One Tank Trip: Traveling the Ghost Town Trail in Cochise County

TOMBSTONE, ARIZ. (KGUN) -- — On 'One Tank Trips,' we're showing you fun places around Southern Arizona where all it takes to get there is a full tank of gas.

This is a journey south into Cochise County and back in time to the early 20th century. On this road trip, however, you won't find the classic Western town that you know from classic movies, or a picturesque main street like the one in Tombstone.

"(People) have this Hollywood image of an entire town with a main street," historian Bill Cavaliere said. "The wooden sidewalks with the tumbleweeds blowing down — it's not that case at all. Some ghost towns we have today, have very few of the original buildings left."

Tombstone is a great starting point for this trip if you have the extra time. The Good Morning Tucson crew started the trip from our station on the east side of town.

If you want to skip the pit stop in Tombstone, getting to Pearce, Ariz., will take an hour and 25 minutes for an 85-88 mile drive.

Cavaliere, president of the Cochise County Historical Society, said the ghost towns we're about to check out have similar histories to Tombstone. They, too, blossomed thanks to a mining boom and people who wanted their own taste of success.

"Some opened saloons, some opened livery stables," Cavaliere said, "(Others) opened general stores, women came to be laundresses in the wash houses."

We brought Cavaliere along for the ride — our journey started by cutting through Davis Road, going up 191 and pulling over near Sunsites.

This circuit on the Ghost Town Trail is 18 miles, north to south; calculate a 30-31 minute drive time.

We found Pearce's picturesque main cross street. Cavaliere said the old jail, and others like it in the towns on the trail, are relics of each community's heyday.

"The jail was constructed out of layers of poured concrete with re-bar for strength, so the jail will be around for a long time," he said. "Remember: wood was at a premium out here, so when a town died, usually, the buildings were disassembled and the lumber hauled off."

A little further west of the trail itself, you'll find the old town cemetery on Pearce Road. We discovered generations of families resting there, parents and children alike. Cavaliere pointed out healthcare was rare in this kind of remote place back then.

If you take a respectful walk around the cemetery, you'll also find interesting characters, like an Ohio lieutenant who was, at some point, a bodyguard for Pres. Abraham Lincoln. "There seems to be a kind of pride in the history of the cemetery," Cavaliere said.

Stop No. 2 is 18 miles south. Take the paved roads and a dirt trail, and you'll see Courtland is the most barren of the Ghost Trail towns. "What's interesting," Cavaliere said, "is Courtland was a larger population than these other local ghost towns; (it) had a peak of about 2,000 people and it lasted longer — the post office closed in 1942."

Cavaliere lamented that the old Courtland jail had fallen into such disrepair. "It'd be nice if they could be taken out and preserved," he said, to prevent any more people from stealing old bars and bricks or tagging the walls with graffiti.

We didn't leave Courtland empty-handed, though. Cavaliere shared a story of men who ended up in the old jail after trying to get to a barrel of Prohibition-era whiskey that the sheriff locked away.

"He locked it in the depot with the railroad came through here," Cavaliere said. "Word got out, and some enterprising men crawled underneath the depot, through the crawlspace, and tried to estimate where the barrel was and got a drill and drilled up. They missed it by six inches and they got caught."

The ride to stop No. 3 is the shortest leg. Another tidbit of knowledge we learned: Gleeson was not this community's first name. "It was originally called Turquoise, Arizona," Cavaliere said. "Turquoise was found here — not only by the miners, but apparently the Native Americans were mining turquoise here."

When you get to Gleeson, you will notice their old jail is the best preserved of the buildings. "This obviously had a lot of tender, loving care," Cavaliere said, "and people are proud of preserving it.
"I recommend if anyone has families, to bring the children out to see these things. That could spark that interest and that's needed so badly in the youth today."

Assuming you get decent gas mileage, the entire round trip is 193 miles. So, to play it safe, plan on getting 8 gallons of fuel, which could cost anywhere from $27-$30.

Talking budget, it is free to visit Pearce and Courtland. Just remember to bring water, food and supplies. According to its official Facebook page, the Gleeson Jail is operated as a museum. It's open to the public the first Saturday of every month, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.