Chloride, Arizona, asserts that it’s the oldest continuously inhabited mining town in Arizona. In the early 1900s, it once had 5,000 residents and was the county seat. Today, it has a population of about 350.
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| Downtown Chloride |
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| Roy Purcell Murals |
After we took in the murals, we drove through Chloride
several times, amazed at the sight of the trailers, RVs, houses, shacks, historical
sites, mysterious rock cairns, abandoned buildings, piles of junk, and public folk
art, all mixed together. It’s a winning combination of artistic and eccentric.
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| Once the train depot in Chloride |
Over a lunch of French fries and a beer at Digger Dave’s
(located on the only corner in town with a stop sign), the bartender told us
that recent flooding had made the road to the murals impassable, but Digger
Dave himself had fixed the road so people could still get to the canyon.
While we were having lunch, a young woman came into the bar
and ordered a veggie burger and a Corona. She smelled of patchouli and had a
text book and a notepad with her. We talked about the murals. “It’s amazing energy
out there, isn’t it?” she said. She told me she’d come out to help a friend
with a homestead for a few weeks and had stayed a few months (and didn’t know
when she’d be leaving).
It’s easy to see how you could wind up staying in Chloride far
longer than you anticipated. It’s my kind of place, full of the unexplainable draw
of the desert.
Have you seen the
Purcell Murals or visited Chloride?
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All pictures by me, Terrisa Meeks
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