From Wikipedia:
Cleator is a ghost town in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. It lies along the road that has replaced Murphy's Impossible Railroad between Cordes and Crown King.
Cleator was established in 1864 as a placer gold mining site under the name Turkey Creek Mining District. A post office was established at Turkey Creek in July 1869 but closed within three months.
Turkey Creek was renamed Cleator in 1925 after James P. Cleator took possession of the town from Levrett P. Nellis. He then named the post office after himself. The post office closed July 15, 1954.
Cleator's population fell in the 1920s as mining in the area declined and the town was put up for sale by James Cleator in April 1949. It then had about 60 residents. James P. Cleator's son Thomas bought the town and lived there until his death in 1996. He kept the small bar open most of the years he lived there. After his death everything was inherited by his sister Eleanor and her son. The bar is still open and a favorite stop along the dusty road for recreational ATV drivers and weekend tourists.
Several original buildings remain and are occupied.
Things to know…
You can work your claim without a notice to the BLM (or Forest Service if located within boundary) if the activity falls within the “casual use” definition. Casual use is generally limited to hand digging with shovels (no back hoes, explosives, mechanical devices, etc.) and pan or sluice operations or operations using an electric re-circulator washer. However, should you ever find a real pay-streak, you can file a notice to move into a more commercial type operation, or farm the claim out to another operator (while leasing a claim from us, you must limit your work to recreational or “casual use” prospecting.)
You cannot build a home/cabin on this land. A claim is a right to extract locatable minerals only. The US government owns the land. You can camp for up to 14 days on your claim. For legal purposes though, the government considers a mining claim real property, and therefore you can sell, lease, or pass down your claim to your children. A quit claim deed is used to transfer ownership of the claim and is recorded with the county recorder after it is posted with the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). You must pay a $140 maintenance fee every year to keep your claim valid. You can avoid the fee by getting a small miner exemption (if you own fewer than 10 claims) and show proof that you worked on your claim during the year. Then the fee is only $10. (However, while you are leasing a claim from us, we will take care of all fees). There are no property taxes on claims in Arizona.
You cannot deny entry to hikers, hunters, or campers on this land. You can, however, post notices on your claim to prevent other people from prospecting from your site. It is a crime to prospect on a valid claim without the owner’s permission.
Placer Claim: Located upon deposits of loose, unconsolidated material, such as gravel beds, or upon certain consolidated sedimentary deposits lying at the surface.
Lode Claim: Located upon deposits of mineral which are erected in or surrounded by hard rock, such as veins, fissures, lodes and disseminated ore bodies. Under federal law, the lode claim cannot exceed 1,500 feet along the length of the deposit, or more than 300 feet to either side of the center line of the deposit. Location of a lode mining claim cannot occur until a lode or vein is discovered on site. Most commercial operations are built around lode claims.
Nothing here constitutes legal advice.
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