CrowMac Creek

Fairbank For those who don't like driving long distances on dirt roads or walking trails through through the thorns of Palo Verde and Mesquite, you'll enjoy a visit to Fairbank. And no, this isn't a typo. There is no "S" at the end of Fairbank. The town is actually named after  Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank, a Chicago investor, and the person who brought trains to Fairbank. As you arrive at Fairbank, you will notice a nice, large parking lot. When you walk into what looks like a park, you will notice the remaining buildings. 

Contention City Contention Mill Contention City is a ghost town that produced fortunes in silver ore during the 1880s. It is located approximately four miles north of the ghost town, Fairbank, AZ. There’s little or nothing left but scraps of metal, splintered pieces of wood and construction material, yet, for its purpose, it had been a good location for milling ore and mining. It was close to the San Pedro River, so there was water for operations, and water can be scarce where there are mines.  I also wondered why anyone would name a city, Contention. Well, the name, “Contention City,” came about due to an argument. Nikola Petrovski, the author of “All That Remains of the Once-Booming Town of Contention City, Arizona is Rubble and Dirt” states that Ed Schieffelin and two miners, Jack Friday and Ed Williams, argued over who owned the mine.  Friday and Williams’s mules had wandered off trailing their reins behind them. After finding the mules gone, Friday and Williams followed t...

Courtland Arizona 1909 It was 1909 and mining had found itself in the blood of many young men of that time. Gold and silver had been found throughout the Tombstone area. According to author of  Arizona Ghost Towns,  Noah Austin, it is estimated that a population of several hundred to 2,000 people lived in Courtland at its peak. Both the El Paso and the Southern Pacific railroads had branch lines to Courtland. Things were looking good for Courtland. Both the El Paso and the Southern Pacific Railroads had branches to Courtland. Commerce was looking good as well with many new businesses and even a Post Office (which closed in 1940) coming to town.  ,      As with mining anywhere, the great days         will come to an end. The ore will run out,         the miners will hit limestone, or it will just      become too expensive to make a profit.              An...

 Charleston was the home of the people who processed the ore from various mines in the area. It was established in 1878. Some histories state that Charleston was a peaceful town, others claim Charleston was more dangerous than Tombstone. The reality was that after the "gunfight at the OK Corral," and the "vendetta ride," the town and the area in general area became more peaceful. A large Sonoran Earthquake destroyed Charleston on May 3rd, 1887. The only traces of the old town are the remains of the old adobe buildings. Old photographs indicate that building materials were taken from the ruins such as metal and bricks were removed and used somewhere else. A large Sonoran Earthquake destroyed it on May 3rd, 1887.

 It was another cooler day for Southern AZ  Honey, Amanda, Jack and I hiked this challenging trail to Soldier Falls. The hike was only .6 miles (one way) but 75% of the trail was climbing over rocks. I had seen this location on Google Maps but I had never found the trail before. Amanda found the trail and shared the location of the trailhead with me. The view at the top was well worth the effort of the climb.

 It must have been about 4:00 when I heard the little jingle that announces some notification, and this notification was from a female on TikTok. It was from a woman named Betty with a series of numbers following the name. I wasn’t doing anything anyway, so I looked at her page. She wasn’t dressed sexy, and the pictures were of an attractive young lady dressed professionally.  We began texting, and I truly loved the way she made me feel. I loved the way she wrote and I appreciated all of the ideas she was sharing and I was enjoying what was happening.  And I still had another long day on the bus, so I just kept texting. We arrived in Dallas for a bus transfer ten minutes late for my bus, and this had increased my travel time by 10 hours. I slept little.  The next day we boarded another bus and this time I sat in the first set of seats on the bus and shared them with others off and on. I reconnected with “Betty” and began texting again. I enjoyed every word she wrote ...