The Abandoned Gold King Mansion in Arizona
A few hours away from Phoenix in Arizona, sits the remains of the Gold King mansion in the Hualapai Mountains.
The original plan called for it to be used for housing for miners at the nearby Gold King Mine. Plans were to create a series of two-story concrete bunkhouses for the miners and contractors. These were supposed to be state of the art buildings, offering vastly improved amenities over the standard tents and shacks that workers were used to. These buildings were expected to included modern advances such as a fireproof building, electricity, and insulation.
Construction on the property began in 1930. By August, 1930, it was announced they were building “the model of a series of worker’s bunk houses, using reinforced concrete. The plan was to build multiple versions of this house to support the nearby mine, but in October, it was determined that the mine did not require a large workforce to operate it, so ultimately only the model home was built.
Not the Intended Use
There’s not a lot of documentation on Gold King in the early years, but, there is the account of a visit from a local rancher in 1933. What he found, was that the mansion was not being used for what it’s intended purpose was.
He found out that the site was not used to house the miners as it was originally meant to do. He claimed that the owners were taking prospective investors to the mansion to wine and dine them, and letting them stay at the mansion. The mansion was decorated much more elaborately than a miner’s bunkhouse, as he saw the mansion as more of a resort with crown molding, screen windows, and even a fishing pond.
Mine Never Lived Up To The Hype
the Gold King Mine opened in 1929. Ironically, this was the same year as the stock market crash, which led to the Great Depression. This ultimately led to the a halt in mining operations. There were several attempts to start operations back up, but those failed. The mine would sit inactive for long periods of time, more than once.
The mine was never as successful as it was projected to be. The initial starting capital was $1 million in 1930. That amount had dropped to $700,000 by 1933. The was sat without being used until 1941, and the beginning of WWII. With a small crew, the mine would continue to operate from 1942 until 1947, producing small amounts of gold, silver, lead, and zinc. Due to the economic changes after the war, and the death of the mine operator, P.M. Woods in 1948, the status of the mine, and the property sat in limbo.
By 1957, the Arizona Department of Mineral Resources labeled the mine “idle”. It was officially abandoned at that time.