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Crown King & The Bradshaw Mountain Railroad
A visionary and entrepreneur named Frank Murphy built a railroad from Mayer up into the Bradshaw Mountains to Crown King
Back in the 1870’s people were finding gold up in Crown king .was the largest mining town in Yavapai county of the Bradshaw mountains. Tons of people were flocking into Crown King!
Frank Murphy was the Man who had the idea to build the Bradshaw Mountain railway. The dirt road up FR259 is actually the railroad bed that Murphy had built, because it costed $21.50 a ton to haul the ore by muleback! Frank Murphy hired workers via newspaper, offering a dollar a day to work on the railroad.Newspaper clips
By 1920, Murphy’s railroad was abandoned, Frank died three years prior. Below are present day photos of the trip we recently took up FR259 into Crown King, enjoy!
Before going up, this is Cleator, another ghost town. Not much but some historic homes and a general store.Cleator General storeA view going up the road, it gets a little bumpy going up, be careful of off roading vehicles and some speeding drivers that cause a lot of dust! The rails give some sense of security.Entering into Crown king, you will see Christmas ornaments still left on the pine tree entrance. Very cheerful.On the left side of road, you will see this old truck.Take a right, you will go into Crown king and see this general store, to the left a church and behind the church is a lodge, cabins. Right now you can buy the home, lodging business, church and event center for $2,499,900@CrownKingSanctuary.com!They are doing renovations in Crown King this monthOnce you get to Crown King, you can always go in and enjoy the food and drinks, just don’t get drunk and drive down the road, please!!!
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