Abandoned Towns
Roofless walls of dark volcanic stone at the Hotel Rockland ruins in Sasco, under a blue sky

Copper mining town

Sasco

A company town built around a copper smelter in 1907 and empty by the early 1920s. The stone walls of its hotel, a concrete jail and the smelter foundations still stand.

32°32′06″N 111°26′22″W · 1,837 ft

Photo: $1LENCE D00600D, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Ruins · 2026 report

The ruins sit just off Sasco Road. A 2003 account says the townsite is private property and suggests asking the owner's permission. We couldn't confirm who owns it now or whether visitors are welcome. A May 2026 guide says the Sasco Cemetery, at La Osa Ranch, is privately owned and generally closed to the public. Respect fences and posted signs.

Overview

A smelter town with a short life

The smelter in 1910
The smelter in 1910 · Photo: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
A Sasco street before 1921
A Sasco street before 1921 · Photo: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Sasco sits on a low rise west of the Santa Cruz River, about 35 miles northwest of Tucson. The name is an acronym for the Southern Arizona Smelting Company. It was the smelter town for the Silver Bell copper mines, part of Frank M. Murphy's plan to run the mines, the railroad and the smelter as one big operation under the Development Company of America.

The company was organized in August 1906, and the smelter was finished in February 1908. A town of 500 to 600 people grew around it, with company houses, stores, saloons, a concrete jail and the stone Hotel Rockland. A power house sent electricity to Sasco, the camp of Silverbell and the mine. Mead Goodloe, who oversaw the smelter's construction, built a large brick house that became the center of town. Trains of the Arizona Southern Railroad ran through Sasco between the mine and the Southern Pacific at Red Rock.

The boom was brief. Murphy's company went bankrupt and the smelter closed for the first time between 1909 and 1911. Asarco reopened it in 1915, then the 1918 flu hit the town hard. The post office closed in 1919, Asarco shut the Silver Bell Mine in 1921, and in 1933 most of the buildings and the railroad were taken away. The wood and steel went for scrap, and what's left is stone and concrete.

Timeline

From smelter to scrap

The power house, with the town behind it, before 1921
The power house, with the town behind it, before 1921 · Photo: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
The Hotel Rockland before 1921
The Hotel Rockland before 1921 · Photo: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  1. Frank M. Murphy of the Development Company of America and his engineer, William Field Staunton, buy the Union and Mammoth mines in the Silver Bell Mountains and form the Imperial Copper Company.
  2. The company's Arizona Southern Railroad links the Silver Bell Mine to the Southern Pacific at Red Rock.
  3. The Southern Arizona Smelting Company is organized. Its initials give the town its name.
  4. The Sasco post office opens.
  5. Money troubles delay the smelter until summer 1907. It's finished in February 1908, and the town grows around it.
  6. The smelter has treated about 245,000 tons of ore. At its peak it employs about 175 men.
  7. The Development Company of America goes bankrupt and the smelter shuts down. Sources date the closing anywhere in this range.
  8. Asarco takes over the Silver Bell Mine and reopens the Sasco smelter.
  9. The Spanish flu sweeps through town. Most of the plain concrete headstones in the cemetery mark its victims.
  10. The post office closes.
  11. Asarco closes the Silver Bell Mine and Sasco is soon abandoned.
  12. Most of the buildings are torn down and the railroad is pulled up.
  13. A travel guide describes paintball litter, shotgun shells and graffiti at the ruins.

What's left

Stone, concrete and slag

Smelter ruins, 2014
Smelter ruins, 2014 · Photo: $1LENCE D00600D, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
SASCO cast in a smelter foundation, 2014
SASCO cast in a smelter foundation, 2014 · Photo: $1LENCE D00600D, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The smelter ruins are the main sight. A 1995 Tucson Weekly visit describes a hexagonal concrete tower about 20 feet high, the base of the steel smokestack, with walls four feet thick. Northwest of it, a row of thick concrete walls marks the ore station where trains unloaded. One foundation still has the name SASCO cast into it. Stamp mill foundations lie just east of the smelter, and elevated railroad platforms sit to the north.

East of the main townsite stand the roofless walls of the Hotel Rockland, built of dark volcanic stone. The small concrete jail is still standing too. Brick rubble and a fountain basin mark Mead Goodloe's house. The cemetery is northeast of the townsite next to the La Osa Ranch house, on private land.

The accounts we found, old and new, all mention graffiti, shotgun shells or paintball splatter.

The historic maps below trace the town's end. The 1934 sheet still shows Sasco as a stop on the Silver Bell railroad, with the Sasco Mine and Gobea to the northwest. By 1947 the townsite is labeled Old Sasco Ruins, with La Osa Ranch, a cemetery and a Sasco school to the north. The 1981 sheet shows only Sasco Ruins and the old railroad grade.

  • Smelter and smokestack foundations
  • Ore station walls
  • Stamp mill foundations
  • Railroad platforms
  • Hotel Rockland walls
  • Concrete jail
  • Goodloe house ruins and fountain
  • Cemetery at La Osa Ranch (private)
USGS topographic map of the Sasco area with East Sasco Road crossing it diagonally
USGS The National Map, topo. East Sasco Road runs diagonally past the low hills where the townsite stood.
Aerial view of Sasco: a dark ridge of ruins and slag above a straight dirt road
Aerial imagery, same area. The dark ridge at upper left holds the smelter foundations; Sasco Road crosses the lower right.

Historic maps

Sasco on USGS maps, 1934–1996

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.

USGS topographic map around Sasco, 1934
Newman Peak sheet, 1934, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Marana is the closest town with services. Both routes leave I-10 at exit 226 by Red Rock and head west on Sasco Road, which is paved at first and then graded dirt. The routes were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us. They detour around the Sasco Road ford on the Santa Cruz River, which is why the times are so slow; see the road notes.

USGS topographic map between Marana, Red Rock and Sasco with both routes 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 old Marana, on Sandario Road21.7 miabout 1 h 31 min
  1. From Marana, take Moore Road and Sandario Road north to I-10.2.6 mi
  2. Head west on I-10 and take exit 226.9.6 mi
  3. Turn left on Red Rock Road, continue on Camino Correo, then turn left onto Sasco Road. It briefly becomes Aguirre Lane; turn right to stay on Sasco Road.3.1 mi
  4. Bear right on Coachway Road, then follow unnamed dirt tracks around the river crossing.3.6 mi
  5. Turn sharp right back onto Sasco Road, then follow dirt tracks to the townsite.2.7 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • OpenStreetMap tags Sasco Road as asphalt for the first few miles from I-10, then compacted dirt, with a ford where it crosses the Santa Cruz River. Our router avoids fords, so it sends you around on Coachway Road and unnamed tracks we haven't checked.
  • Off-road guides drive straight through on Sasco Road. azoffroad.net warns that the river may have water flowing across the road; don't cross if it's running.
  • azoffroad.net calls all the roads here dirt and recommends high clearance. Destination4x4 says the same. Avoid the area after heavy rain.
  • The land status is unconfirmed and the cemetery is private. Stay out of fenced areas and off posted land.
  • The site is used for paintball and target shooting. Watch for shooters and broken glass.
  • There are no services past I-10. Summer heat is severe; go between October and April and carry water.

Photos

Sasco in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Sasco?

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 Sasco

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

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Sasco": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office dates).
  2. Wikipedia, "Sasco, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: company history, 1906 organization, smelter dates and output, Asarco years, flu, 1933 demolition, coordinates and elevation (GNIS).
  3. Destination4x4, "Sasco, Arizona" (May 2026): population range, remains, private cemetery, vehicle advice, current condition.
  4. azoffroad.net, "Sasco": 1904 railroad, Hotel Rockland stone, stamp mill and platform locations, river crossing, dirt roads and high clearance.
  5. Tucson Weekly, Kevin Franklin, "Out There" (September 1995): smokestack and ore-station foundations, the 1902 founding date, the 1919 saloon shooting.
  6. Arizona Daily Wildcat, Andrew Salvati (November 2003): private property, remains, road advice.
  7. Road surfaces and the river ford: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked. Status checked against the sources above on October 19, 2026.

Photo and map credits