Swansea Townsite

 

Swansea Townsite

One day, Jeff and I decided to take a bit of an off-road exploration to see if we could find the remains of the Swansea Townsite, outside the town of Parker, AZ.  Come along for the ride!!

We did get to enjoy some very nice views on our drive down what’s called Swansea Road!  We did have a bit of a drive to get to the townsite and thank goodness the weather cooperated with us – warm, but not hot!

Don’t these look like some nice, fuzzy soft plants?  No – stay away!!  These are cholla, and altho the needles look fuzzy and soft, they are very hard and sharp!!  And, if you ask me, they are magnetic to people!!  Why do I say that?  Our neighbor has some and I once got too close to the plant, but was still several inches away, ant it felt like the thorns leaped away from the plant and onto me!!  The second image shows you a bit of a rarity – the cholla, the spindly “trunks” of the ocotillo plant and saguaro cactus.  Saguaro are only known to grow in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the state of Sonora in Mexico, and the Whipple Mountains of California, they have managed to grow here, it seems about midway between the Whipple Mountains and Sonoran Desert of Arizona.  I’ve seen the ocotillo plans throughout the southern part of Arizona, so I wasn’t surprised by them, but the saguaro surprised me!  Ocotillo are interesting plants – when they do not get much, if any water, they look like brown sticks waving in the breeze.  But, when they get rain, the “trunks” get very green with tiny little leaves, and they burst into bloom.  There is no “season” for ocotillo – they can bloom all year long with enough rain!

So much for back roads!!  As we drove along, we passed an aqueduct carrying water from the Colorado River down to Phoenix.  This is part of the Central Arizona Project, or CAP.

Besides the lovely view, in the distance, we could see the remnants of Swansea (look on the right side of the image, about mid-point).  Swansea was once a busy mining development.  Now, it’s an archaeological site to learn more about this bygone era.

These foundations (and some wall) were the first things we saw in Swansea.  We believe this to be the General Store and General Office, in one building, circa 1916.  You can see the large pipe in the bottom image, so there was some modern convenience here.  The walls (image on far left) were, at least in part, adobe – you can tell by the clay bricks, covered by what was commonly called “mud”.  Often, the walls were then whitewashed on both the inside and outside – lighter on the inside and protection from whatever rain, etc., fell on the outside. 

Prospectors first began working the area back in 1862.  It grew in fits and starts until 1915 when Ernest C. Lane became the manager and ran the mine for a number of different owners over the years.  Adobe houses were built, the buildings mentioned above, and these worker cottages (above image).  By 1918, it was a truly successful operation and town. 

The image on the left shows the foundations of the actual mill operations, and the other image is the foundation of the water tank.  Water was brought in from another location, which we hope to see in a future exploration.

I’m standing on the remains of a trestle which allowed (perhaps) the water to be placed in the water tank, as that’s directly behind me.  This town and the mining operation fell victim to the Great Depression and the last milling was reported in 1944.

I’d love to know the story of how this truck came to be left here by the side of what looks to be a road around town.  As of now, it just remains as a good subject for photographers like me!

This image speaks to the lack of water in the area.  We were driving over a bridge of what, at times, may be a river, or maybe a creek.  But, right now, at the end of a hot summer, it is bone dry.

Enjoy!