Oatman is not just about burros. A former ghost town revived by a group of free-spirited artists and became quite the attraction. Like many other towns, Oatman has its roots in mining and was a gold rush boomtown at the beginning of the twentieth century.
As a result of gold price drop, the mines shut down in the forties, and Route 66 bypassed in the 50s. In the 60’s Oatman was a ghost town.
Followings its revival, it now has shops and staged shootouts, burros and hordes of tourists nostalgically seeking all that is gone; Route 66, gold mines, and the wild west.
If it sounds like it should be a tourist trap. Well, it might be, but we loved it. It may also hold the secret to deterring flies, but you will need to read on to find out about that.
The town is named after Olive Oatman, a mormon girl, who along with her family, was enroute to Fort Yuma in a covered wagon. The wagon was attacked by Native Americans, Olive and her sister were taken captive while the rest of the family killed. A brother, left for dead survived and searched for his sisters for years.
There are many versions to the story, but most say that the girls were held as slaves and later on traded to another tribe where they were treated better, and perhaps adopted. Sadly, her sister, Mary Ann, died in captivity and Olive was released in 1856 after 5 years. Eventually, she was reunited with her brother, married, and died in Texas in 1903 at the age of 65.
Olive never set foot in Oatman. A miner staking a claim, named it in her honour.
But her picture and books about her are everywhere. Part of the town lore to attract tourists.
We wandered along Main Street which is also Route 66. Many of the original buildings burnt down in the great fire of 1921, but some were rebuilt.
There are lage artifact nonchalantly stren around town,
and many odd shops.
We visited a mine shaft carved into the mountain right off the main street.
It was dark
and musty.
I wouldn’t want to work here.
Following our visit to the mine, we visited the local jail cell.
Lots of coffins
and skulls laying around.
The town is very proud of its movie past
and tourists love seeing the building depicted in those movies.
Entering one of the stores, we notice ziplock bags full of water and some shiny pennies in them.
We had to ask.
The reply was surprising. Apparently, flies will not enter this opening because of the way their many eyes perceive light refraction. Obviously, we’ll have to try it this summer. The pennies are in there to keep the water clean.
We were ready to continue on our way to Kingman, but the only way out of town was impassable.
A small crowd of people stood in front of the stopped cars and we went to see what was going on.
Apparently, there was a gunfight in progress. As a result, traffic cannot go through either way. Luckily we got there just before it ended, or we would have had to wait for a very long time.
Finally, the gunman was leaving and we could see a dead body left on the ground. We’ll never know if it was the good guy or the bad guy that died that day.
Farewell Oatman. It was kind of fun!
That does look like a fun place. Thanks for taking me there. I had read about Olive Oatman before. She had a very interesting life.
Yeah, I remembered reading about her too!
That was a fun story. I hope someone removed the body!
By the time we drove through the body was gone. They probably put him in one of the coffins that we saw 🙂
Ok, I have to ask the obvious question – that gunfight and dead body are fake, right? Cuz people seem pretty non chalant about it? But just making sure!
Oatman sounds like a very interesting town – I’m reading your post with my morning oatmeal! – love all the little shops and history. That buggy for $1,700 seems like a steal!
Ha! Very good question. I don’t know if it was real or not 🙂
Looks like a fun place to visit. Ghost towns have a story to tell and this one told a long story. Happy Sunday. Allan
It was fun! I love finding out about ghost towns and the stories they had.
Outman sounds like one of those places that if you don’t see it you’ll regret it, but you may not ever got back. We haven’t been there yet, but one day we will when we finally finish Route 66. Thanks for a great overview!
I think you are right. We will probably not go back this way, but so glad we came through Oatman!
We enjoyed our visit to Oatman and had fun exploring its nooks and crannies. Of course, the burros remain the main attraction. Fun stop!
It’s a fun place! You are right, the burros were the funnest part.
The thing with the pennies, water, and flies is interesting.
One of the guys in my writing group writes short stories. He has a good one about a staged robbery (reminded me of the staged gunfight) while people are getting a ride in a stagecoach in a town like Outman. The customers thought this was all part of the act and turned over their wallets only to later find out it was an actual robbery.
We’ll see if the water works, but I have my doubts. The premise of the story is genius!
Looks like a fun place to explore. Or make movies. 😄 Interesting about the water bags. How fascinating. Olive Oatman’s life story is super interesting too. Thanks for sharing.
It’s been a half a century since I was there. Then it was just a ghost town, not an industry. I still would love to go back there.
I love this! I’ve posted stories about ghost towns that have been preserved..one of the coolest is Tombstone, site of the OK Corral! Thanks for giving us so much colorful history and great photos!
I love ghost towns. The ones that are still ghostsy are my favourites, but some of the ones that were revived can be pretty cool too!
Such an interesting story!
We thought so too! Thanks for stopping by.
I love tourists traps. What fun!
The neighborhood, Cabbagetown, I used to live in in Atlanta, GA 7sed to have a festival every year honoring a famous fiddle player, Fiddlin’John Carsons, that used to in the neighborhood. Part of the festival was a gun fight! Right there in the shadow of looming downtown buildings. It was a bit bizarre.
Yeah, som e tourist traps can be pretty amazing. Unfortunately, gunfights in the middle of big cities are not an unusual sight anymore, but I see where you’re coming from 🙂
What a truly quirky town!! Looks like a lot of fun. I laughed at the extravagant signs ‘Mine, ‘Jail’. They spared no expense!! Maggie
They really went all out with their signage 🙂
This town sounds like it’s stuck in the past …in a good way. How fun. I wouldn’t want to work in a mine either. That’s a hard pass for me. I’ll have to try the penny (or rather any coin besides the penny since we don’t have pennies anymore) too to see if it actually works against the flies. Take care. Linda
We’ve got lots of pennies to spare! Next time you are in the area I can spare some.
Interesting town and history. Ghost towns are so fun to explore. I’ll have to try that with the pennies and water.
Let me know if it works for you!
What a great post! I loved it. You obviously enjoyed this town. I enjoyed reading about it. Cheers, Muriel
Thanks, Muriel! Glad that you could follow along!
Very interesting. I’d love to know more about Olive Oatman.
There are a few books about her and a Wikipedia page. Also much controversy…
Thank you. I’ll go to Wiki first.
Thanks for telling some of the intriguing story of Olive Oatman, I’ve seen her picture often but never knew her story. I also Goggled her name and found out more.
Oops I mean Googled.
Yeah, it is such an interesting story!
It’s an interesting post, it does remind me of a tourist trap, but if you look beyond it you can still see the living conditions of yesteryear. Without this tourist interest, there would soon be nothing left of these ancient relics.
Very good point!
That’s the second time in a week I’ve heard of pennies in a bag of water. Will have to give it a try. And visit Oatman of course. I love old
Mining towns
Let me know if it works for you! I will try it too and report back
I love these tourist traps. I grew up in a tiny town 50 miles from Wall Drug and a few miles from the 1880’s town. We had our own–Pioneer Auto Museum–all still in business. Have you avoided these attractions in S.D.?
We did stop at Wall Drug and I loved the story and all of the signs leading up to it. It’s America in all its grandeur, kitch and earnestness. Oh, and capitalism 🙂 We haven’t seen the pioneer auto museum, but it sounds like a place we would enjoy. So much to see!
And the 1880’s town..between Wall Drug and Murdo where the Pioneer Auto Museum is. Elvis’s car is there and I believe the Dukes of Hazzard’s car… among many many more. I think the little pump-action horse I’ve pictured myself on in my blog is also there. It was in the basement of our house across from the museum that blew away in a tornado. It was about to be filled in so people in town went and grabbed stuff before it was buries. We were all far away… so I am immortalized with Elvis even if the museum owner doesn’t know it!!!
Oh, wow! Kind of terrifying to live where houses are blown away at mother nature’s whim, but at least you got a horse out of it!
No I lost a horse from it.. Or perhaps my folks had given it away years before and the owner of Pioneer Auto had bought it. I do know it was the only one in town so it has to have been mine–and my sister’s before me.
Oh, no! I lost many childhood treasures…
Quite a testament to the glory of the old west! Interesting story about Olive, and funny that we both blogged about burros recently. 😄
Haha, I saw that and thought the same thing!