coordinates: Wikipedia, from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (feature ID 33966), checked against the Salero Mine on the 1981 USGS sheet. 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

• The Salero (Darwin) mine and its hill, 1909: USGS, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Salero in 1909: USGS, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Adobe buildings at Salero, 2014: The Old Pueblo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The large adobe believed to have held the post office: The Old Pueblo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• One of the old adobe buildings: The Old Pueblo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• A large adobe falling to ruin: The Old Pueblo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The assay office: The Old Pueblo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Ruin of a small stone building: The Old Pueblo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The Salero Ranch house, northwest of the townsite: The Old Pueblo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Raphael Pumpelly at Horace Grosvenor's grave, 1915: Raphael Pumpelly, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Grosvenor's grave in the ranch cemetery, about 1915: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Patagonia 1905, 1:125,000; Agus Caliente 1922, 1:62,500; Mount Wrightson 1958, 1:62,500; Patagonia 1981, 1:24,000; Patagonia 1996, 1:24,000.