Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of the Hassayampa River valley at Wagoner, with cottonwoods along the river and a pale wash joining from the northeast

Railroad and road town

Wagoner

A stopping place on the Hassayampa River, a mile and a half above the dam that failed in 1890. Its hotel burned in 1942, and the last buildings were bulldozed in 1997.

34°12′49″N 112°32′09″W · 3,383 ft

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain). See the photographs in the gallery below.

Private land

The townsite is private ranch land. A landowner bulldozed the remaining buildings in 1997. The newest report, from the Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project in 2012, describes little more than a water tower, a windmill and an old gasoline tank. Wagoner Road runs past the site; stay on the road, and ask permission before looking for the cemetery.

Overview

A stop on the river road

Wagoner at a road junction on the Hassayampa, with the broken Walnut Grove Dam below it, USGS Congress sheet, 1903
Wagoner at a road junction on the Hassayampa, with the broken Walnut Grove Dam below it, USGS Congress sheet, 1903 · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain

Wagoner sits on the Hassayampa River where Blind Indian Creek comes in from the east, in ranch country about 23 miles south of Prescott as the crow flies. The first homesteads here date to 1864. The town took its name from Jaye Edward Wagoner, known as Ed, who is credited with founding it. A post office opened in 1893, and by one account his wife Minerva served as postmaster.

Wagoner lay on the main route between Phoenix and Prescott. At its height it had a two-story hotel with ten rooms, a dance hall, a barn with stalls for stagecoach horses and a general store with a hand-pumped gasoline tank. Phoenix families brought sick children up for the summer to escape the heat. Once the railroad reached Prescott they went to cooler places instead.

In February 1890 the Walnut Grove Dam, about a mile and a half downriver, gave way and sent a flood down the Hassayampa toward Wickenburg. The hotel burned in October 1942 and the dance hall in 1948. In 1997 the landowner bulldozed what was left into a pit. Today the site is private ranch land, and the main thing to see is the river valley itself, from Wagoner Road.

Some accounts, including Wikipedia, say the town was founded on mining in the "early 1800s". That's hard to square with the record: gold wasn't found on the Hassayampa's tributaries until 1863, and the earliest homestead date we found is 1864.

Timeline

Homesteads, a hotel and two fires

  1. Gold turns up on tributaries of the Hassayampa River, and prospectors pour into central Arizona.
  2. The first homesteads go up near the future townsite.
  3. The Walnut Grove Water Storage Company builds a dam across the Hassayampa about 1.4 miles below the townsite.
  4. Shortly after midnight the Walnut Grove Dam fails. Estimates of the dead downstream run from about 100 to 150.
  5. A post office opens. The town is named for Jaye Edward "Ed" Wagoner, who founded it.
  6. Louis Wagoner dies in a mine accident. His body is shipped to San Francisco.
  7. Jack Minor is charged with murdering William Chautran near Wagoner.
  8. After a double killing at Tussock Springs, officials and reporters gather at Wagoner. The town has no telephone, so word goes out through Kirkland.
  9. The two-story hotel burns.
  10. Fire destroys the dance hall.
  11. The landowner bulldozes what is left of the town into a pit.
  12. Researchers place a marker for William Andrew Woodward, a ranch hand who died in 1925 and was buried near Wagoner.

February 1890

The Walnut Grove Dam

The dam and its full reservoir, before the 1890 failure
The dam and its full reservoir, before the 1890 failure · Photo: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
The breached dam after the flood, 1890
The breached dam after the flood, 1890 · Photo: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

The Walnut Grove Dam stood on the Hassayampa about 1.4 miles below Wagoner. Wells and DeWitt Bates, who held placer claims downriver, wanted water for hydraulic gold mining, and their company built the dam between 1886 and 1888 for about $300,000. The project was badly run. The first designer was fired, an assistant engineer quit over the contractors' shoddy work, and the spillway was too small.

Heavy rain began on February 16, 1890. By the 21st water was scouring the dam, and the superintendent sent a rider, Dan Burke, to warn the camps downriver. Burke stopped to drink and never delivered the warning. A second rider, William Akard, was caught by the flood. Shortly after midnight on February 22 the dam gave way, and about four billion gallons of water rushed down the canyon toward Wickenburg. The true toll will never be known. Estimates run from about 100 to 150 dead.

The dam's chief engineer from 1887 was a man named Luther Wagoner. We found nothing that links him to the town or its founder.

According to the Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project, workers from the dam are among those buried in the Wagoner cemetery, and an attempt to rebuild the dam in the late 1920s or early 1930s failed. The photos above show the dam before and after the flood.

What's left

A clearing, a tank and a cemetery

Not much. The Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project reported in 2012 that the landowner had bulldozed the last of the town into a hole in 1997. It left a water tower, a windmill and the store's 500-gallon gasoline tank. A 1998 visit by azghosttowns.com found a bare clearing where the store had stood. An undated listing names one small building and current mining operations in the area.

The cemetery lies about a mile east or southeast of the townsite, by the project's account. It may hold up to 20 graves, all but two unmarked, and prospecting has torn up part of the ground. The one remaining headstone is for James Clark Hunt, a veteran. An unmarked grave north of it is believed to be Ed Wagoner's, and a wooden cross behind the old store is thought to mark William Chautran's. Many of the graves are children's, from the summers when Phoenix families brought sick children up to Wagoner.

A local historian quoted by the project says Wagoner had the oldest Sinclair gas station franchise in Arizona. We found no record to back that up, so treat it as local lore.

The historic maps below fill in the picture. The 1887 sheet shows Walnut Grove upriver but nothing at Wagoner and no dam yet. The 1903 Congress sheet marks Wagoner at a road junction, with Walnut Grove to the north and the broken Walnut Grove Dam still labeled to the south. By 1947 a ranch and an airstrip sit upriver, and the 1969 sheet shows two small buildings and a ford across the river.

  • Water tower and windmill
  • 500-gallon gasoline tank
  • Cemetery, mostly unmarked
  • James Clark Hunt headstone
  • Woodward marker (2012)
USGS topographic map of Wagoner between the Hassayampa River and Blind Indian Creek
USGS The National Map, topo. Wagoner sits between the Hassayampa River and Blind Indian Creek, with Wagoner Road running past it.
Aerial view of Wagoner: cottonwoods along the river at left, a few buildings near the center and a pale wash at right
Aerial imagery, same area. Cottonwoods line the Hassayampa at left. A few present-day buildings sit near the center, beside the pale wash of Blind Indian Creek.

Historic maps

Wagoner on USGS maps, 1887–1981

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.

USGS topographic map around Wagoner, 1887
Prescott sheet, 1887, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Prescott is the closest city. From Prescott or Phoenix you reach Wagoner Road from AZ 89 near Kirkland Junction, about 12 miles northeast of Yarnell, and follow it southeast along the Hassayampa. Arizona Highways writes it up as a scenic drive. After a short unpaved start the road is paved as far as the TK Bar Ranch, and it turns to dirt well before the townsite.

USGS topographic map between Prescott and Wagoner with the route along AZ 89 and Wagoner Road 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 downtown Prescott39.2 miabout 1 h 48 min
  1. From downtown Prescott, take Montezuma Street (AZ 89) south. It bears right onto White Spar Road.2.9 mi
  2. Continue south on AZ 89, the Wickenburg-Prescott Highway, through Prescott National Forest.19.5 mi
  3. Near Kirkland Junction, turn left onto Wagoner Road. OpenStreetMap names a 3-mile stretch of it Walnut Grove Road.3.3 mi
  4. Continue southeast on Wagoner Road to the townsite. The pavement ends past the TK Bar Ranch.13.6 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Wagoner Road is paved for its first stretch, after a short unpaved start. The pavement ends past the TK Bar Ranch, a little beyond the 1924 bridge over the Hassayampa at about mile 8.4, and Arizona Highways recommends a high-clearance vehicle for the unpaved part.
  • The road crosses several washes. Don't drive it after heavy rain or with rain in the forecast. A 1998 report called it maintained dirt with rough and sandy spots.
  • The 1924 bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places and still has its wooden deck.
  • The townsite and the ranches along the road are private. Stay on the road and don't cross fences or gates.
  • There are no services. Fill up and carry water before you leave AZ 89, and tell someone where you're going, as Arizona Highways advises.

Photos

The Walnut Grove Dam in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Wagoner?

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 Wagoner

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

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Wagoner": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains) and the 1864 homestead date.
  2. Wikipedia, "Wagoner, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation (GNIS 35806), the hotel and dance hall fires, the 1893 post office (citing Barnes, Arizona Place Names), summer visits by Phoenix families.
  3. Wikipedia, "Walnut Grove Dam", retrieved October 2026: the dam's location, construction, cost and failure, the death toll, Luther Wagoner.
  4. Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project, "Wagoner" (revised November 2012): founder and postmaster, buildings, October 1942 fire, 1997 bulldozing, what remains, the cemetery, local events, the Sinclair claim.
  5. azghosttowns.com, "Wagoner" (last visit July 1998): private property, the cleared store site, road condition.
  6. Noah Austin, "Wagoner Road", Arizona Highways, November 2025: where the road starts, pavement and dirt, the brand boulders, the Bradshaw view, the 1924 bridge and its plaque, the TK Bar and Z Triangle ranches, the Walnut Grove Dam's location, the 22.3-mile length and the turnaround at Hozoni Ranch Road, vehicle, weather and safety advice, AZ 511.
  7. Township and range: BLM PLSS survey grid. Land status: USGS Protected Areas Database (no public land at the townsite). USGS historical topographic maps, 1887–1981.
  8. Road surfaces: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Routes and day-trip drive times: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Status checked against the sources above on October 19, 2026.

Photo and map credits

Record6 of 10
  • Coordinates (GNIS)
  • Post office opening
  • Fire and clearance dates
  • Cemetery recorded (2012)
  • Walnut Grove Dam history
  • Historic maps, 1887–1981
  • Post office closing date
  • Population
  • Access today
  • Photos of the townsite
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.