Swansea Ghost Town, Arizona

by Rob Angle
(Yuma, Arizona)

I'm 66 years old, and when I was a preteen I lived with my family at Swansea, Arizona. My father was the last mine operator in the mid fifties. So it was my younger sister, myself, my older brother and our parents along with a handful of men. No electricity or water, we lived in one of the several windowless concrete structures.

At those times most of the ghost town was fairly intact as was the mining mill etc. There were two boothill cemeteries nearby also. The road past the mine led eventually to the Bill Williams River where we would bath and retrieve water. As a young boy too young to work I was in hog heaven in a giant playground.

To make a long story short, we packed up and left and did not return until 1990. Oh what a mess! The place was in shambles by low life people. But at least some caring responsible people got the place turned into a primitive State Park. In the meantime random RVers and ATVers etc find the place a very unique out of the way off the beaten path destination. Very wild, very quiet and very unique.

Most of the copper mined here ended up in Swansea, England and the copper was used in WW1 and WW2. You can get there from Parker or Quartzite to Bouse, Arizona and from Bouse follow the road and signs to a junction. The north road to Swansea works its way down a long winding road to the Park. I've seen just about every car, pickup, ATV and RV scattered about with plenty of elbow room.

Swansea Campsite Map