Abandoned 
Overview
A silver camp with a joke for a name
Total Wreck sits in the eastern Empire Mountains, about seven miles from the old railroad stop at Pantano and some 40 miles southeast of Tucson. In 1879 Jerry Dillon, a cowboy on Walter Vail's Empire Ranch, pointed at a ragged ridge strewn with quartz boulders and called the whole hill a total wreck. The rock turned out to carry silver, and Vail named one of his three claims for the remark.
The Vail family took over the Total Wreck Mining Company in 1880 and built a 70-ton mill. A post office opened in 1881, and by 1882 a Los Angeles Times reporter found a tidy town on a grid, with stores, hotels, a brewery and five saloons. Estimates of the population run from 200 to 500. Edward Vail, who worked there as an assayer, later remembered it as an orderly camp where nobody was killed in a gunfight.
The silver price fell through the 1880s, and the Vails closed the mine in 1887. The post office lasted until 1890. Small operators worked the mine on and off for decades. In 1994 Arizona Highways found only a few stone walls in the brush, and the site is reached on rough tracks across State Trust land.
Timeline
Boom and bust in eight years
- John T. "Jerry" Dillon, a cowboy from New Mexico, goes to work for Walter Vail's Empire Ranch.
- Dillon, Vail and John Harvey find traces of silver in a ragged ridge in the eastern Empire Mountains. Vail files three claims and names one Total Wreck.
- The Vails take control of the Total Wreck Mining Company, with Walter's uncle Nathan Vail paying for most of the development.
- A 70-ton mill goes up. The post office opens on August 12.
- A Los Angeles Times reporter finds a neat village with streets laid out at right angles, five saloons, a brewery and about 35 houses.
- The camp counts 200 or 300 residents. Later historians put the peak as high as 500.
- Mines of the Empire district have produced about $5 million in silver, by Wikipedia's account.
- Silver has fallen from $1.14 an ounce in 1882 to 94 cents. The Vails close the mine, and the camp is nearly empty.
- The post office closes.
- USGS geologist F. C. Schrader photographs the mine and mill. Small-scale mining goes on for years, until 1929 by one account and into the 1940s by another.
- Vail descendants give the mines and townsite to the University of Arizona, which auctions the property two years later.
- Arizona Highways finds a few stone walls in thick brush, with the townsite on state land beside a small private parcel.
Stories and legends
How Total Wreck got its name
There are two versions. In the one Arizona Highways tells, Dillon was riding the Empire Ranch's eastern pasture in 1879 with Vail and his partner John Harvey when he pointed to a ridge pocked with granite and quartz and said the whole hill was a total wreck. Riding closer, the three noticed signs of silver. In the version a Los Angeles Times reporter heard in 1882, Dillon had searched the area all day without luck, and when a friend asked how it went, he answered that it was a total wreck. Sources also disagree on his middle initial, giving John T. or John L.
Dillon didn't keep much of the mine. He traded two-thirds of his interest for legal help when the claims were contested, and the Vails took control in 1880.
Legend says a man named E. B. Salsig survived a shootout here because the bullet lodged in a thick bundle of love letters in his vest pocket. He married the woman who wrote them.
We found no record that confirms the story, so treat it as a legend. Edward Vail's memory points the same way: several narrow escapes, but no one killed in a gunfight.
What's left
Walls, a mill foundation and many holes
When Arizona Highways visited in 1994, the buildings were down to a few stone walls in heavy mesquite, catclaw and yucca. The stamp-mill foundations stood beside the track about 6.2 miles from AZ 83, with the heart of the old town another 0.6 mile over the hill. A March 2026 guide lists scattered foundations, crumbling walls, mine shafts and tailings piles. An undated listing warns of the many holes in the ground, and the open shafts are dangerous.
Ownership is split. The Vail family's heirs gave the mines and townsite to the University of Arizona in 1985, and the university auctioned the property in 1987. In 1994 a private owner held 17 acres around the mine shaft, and the townsite itself was on state land. The BLM's current land map still shows State Trust land around a small private parcel at the mine.
The historic maps below show the camp. The 1904 sheet marks a cluster of buildings at the Total Wreck Mine, on the road through the hills toward Pantano. The 1958 and 1981 sheets show only the mine, a few structures and a 4WD track.
- Stone walls
- Stamp-mill foundations
- Mine shafts (dangerous)
- Tailings piles
Historic maps
Total Wreck on USGS maps, 1904–1981
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.
Map & directions
Getting there
Vail is the closest town. Our router leaves I-10 at exit 291 and finishes on unnamed dirt tracks through the Empire Mountains, which we haven't driven. Arizona Highways described a different approach from AZ 83 in 1994. Either way, plan on a high-clearance 4WD vehicle and gates.
Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.
- From Vail, take Colossal Cave Road and Wentworth Road (Historic US 80) south to I-10.1.9 mi
- Take I-10 east.11 mi
- Take exit 291 and turn right twice onto the old highway beside the freeway, heading west.1.9 mi
- Turn off onto unnamed dirt tracks heading south into the Empire Mountains: left, right, left, then right.3.8 mi
- At the end of that track turn right, then keep right at the fork and the next turn to the Total Wreck Mine.4.1 mi
- Take I-10 east from downtown Tucson.32.6 mi
- Take exit 291 and turn right twice onto the old highway beside the freeway, heading west.1.8 mi
- Follow the unnamed dirt tracks south into the Empire Mountains, as in the Vail route, to the Total Wreck Mine.7.9 mi
Road and safety notes
- The routed approach ends on about 8 miles of unnamed dirt tracks. OpenStreetMap shows tracks here in poor grades, some marked private or closed. Turn back at closed gates or posted signs.
- Arizona Highways' 1994 route: take AZ 83 south from I-10, turn left 0.8 mile past milepost 50, climb 2.5 miles to a saddle, take the less-traveled left fork, go right at the next fork, and continue through two gates (leave them as you find them). The mill foundations are 6.2 miles from the highway. It called the last five miles a road that carries a grudge.
- Most of the land is Arizona State Trust land. Arizona State Parks says hiking, sightseeing and photography there all need a State Land Department recreational permit. A July 2024 guide gives the price as $15 a year for one person or $20 for a family.
- Stay out of the mine shafts and away from their edges. Old workings can collapse.
- There's no water or shade to speak of. Go in the cooler months and carry plenty of water.
Photos
Total Wreck in photos
Visitor reports
Been to Total Wreck?
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.
Silver mining
More silver mining ghost towns
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Nearby
Other sites near Total Wreck
Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arizona index.
- Pantano7.2 mi N · Pima
- Rosemont Camp9.7 mi SW · Pima
- Helvetia11.8 mi W · Pima
- Greaterville13.0 mi SW · Pima
- Kentucky Camp13.6 mi SW · Pima
- Fort Buchanan17.8 mi S · Santa Cruz
- Tres Alamos19.0 mi NE · Cochise
- Continental22.6 mi W · Pima
Sources
Sources and credits
- ghosttowns.com, "Total Wreck": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office dates, the 70-ton mill).
- Wikipedia, "Total Wreck, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation (GNIS record for the Total Wreck Mine), Pantano, district production, the 1882 Los Angeles Times account, 1883 population, the Salsig legend.
- Sam Negri, "Back Road Adventure: Welcome to Total Wreck," Arizona Highways (1994): Dillon and the Vails, the naming, the peak population, silver prices and the 1887 closing, Edward Vail's memory, the 1985 gift and 1987 auction, land ownership, the remains and directions.
- Destination4x4, "Total Wreck Arizona" (March 5, 2026): what remains, the mill date, later mining into the 1940s.
- Boondockers Bible, "Camping on Arizona State Trust Lands" (updated July 19, 2024), and Arizona State Parks, "Trails on State Trust Land": the recreational permit, the activities it covers and its prices.
- Wikimedia Commons file descriptions: the 1909 USGS photos by F. C. Schrader, and the 1880s Buehman stereo views (New York Public Library).
- Land status: BLM Surface Management Agency map, October 2026 (State Trust land with a small private parcel at the mine).
- Road tags: 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
- The Total Wreck Mine, 1880s stereo view by Henry Buehman: Buehman, Henry, 1851-1912 -- Photographer, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- The mine and mill, looking west, 1909: USGS, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- Miners at the Total Wreck Mine, 1880s stereo view by Henry Buehman: Buehman, Henry, 1851-1912 -- Photographer, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- The mine and mill area, looking west, 1909: USGS, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- Waste dumps, mine buildings and a cabin on the ridge, looking west, 1909: USGS, 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 1904, 1:125,000; Empire Mountains 1958, 1:62,500; The Narrows 1981, 1:24,000.