Fifteen miles northeast of Tombstone, at the eastern foot of the Dragoon Mountains in the Sulphur Springs Valley, the scattered remnants of Courtland sit in the high desert scrub as quietly as anything left behind can sit. There is no entry fee, no visitor center, no tour bus. What there is — the deteriorating jail, the old store front, the concrete sidewalks that once led shoppers to their next purchase, the foundations of a movie theater and a car dealership, the mine shafts opening in the hills above — is simply there, accessible, unrestored, and gradually returning to the desert at its own pace.

We have visited twice — March 16, 2014 and April 16, 2022 as part of a larger Cochise County loop that included Bisbee, Gleeson Ghost Town, turquoise rockhounding, the Battle of the Bulls Monument, and a base camp at Double G Alpacas Ranch.

Our Visits

March 16, 2014 — Alexis, Luca, and Rachel

A Bisbee area trip that included Courtland as one of the stops — Alexis and Luca's first visit to the ghost town. The kind of southeastern Arizona day that covers a lot of ground and leaves an impression on kids that sticks.

April 16, 2022 — Luca, Matthew, and Rachel

Part of a full Cochise County loop day out of our Double G Alpacas Ranch base camp — Bisbee, Gleeson, turquoise rockhounding, the Battle of the Bulls Monument, and Courtland before returning to camp. The 2022 visit gave us more time to examine the structures carefully.

The History — Boom and Bust in a Decade

The immediate area around Courtland was first worked by Native Americans — including the Hohokam and later the Apache — who found the turquoise in the upper hills of the Dragoon Mountains to be valuable for centuries before any American prospector arrived. Turquoise mining in this district is among the oldest continuous mineral extraction in Arizona history.

The American mining story began in earnest in the early 1890s when claims were first established in what was then called the Leadville area. The real boom came in 1909 when the Great Western Mining Company — owned by W.J. Young — began serious copper extraction. The town was named after Courtland Young, one of the owners, and it grew with extraordinary speed. A post office opened March 13, 1909. By 1910 the population had reached 2,000. Two railroads served the town — the Mexico and Colorado (owned by El Paso and Southwestern) and the Arizona and Colorado (owned by Southern Pacific). The Courtland Water and Ice Company ran five miles of water mains to supply residents — remnants of the pipe system are still visible in the middle of the dirt road today.

At its peak Courtland had a coal-fired power plant, a movie theater, a baseball field, a weekly newspaper, all kinds of stores, a Wells Fargo office, a car dealership, a swimming pool, an ice cream parlor, a pool hall, and an impressive jail. It was considered seriously as the new Cochise County seat — ultimately disqualified because it was never officially incorporated and had no city council or town hall.

Starting in 1917 a trio of crippling events hit simultaneously — a national copper price crash, a labor dispute, and most fatally, the mines hitting a layer of limestone approximately 300 feet down. One by one each mine encountered the same limestone ridge — and with it, the end of economically viable copper extraction. By 1920 most mines had shut down. By 1942 the post office closed. The last known resident — Eugene Yoakem — died in 1974.

What Remains

The jail is the best preserved structure on the townsite and the one most visitors photograph — but it is not the first thing you encounter approaching from the road. Before reaching the jail you will find a building worth stopping at: three sides with two window slots flanking a center opening where a door once stood. The front wall is partially missing. The back wall is gone entirely. Most of the stone construction is exposed — the original rock laid without mortar visible in the remaining walls — with some areas of the interior still showing a cement plaster covering applied over the stone. Standing inside it you can read the construction in detail — the window openings, the door placement, the scale of what was once an enclosed room.

Nearby are additional structures of a completely different construction method — not stone laid by hand but what appears to be poured concrete, forming the walls and corners of what were larger buildings. The remains are mostly corner sections — enough to show two stories were involved, the upper floor long gone, the poured concrete corners still standing in the desert scrub. The contrast between the hand-laid stone construction of the earlier buildings and the poured concrete of these later structures reflects the different eras and different ambitions of Courtland's development. At its peak this was a town that expected to stay.

The jail stands beyond — small and intact by comparison, though the metal door and barred windows are gone. Reportedly removed and repurposed elsewhere at some point after abandonment — a common fate for usable hardware in ghost towns where the nearest hardware store was a long ride away. What remains is the stone structure itself, walls still standing, the window and door openings now open to the desert air. Still the most complete building in Courtland, which says something about the durability of what was built to hold people rather than to house commerce.

Old concrete sidewalks run through the desert scrub — beginning and ending without any buildings attached, leading nowhere now, once the pedestrian infrastructure of a town of 2,000 people. Water mains are still visible in the middle of the dirt road through the townsite — the remnants of the Courtland Water and Ice Company's five-mile pipe system that supplied the town with reliable water when nothing else in the desert could.

Turquoise Mining — Then and Now

The Courtland-Gleeson Mining District — also called the Turquoise Mining District — takes its alternative name from the turquoise mined here by Native Americans long before copper was the focus. The district's turquoise is genuine Arizona turquoise — prized for its color and matrix patterns. Some turquoise mines in the vicinity are still privately operated for collecting and sales by appointment.

On our April 16, 2022 visit we rockhounded for turquoise at coordinates 31°46'06.4"N 109°48'54.0"W — in the same general mining district as Courtland. During that rockhounding stop we encountered two Gila Monsters and a rattlesnake — a reminder that the mining country around Courtland and Gleeson is active wildlife habitat, particularly in spring. Watch every step in the grass and around the old mine workings. Gila Monsters are venomous and should be observed from a respectful distance. Do not approach, corner, or handle them.

Guided Tours — A New Chapter

In 2017 Courtland's historic town and patent mining claims were purchased by investor Michael Oster through the Arizona Land Project, LLC. Operating under the name Courtland Ghost Town, the organization offers guided tours and turquoise collecting experiences — including going into a reinforced 19th-century mine shaft, searching for turquoise, azurite, and malachite, and exploring the full townsite with interpretation. Featured in Arizona Highways Magazine in 2018 as one of the thirteen best ghost towns in Arizona.

⚠️ All visits, mineral collecting, and events are by advanced appointment only — the property is privately owned and the mines are under claim. Do not attempt to access the mines or private areas without an appointment.

Contact for tours: courtlandghosttown.com | (520) 585-6555

Open Monday, Friday–Sunday 9 AM–5 PM | Closed Tuesday–Thursday

The townsite ruins — jail, foundations, sidewalks — appear to remain accessible for general viewing from the road. The mines and guided experiences require appointment.

The Ghost Town Trail

Courtland sits on what is informally known as the Ghost Town Trail — a string of former mining settlements in the Sulphur Springs Valley that also includes Gleeson (10 miles southwest) and Pearce (13 miles north). Visiting all three in a single day is practical and makes for one of the more historically rich day trips in southeastern Arizona. Gleeson — which we also visited on April 16, 2022 — is documented separately in the AZ Places bucket list.

Base Camp — Double G Alpacas Ranch

For our April 2022 Cochise County loop we based at Double G Alpacas Ranch via Hipcamp — a unique camping experience on a working alpaca farm across the road from our campsite. There is limited camping near Bisbee and this provided an excellent and memorable alternative. The alpaca ranch offers its own charm worth experiencing. Booking through Hipcamp — hipcamp.com.

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