Exploring the Abandoned Ghost Town of Swansea - Arizona
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- Опубликовано: 13 окт 2024
- Prospectors started working in the area as early as 1862. In 1886, silver-lead ore was discovered and mined until the silver ran out, leaving only “worthless copper”.
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“Gly”: Nice production guys! Swansea is where I spotted my very first Arizona Gila Monster. It’s also where I discovered (the hard way) Scorpion Weed. Three weeks of relentless itching! Worst rash I’ve ever had. High on the bluff overlooking the town are veins of Galena containing silver. Definitely a cool place to explore. 👍
The area it covers is massive. We didn’t see any Gila Monsters and fortunately didn’t come into contact with Scorpion Weed! It is a fantastic place to explore and camp. Very peaceful.
I live nearby in Bouse.... we have a great little Museum here with some artifacts and also some stuff from the army base that was here
love that soundtrack ....imagine if them buildings could talk .... great explore you guys ....next time lets get in that Monster Mine ...Oh Yeah !!!!
“Gly”: Frank and I tried Jeff. Together we explored every potential access point but only found shallow workings. Frank roped down the shaft seen in this video but didn’t encounter any drift levels, only water in the bottom. Your right, the workings down there are monstrous! But they’re deep, REALLY deep. I can only imagine the artifacts that are hiding down there. 👍
Just say the word Jeff and we’ll be there bringing our epic soundtracks with us!
Now that would be a video to watch Gly. Finding all those artefacts.
I like the old buildings what's left of them. Beautiful area there . Sky was so beautiful 😍
That sky was amazing and made such a dramatic backdrop for a great abbreviated explore! Love it when nature and explores come together like that! And, Steven's right, though he might've been joking. There was an auto dealer in Swansea. But not the fast food. Ha!
Thanks Joey, I did read about the car dealership too which we thought was really different for a mining town! Arizona never disappoints with incredible scenery!
Great vid guys. I love old car wrecks 🤙🏽🙌🏽✌🏽damn those vandals !
Thanks Bernardo! Glad you enjoyed this quick tour!
That is pretty cool area. The way i understand it the ore originally was shipped to Swansea, Wales for refining. Michelle (?) decided to come over here and build the works here. Then they shipped the ingots to Swansea for further processing. Shipping was a huge cost back in them days. Cheaper to ship a 200 pound ingot from one ton of ore, then to ship the ton. There was other elements in the ore that was often gathered with the copper. It still had gold and silver in it but not in the quantities to profitably extract on their own. However, by smelting the ore into an ingot they were able to gather these metals using the host metal (copper) as a collector of the precious metals. They would then use electric to refine the copper. The copper would "slightly" dissolve in the solution and be plated across to a pure copper sheet. The other metals would fall to the bottom of the tank where they were then collected and chemically purified. Did you know that the U.S. recovers a lot of their platinum group metals from the redution of copper ore? Don't remember the exact figure but it is well over 50%. And i believe that truck was a 1958 Chevy. Hope i didn't bore y'all. That same process is still being used today. Most of the sludge that is recovered from them tanks goes to Amarillo, TX of all places. Don't know if i was supposed to tell that.
Your expertise never bores us Richard! We are always extremely appreciative of any and all insights into what we have no idea about. Helps us learn and get an idea if and when we come across this stuff in the future.
Interesting video. Swansea, Wales was the world center of copper smelting and processing until the American mines and smelters opened up. Most of the ore came from Cornwall, however, and later other places - even America as mentioned elsewhere here. Wales had some copper - it was a major supplier in the Bronze Age - but not in Swansea. (My g-g-grandfather Robert Monger was the Master of the Copper Rolling Works there in the early 1800's and my g-grandfather Ivor worked as a clerk there before moving to New Jersey in the mid 1880's to work for Standard Oil. New Jersey was a major smelting and metal refining place in the 1880's, handling ore from as far away as Sudbury, Ontario. He left there about 1900 to work for George Westinghouse at the Ely Copper Mine in Copperfield Vermont and was in Utah by 1905 where he became a foreman in the Garfield smelter.) Anyway, Swansea, Wales declined because as also mentioned in another comment, it was cheaper to build refining and processing facilities nearer the new mines than to ship it all the way to Wales. I wouldn't doubt that many of the miners who worked in the Arizona mine came from Wales and Cornwall, though. Incidentally, I had a 1955 Chevy Fleetside (fiberglass box) back in the day. In-line 6, 3 speed on the column shift, 2 wheel drive. My Dad totalled it on me!
How wonderful to know so much about your family Ted. Very interesting. Thank you for sharing. Take care.
That is extremely interesting Ted. You are probably right about a lot of the miners coming from across the pond. I’ve been to Wales once. Very beautiful area. And my Dad came from the West Country so we spent many a summer holiday in Cornwall and Devon.
Can’t imagine the smog and dust working in the mines in those days (somewhat like LA now with the traffic lol). Or the hard labor they endured. Thanks for sharing.
What an absolutely interesting, now desolate spot. It must have been something when the mines were operational, the homes were occupied, and the trains came through. Thank you Andrea and Steven, for taking us along, on another great journey. 👏💛👏 Those last structures have held up pretty well, after all this time.
That is what we love to see Rhonda it helps tell the story better when there are whole structures left.
One truck was 1957 Chevy. Those cabins was still very nice to see still standing
It’s always nice to see buildings still standing and trying to picture what they looked like when people were living in them.
You beat me to it. I have been in Swansea, Wales and was going to remark that this Swansea was probably named after the one in Wales and so it was. Great structures. Good bad the goons destroy. Hope you find the cemeteries there.
Never did find those cemeteries Arleen. Must be on one of the hills maybe a mile away. They normally are a distance from the town. Glad you enjoyed our explore.
I think Andrea does a very good job researching the history of these sites. That makes it very interesting and inviting people to be adventurous and visit those ghost towns. I’ve visited some of them in AZ myself. My only problem is I don’t have a 4wheel drive so it limits my adventures with some of these mining operations and ghost towns.
Thanks so much! Andrea spends many days from sun up to sun down researching the history of these places. That was a huge factor in us getting the Tacoma to get us to these way out of the way places. It’s always so incredible to see what infrastructure remains way out in the harsh desert landscapes!
Another epic place. Stay safe my friends.
Thank you Betty! Andrea sure knows how to keep finding them!
One of the coolest places I've ever camped in!! The destruction and graffiti broke my heart. Getting there, however, was a nerve-wracking drive haha! And will go back in a heartbeat!! Some great photos come out of there too! Than you for some extra details too! I found one of the Graves it's a baby so sad
Yes the graffiti and vandalism is something we don’t understand.
We camped there too It is a great place
Good video. The sky was beautiful and what a great place to camp. Thanks. Cheers
The camp sites are great. With shelters and picnic tables. Even loos. Lol.
@@PinInTheAtlas That would be a good place to camp in the rain. You could hang out in the shelters and cook.
Thank you so much for sharing this adventure, wishing you tha happiest and safest Journey. John in Texas.
Thanks John. Glad you enjoyed the tour. There’s a lot more to see here. It’s very extensive.
With the price of gas. I was not sure, if you would be able to continue. Nice to see you.
Hey Ken this was filmed back in November! The prices of everything are hitting us hard to be honest, but we do have a have a lot of explores prescheduled to come out. So we shouldn’t have a lull in adventures.
I was looking at the rail right of way coming into town, there are several branch lines of the rail system, you can even see railroad ties in a certain place.
When I saw the title, I wondered if the town was names for Swansea, Wales, which I visited a few years back. Now I know. Thanks for the tour
Glad you enjoyed it. More to come. Stay tuned.
Nice; good information
Waiting for the next pin
😎😎😎👍👍👍
You’re welcome. Lots more pins to come.
Nice to see the more solid structures still standing! Not a lot of them survive after over 100 years! Thanks for the tour!
The BLM are doing a great job keeping the structures standing. Unfortunately you still get the hooligans carving their names in the walls! Sad
@@PinInTheAtlas HOOLIGANS! FANTASTIC! 😆
@@PinInTheAtlas love the Ghost town explores I see the word hooligans is used .I live in the northern part of Washington state and we have 1river that has a small fish and they are not smelt but just a little smaller then that in my area it is a Indian name small fish ( hooligans) thank you 🇺🇸🏆🤔
Great job again folks
Thanks Tim
What an absolutely breath taking area. Wow. Such a beautiful place. Those views are to die for. You're so lucky to see these places up close & personal. Thank you so, so much for letting us tag along with you, otherwise we'd never even know they existed. Hooligans have been there defacing the place I see. Sure those people don't have a brain cell between them! Stay safe out there guys. Thank you again.🤗
Thanks Sue. Glad you enjoyed our pin. Pretty amazing place isn’t it? We barely scratched the surface! Yes those b… hooligans lol
@@PinInTheAtlas 😂😉
Thank you for bringing us this very interesting video presentation, it is amazing what has survived of Swansea, Arizona. I am glad that the authorities are endeavouring to preserve what remains of the place. One can certainly understand why the shaft was grated over, it was certainly in a bad way. These are fascinating places and it is great how you bring these most interesting places to the people, many of whom may not be able to do so in person.
Hi John. So glad you are enjoying our “pins”. Our intentions are to show these amazing historical sites before they disappear forever. The BLM have worked hard keeping this site up. Unfortunately there seems to be no stopping the hooligans who only seem to have destruction on their minds!
Awesome show!
Thanks Mark. Lots more adventures to come.
What a interesting and desolate place, beautiful shots of the area !
Glad you enjoyed it Seb. This place was huge!
Hello I've been following your videos and they are awesome. I'm trying to find a video of a place me and my dad explored years ago, some of what I remember about it was it was south of the old Spanish trail maybe 10 miles from the nv state line, apart from about 4 to 5 old buildings the really cool thing was it had a sundial in the center of the court yard made from rock and stone, have you guys flimed a place like that?
Thank you so much Ricky we really appreciate that. Unfortunately no we have yet to come across a place like that. Sounds amazing though, if you remember it please email us we would love to document it!
info4pinintheatlas@gmail.com
You get to see that the old west buildings weren't wood like in movies and TV Series. That they rock, stone, brick, block and concrete. They show you how scares the wood was for building.
The first truck cab could be also a GMC cab.
I guess it also depends on where the towns and mines were located and what resources they had to hand.
@@PinInTheAtlas absolutely!
You're right. Late 1955 Chevy pickup even though they continued the old style 1954 and titled them as 1955.
Finally got one right! Yes!
Cool place.
Very pretty scene on your opening shot. Nice counterpoint of light and shadow.
Swansea is also the name of the grade going up Cerro Gordo, and interesting as you said the name itself is borrowed and it seems lots of mining names are; Ballarat, Randsburg, Johannesburg.. Thanks for the video !
Thanks Charley. A lot of place names come from the uk. I guess they wanted to be reminded of home.
Lot’s more adventures to come.
Nice exploration folks! Love the solitude and Big Sky with fluffy clouds. Did you find the cemetery at all?
Nope. Never did find them. Apparently there’s two!
@@PinInTheAtlas Oh, what a pity. Btw: kinda looked like that railway depot had a bunch of lightning rods sticking out of the top of the walls
Good show, Kids!
Thanks Cody
Wow, I wonder if small families lived in the housing while the men worked in the mines.
I’m sure that is a possibility Don.
I must admit Andrea & Steven, the close up of that pipe, I held my breath because I was expecting an eight legged beastie (ssspider...) to jump out lol! Now they ARE Hooligans 😂😂
If that had been the case Steve would have screamed like a little girl and ran lol.
@@PinInTheAtlas me too lol! I don't hurt them, I just scream, wave my arms around & scream even louder like a big girls blouse. Think of a Carry On character. That's me!! Stick with me Steve, we can scream together 😂
@@SueCooke Don't know if you've noticed that I always go into buildings and areas first? That's because I'm the one who has to check for spiders LOL
@@PinInTheAtlas if I was asked to go in first, instead of a torch, I'd use a flame thrower 😂, or just throw the person I'm with in first!! Snakes, mice, rats, bats & other creepy crawlies I'm fine with, just not those 8 legged beasties, don't trust them!! Oh and men, don't trust them much either these days LOL!!🤣🤣👍
@@SueCooke LOL.
I believe the 2nd white truck is a 57 chevy
These cabins seem very roomy. They're a lot bigger than my current apartment. I've moved as of November 30, and this apartment is smaller than my old one.
A tiny home. Bet it’s bigger than Tonto though! 🤣
THANK YOU AGAIN..WX LOOKS GREAT THERE ,,SAFE TRAVELS
You’re welcome Ralph. See you on our next adventure.
Can you imagine seeing those ghost towns in their hay day?
We always say that it would be nice to step back in time. Those miners were hard core.
Drift mine looks too collapsible. Gramma Candy
Back around 2010 I milled the lumber the BLM used to restore the company housing. The lumber was from pine trees killed by bark beetles in the San Jacinto Mountains in Southern California. True story!
LOL
White pickup truck is a 1955-1957 Chevrolet. Good guess!
Ha yes! Thank you James!
Another wonderful video. It's sinful what some people do to these historical places. I see the abuse whenever I am out in the desert. And when the BLM shuts down an area because of the abuse these are the first to wonder why. Like you said Andrea "idiots
So totally agree Terrance. Don’t understand what makes people think that it’s ok to destroy things! It’s very sad.
that place seems maintained, hence the information signs
Maintained by the BLM which is stated several times during the video.
What an interesting little ghost town or should I say big ghost town. How did you guys find out about this place and that it is surprising to be preserved?
Visitors centre in Lake Havasu suggested this one. They are very proud of this ghost town. The BLM have done a good job trying to preserve it too and there are several camp sites with shelters and picnic tables plus loos! This place is sprawling!
57 Chev truck JOHN kEANE
This was interesting, too bad the moronic vandals are at it again, guess there is no place they don't find. The scenery is just to gorgeous. Thank you.
Too true Lorna, on every account.
That's a concrete wall! Cement is only one of three ingredients.
Oh Gerry. You’re so funny. Always very proper lol
😁 ❤️ 🏜
Thanks Jenny!!!
*How can any trip be complete if you don't show us the (Lew) ??? PU it's the lew... LOL*
Great to see you in the comments again Breanna! Funny this site only had a couple modern ones remaining go figure!
You mention the "BLM". What does that acronym stand for, as we're pretty sure it's not Black Lives Matters...or is it?! (the BA/LGW family love the video, editing, music score, the lot. Fab!) xx
The BLM is The Bureau of Land Management which was created in 1946 by President Harry S. Truman. The mission of the BLM is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. You can camp for free on BLM land normally for up to 14 days with a pack it in pack it out policy.
So when we mention BLM we are talking about public lands. Hope that helps.
Glad you are enjoying our adventures. Lots more to come.
A side of America we don't often get to see.
Hold on a moment....I thought it was railroad in the US...what's this railway business? Your not going all British on the pronunciation are you now? lol..
@swanseaghosttownarizona
Hope you enjoy our explore of Swansea Ghost Town Michael.