White Hills

Overview

Six silver years

White Hills sits at the foot of a low range of pale granite hills on the east side of Detrital Valley, about 49 road miles northwest of Kingman. The hills take their name from that light-colored rock. In 1892 rich silver chloride ore turned up on their western flank, and within a few years White Hills was the largest mining camp in Mohave County, with about 1,500 people.

The camp grew fast. About 200 men arrived in the first three weeks, a post office opened that October, and the town spread out in an L about a mile long, with homes, a school, stores, laundries and twelve saloons. Denver investors bought up the claims and built a mill, then sold out to an English company that built a 40-stamp mill and piped water from springs 7 miles away. Water was always short. Production peaked in 1898.

After that the rich veins ran out. A flood wrecked the town, in 1899 by one account and 1909 by another. The big mines shut down between 1902 and 1907, depending on the source, and the post office closed in 1914. Small revivals followed, the last in the 1970s, but the camp never came back. A visitor in 2009 found no standing structures. Today a scattered modern community, also called White Hills, fills the valley to the west.

Timeline

Boom, flood and long quiet

1. 1887By an 1894 newspaper account, a Hualapai cowboy known as Jeff picks up a piece of silver chloride ore here while looking for paint pigment.
2. May 1892Jeff guides Henry Schaeffer to the spot. Schaeffer, John Barnett (or Burnett) and John Sullivan stake the first claims, among them the Horn Silver, Occident and Grand Army.
3. 1892About 200 men arrive within three weeks. They form the Indian Secret Mining District and pick White Hills as the camp's name.
4. Oct 20, 1892The post office opens.
5. 1893–1894Denver investors led by David Moffat consolidate the claims as the White Hills Mining Co. and start a 10-stamp mill.
6. 1895–1896An English company buys the property. Sources give 1895 and $1.5 million, or April 1896 and $1.75 million. It builds a 40-stamp mill and a 7-mile water pipeline.
7. 1898Production peaks, then the rich veins give out.
8. 1899 or 1909A flood wrecks the town. Sources give both years.
9. 1902–1907The big mines shut down. The Mohave Historical Society history says the owners closed everything by 1902, with short revivals in 1903 and around 1920; Ascarza dates the closing to 1907, after about 8 million ounces of silver.
10. Aug 15, 1914The post office closes.
11. Early 1930sFloyd R. Brown ships 732 tons of silver ore from the old mines.
12. 1970sConsolidated Mineral Inc. reworks the G.A.R. Mine with a new 370-foot shaft and headframe.
13. Jan 2009A visitor finds no standing structures, locked gates on side roads and a fenced pioneer cemetery.
14. 2020Construction starts on a 127-turbine wind farm in the area. The White Hills census-designated place counts 345 residents.

Two versions

Who found White Hills?

The usual story credits a Hualapai cowboy known as Jeff. The Hualapai and neighboring Paiute used iron and manganese oxides from these hills as face paint, and by an account published in 1894, Jeff picked up a piece of silver chloride ore in 1887 while looking for paint. A man in Mineral Park told him it was worthless iron ore. In the winter of 1891 Jeff found rich silver float near the same place while moving cattle. Soon after, Henry Schaeffer, a miner in the Gold Basin area, asked him about prospects and offered him $200 to show him the spot.

In May 1892 Schaeffer, John Barnett and John Sullivan staked the first claims. The three formed a partnership that left Jeff out. Arizona Daily Star historian William Ascarza calls the second partner John Burnett, and Wikipedia spells the judge's name Shaffer.

In July 1892 Schaeffer told everyone that no Indian had been involved, and that he had found the ore himself years before.

We give both versions because they are both on the record. The 1894 newspaper account and later histories side with Jeff. No source we found backs Schaeffer's claim.

What's left

Foundations, mines and a fenced cemetery

Very little of the camp survives. An undated listing names sparse remains, mining equipment and foundations. A cemetery researcher who visited in January 2009 found no standing structures. He did find a pioneer cemetery fenced with two strands of barbed wire, with rock-outlined graves and no readable headstones, and estimated it holds 60 to 70 graves. Records suggest there may have been up to three cemeteries. Side roads near the end of White Hills Road were gated and posted, and one led to an operating mine.

The hills east of the townsite hold about 27 miles of old tunnels, with workings from 50 to 500 feet deep. Stay out of them.

The historic maps below place the camp. The 1892 sheet shows no town here, only roads crossing the valley. The 1960 sheet marks "White Hills (Site)" at our map point, with the Bonanza, Hulda, Grand Army of the Republic, Blind Goddess, Prince Albert, Norma, Rip Van Winkle, Horn Silver and Occident mines packed into the hills just east and a grave to the southeast. The 1989 sheet prints the name under a mile to the southeast, among the mine workings, with a cemetery in between.

• Foundations
• Mining equipment
• Mine shafts and tunnels (dangerous)
• Fenced pioneer cemetery
• Possible second and third cemeteries

Historic maps

White Hills on USGS maps, 1892–1989

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.

18921:250,00019601:62,50019831:100,00019891:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Kingman is the closest city, about an hour away, and Las Vegas is about an hour and a half. Both routes follow US 93 to White Hills Road. A visitor in 2009 found White Hills Road paved. We haven't checked the last 0.7 mile on Temple Bar Back Road.

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

Photos

White Hills in photos

The White Hills mining camp, published in 1898Rosie's Den on US 93, near the White Hills Road turnoff, 2009

Visitor reports

Been to White Hills?

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 White Hills

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

• Cyclopic9.0 mi E · Mohave
• Murphyville25.0 mi SW · Mohave
• Chloride25.3 mi SE · Mohave
• Mineral Park28.5 mi SE · Mohave
• Mineral Park mine29.5 mi SE · Mohave
• Cerbat33.4 mi SE · Mohave
• Katherine35.9 mi S · Mohave
• Polhamus Landing38.9 mi S · Mohave

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "White Hills": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office dates).
2. Wikipedia, "White Hills, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation (GNIS), the 1894 company and 1895 sale, the 40-stamp mill and water pipeline, the 1898 peak, the 2020 census and the wind farm.
3. William Ascarza, "Mine Tales," Arizona Daily Star (April 2016): the hills' geology and pigments, Jeff and the first partners, owners and sale prices, 27 miles of tunnels, the 1907 closure, the 1909 flood, later mining.
4. American Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project, "White Hills, Arizona" (Kevin Hart, visit of January 24, 2009, with a history from the Mohave Historical Society): road, gates, remains, the cemetery, the 1894 account of Jeff, the first claims, the town's layout, post office date, the 1896 sale, $12 million in production, the 1899 flood.
5. Jacob Barlow, "White Hills, Arizona" (2017): August 5, 1899 as the flood date.
6. Land status: BLM Surface Management Agency map service, queried October 19, 2026 at the townsite point: BLM land. It is a map of administering agencies, not a survey of ownership.
7. Explore Kingman, "Day trip: Chloride" (Kingman Office of Tourism), checked October 2026: the Saturday gunfight show.
8. Mohave County Historical Society, "Arizona Route 66 Museum", as of October 2026: hours and address.
9. Townsite location checked against the 1960 USGS White Hills 1:62,500 sheet (see historic maps). Elevation cross-checked with a 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 White Hills mining camp, published in 1898: United States Department of the Interior, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Rosie's Den on US 93, near the White Hills Road turnoff, 2009: Николай Максимович, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
• "White Hills (Site)" on the 1960 USGS sheet, with the mines packed into the hills to the east: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Camp Mohave 1892, 1:250,000; White Hills 1960, 1:62,500; Boulder City 1983, 1:100,000; White Hills West 1989, 1:24,000.