Abandoned Towns
Washington Camp in 1909: houses, corrals and a dirt road in Washington Gulch, with mill buildings at left and brushy hills behind

Silver mining town · Copper mining town

Washington Camp

The older of two twin mining camps in the southern Patagonia Mountains. It held the district's mill and more than 1,000 people around 1901, and a few residents remain.

31°22′55″N 110°41′28″W · ≈5,390 ft

Photo: USGS, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Private land

Duquesne Road (FR 61), a Forest Service road, runs through Washington Camp. What's left of the old camp is on private land, and Wikipedia says a few people still live here. The newest description we found, from April 2006, says the camp doesn't look like a ghost town, though old structures stand behind and near newer buildings. View the camp from the road and respect posted signs.

Overview

The mill camp of the Duquesne district

Mill buildings on Washington Gulch, 1909
Mill buildings on Washington Gulch, 1909 · Photo: USGS, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Washington Camp lies in Washington Gulch on the lower east slope of the Patagonia Mountains, about three miles north of the Mexican border. Its twin, Duquesne, is three-quarters of a mile down the road. Prospectors came in the 1860s, but Apache raids kept them from staying. Claims were patented in the early 1870s, and a post office opened in May 1880.

The Duquesne Mining & Reduction Co. of Pittsburgh began buying claims in the 1880s. It put its headquarters at Duquesne and its reduction plant at Washington, and in 1890 the post office moved to Duquesne. Copper brought the boom. C. R. Wilfley built a mill at the Pride of the West mine in 1899, and by about 1901 more than 1,000 people lived at Washington alone. Wilfley doubled the mill to 100 tons a day in 1902. The camp had the mill, bunkhouses, a general store and a school, and supplied the camps around it.

Work slowed after 1907 and came in bursts after that. Today Duquesne Road, a Forest Service road, runs through a small community of homes. Visitors in 2006 found old structures standing behind newer buildings, and Wikipedia describes what's left as private property belonging to the few remaining residents.

Timeline

Silver first, then copper

  1. Prospectors work the area, but Apache raids keep them from staying. The San Antonio ore body, at the south end of the camp, is found in 1862.
  2. The Empire and San Antonio claims are patented. A few settlers, Thomas Gardner among the first, live in the camp.
  3. Miners chase the surface silver. Deeper down the ore turns to copper and zinc sulfides, and most workings are dropped.
  4. Prospectors locate the Washington mine, a third of a mile southwest of camp. It is later renamed the Pride of the West.
  5. Washington Camp gets a post office.
  6. The Duquesne Mining & Reduction Co. of Pittsburgh starts buying claims. It adds the Bonanza mine in 1889.
  7. The post office moves to Duquesne, three-quarters of a mile away.
  8. Three or four carloads of ore a day leave the camp by way of Crittenden.
  9. C. R. Wilfley builds a 50-ton mill at the Pride of the West. He enlarges it to 100 tons in 1902 and runs it until December 1903.
  10. The camp peaks, with more than 1,000 people at Washington alone.
  11. The Duquesne company buys the Pride of the West. In 1907 the mine produces $95,661 and an aerial tram links the Bonanza mine to the mill.
  12. After the financial panic of 1907, the smelters at Washington and Duquesne stand idle.
  13. The Duquesne mines are reported shipping a carload of ore a day.
  14. The USGS map shows a cluster of buildings along Washington Gulch, with the Duquesne school to the southeast.

Washington and Duquesne

Two camps, one company

Washington and Duquesne side by side on the 1905 Nogales sheet
Washington and Duquesne side by side on the 1905 Nogales sheet · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain

Washington is the older camp. For decades miners called the whole district the Washington camp, and the 1915 USGS report calls it the Washington-Duquesne camp. The Duquesne company held 80 claims here, 42 of them patented, covering 1,600 acres. Washington had the reduction plant and the miners' bunkhouses. Duquesne had the company offices and the managers' homes. A school stood between the two.

Sources differ on the details. Legends of America and AZOffroad give each camp about 1,000 people. The USGS report counts more than 1,000 at Washington alone around 1901. One 2006 account, which lists a 1995 Forest Service mining history among its sources, puts the district's main production run at 1912 to 1918.

The 1915 USGS report also calls the property the Westinghouse mines. The 2006 account says George Westinghouse organized the company in 1889, and local stories have him living in a fine house at Duquesne. We found no primary record of either, so treat them as lore.

What's left

Old structures among newer homes

Kansas Mine ruins northwest of camp, 2014
Kansas Mine ruins northwest of camp, 2014 · Photo: The Old Pueblo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Visitors in 2006 wrote that Washington Camp didn't look like a ghost town, with a few old structures standing behind and beside newer buildings. Legends of America lists old mining buildings, shafts and tailings. An undated listing names numerous buildings. All of it is on private land. Duquesne, three-quarters of a mile south, has more ruins, reached by the rough FR 128 loop.

The historic maps below show the camp's shape. The 1905 sheet marks Washington and Duquesne side by side among dozens of mine symbols, with the Holland and Belmont mines on the slope to the west. The 1948 sheet shows a cluster of buildings in the gulch, and the 1996 sheet adds the names of the Kansas, Maine, New York and Pride mines on the hills around it.

  • A few old structures among homes (private)
  • Mine dumps and tailings
  • Shafts on the surrounding hills
  • Kansas Mine ruins, northwest of camp
  • Duquesne ruins, three-quarters of a mile south
Current USGS topographic map of Washington Camp with Forest Road 61 and Duquesne Wash
USGS The National Map, topo. FR 61 runs through Washington Camp; FR 128 branches off to the southeast toward Duquesne.
Aerial view of Washington Camp: a dirt road through wooded hills with a few roofed buildings
Aerial imagery, same area. Duquesne Road runs down the middle, past a handful of homes and outbuildings.

Historic maps

Washington Camp 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.

USGS topographic map around Washington Camp, 1905
Nogales sheet, 1905, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

There are two ways in. From Patagonia, Harshaw Road climbs past Harshaw and Mowry and meets Duquesne Road (FR 61) just before the camp. From Nogales, Duquesne Road leaves AZ 82 and crosses the Patagonia Mountains from the west. From Tucson, the routing takes I-19 south to exit 8 at Nogales and then follows the Nogales route, 82 miles in all.

USGS topographic map from Patagonia south to Washington Camp 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 downtown Patagonia17.2 miabout 42 min
  1. From downtown Patagonia, follow Naugle Avenue (AZ 82) and turn left on McKeown Avenue.0.4 mi
  2. McKeown Avenue becomes Harshaw Avenue on the way out of town.1.1 mi
  3. Continue on Harshaw Road (FR 58) up the Harshaw Creek valley.4.8 mi
  4. Keep right on Harshaw Road (FR 49). It passes Harshaw and Mowry and gets rougher as it goes south.10.4 mi
  5. Continue straight onto Duquesne Road (FR 61) into Washington Camp.0.3 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Both approaches end on dirt Forest Service roads. The Forest Service says they suit most vehicles but recommends high clearance, and warns they can be impassable after rain or snow. An undated listing rates the drive as 2WD.
  • From Patagonia, Harshaw Creek crosses Harshaw Road four times, and the crossings have been getting deeper since mine water began flowing in the creek (Patagonia Regional Times, February 2025).
  • Border wall construction is under way along the border south of here, around Lochiel and in the Patagonia Mountains. A Coronado National Forest order closes national forest strips up to 1,000 yards deep along the border from September 29, 2026 through January 20, 2029, and BLM has closed a 60-foot strip by the San Rafael State Natural Area until March 16, 2027. Entering a Forest Service strip without a permit is a Class B misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $5,000, up to six months in jail, or both. The closures don't reach the camp, but expect them and Border Patrol activity if you continue south on FR 61.
  • The camp is a residential area on private land. Don't park in driveways or walk onto lots, and respect No Trespassing signs.
  • There's no fuel or water at the camp. Fill up in Patagonia or Nogales, and expect limited cell service.

Photos

Washington Camp in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Washington Camp?

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 Washington Camp

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

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Washington Camp": fact sheet fields (roads, climate, best time, remains).
  2. Wikipedia, "Washington Camp, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: post office dates, private property and residents, distance to Duquesne.
  3. F. C. Schrader, "Mineral Deposits of the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains, Arizona," USGS Bulletin 582 (1915): location, elevation, claims, mine history, mill, population around 1901, production, and the 1909 photographs.
  4. Legends of America, "Patagonia Back Road Ghost Towns": supply-camp role, Apache raids, population, what remains.
  5. John and Bette Bosma, "Southwest Arizona Ghost Towns" (Green Valley Recreation Hiking Club, April 2006): the camp in 2006, the 1912–1918 production run.
  6. AZOffroad.net, "Washington Camp and Duquesne": the company's split between the two camps, Westinghouse stories, FR 128.
  7. Coronado National Forest, Harshaw Road scenic drive and Patagonia Mountains visitor guide (May 2025): road numbers and conditions, no water, restrooms or fees on the drive, the nearest water in Patagonia, fuel advice, limited cell service, the 45-mile scenic loop.
  8. Patagonia Regional Times, "Border wall passes Lochiel" (October 14, 2026): wall construction and area closures. Also "Hermosa Water Discharge Impacting Crossings" (February 2025).
  9. Coordinates: USGS Geographic Names Information System (feature 35906), checked against the 1948 and 1996 USGS Harshaw sheets. Wikipedia's coordinates sit about a mile east of the camp. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Status checked on October 19, 2026.
  10. Coronado National Forest, "Border Barrier Construction Closure", Order 03-05-00-26-011 (September 28, 2026): closure strips along the border, their widths, where Area 2 begins at Lochiel, and the dates, in effect until January 20, 2029.
  11. Coronado National Forest, "Drones / Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)": recreational use only, FAA rules, 400-foot ceiling, daylight and line of sight, no flights near wildlife, campgrounds, picnic areas, trailheads or visitor centers, none in wilderness.
  12. 36 CFR 261.9: the ban on removing or damaging historic and archaeological resources on national forest land.
  13. Gathering Grounds, official site: McKeown Avenue address, coffee, sandwiches and soups, as of October 2026.
  14. BLM Tucson Field Office: emergency closure of a strip 60 feet wide along the border by the San Rafael State Natural Area, effective September 16, 2026, to March 16, 2027.

Photo and map credits