Ghost town in Arizona, United States
Sasco is a ghost town in Pinal County, Arizona, west of Red Rock. Sasco, which is an acronym for the Southern Arizona Smelter Company, was a company town for the smelter, which served the Silverbell mines. Once an impressive and little-known ghost town, today much of Sasco has been heavily vandalized by paintballers and airsofters, who have covered the site's many ruins with paint and littered the area.[2][3]
History
Sasco officially became a town on July 10, 1907, but its start began much earlier. At the end of the nineteenth century, the mining industry was starting to change. The gold and silver mines, which could be operated by a handful of miners, were being replaced by copper mines run by large companies. These required more money, machines and equipment than a small group of miners could supply. One such company was the Development Company of America (DCA), headed by businessman Frank M. Murphy. Years ahead of his time, he envisioned that the mines, railroad and processing companies now owned and operated by different organizations could be controlled by a single organization.[2]
In 1901, with the help of William Field Staunton, DCA's chief engineer, they began to fulfill Murphy's vision with the purchase of the Tombstone silver mines. Always looking toward future technologies, the duo believed they could use new pumping technology to reclaim the flooded lower levels of the mine. DCA also purchased the Union and Mammoth copper mines in the Silverbell Mountains in 1903. In 1904, DCA built a railroad to connect the Silverbell mines with the Southern Pacific Railroad at the town of Red Rock.[2]
The final phase of their plan was to build their own smelting company. On August 10, 1906, the Southern Arizona Smelting Company was formed with Murphy and Staunton in charge. After some initial financial problems, construction of the smelter began in the summer of 1907. A man by the name of Mead Goodloe was hired as the construction supervisor and smelter superintendent. It took almost a year to complete the construction of the facilities and installation of all of the smelter's equipment. After a tremendous amount of work, the smelter was ready for production in February 1908.[2]
Sasco had grown into a small town, complete with stores, a residential neighborhood, and saloons. Goodloe built a large house which became known as "the big house" and "it became the center of Sasco's social and political circles." The foundations of the house and a hand-built fountain near it are still visible today. The town began to grow as DCA tried to attract workers and their families.[2]
It appeared Sasco was quickly becoming one of the premier smelting towns in the southwest, but disaster was about to strike. DCA's Tombstone mining efforts were pushing the limit of the new pumping technology. By the beginning of 1909, pumping had reached an incredible 5,000,000 gallons per day. In June 1909, one of the main pumps failed and the backup pumps could not keep up. In less than a day, the water rose more than 200 feet and swallowed up everything, including the water pumps, below the 800-foot level. Murphy blamed Staunton and began to start pumping the water out of the mine again. By 1910, Sasco boasted a population of 500 people and had processed over 245,000 tons of copper ore. Staunton resigned in May due to differences in opinion over the Tombstone failure. Murphy was able to reclaim the lower 200 feet of the mine, but DCA’s financial situation could not support it. DCA declared bankruptcy in 1911.[2]
Sasco did not die a quick death after the closing of the smelter in 1911. It was revived for a short time after Asarco bought and reopened the Silverbell mine in 1915. But disaster would strike a final time. In the winter of 1918, the Spanish flu would sweep through the town and devastate it. The Sasco Cemetery is filled with plain, concrete crosses as a legacy to the destruction. Finally, in 1921 Asarco closed the Silverbell mine and most of the buildings were torn down in the mid-1930s.[2]
The remains of several structures can still be visited today, including the Rockland Hotel, the Sasco Jail, and the smelter complex. The Sasco Cemetery is located northwest of the town site, next to the La Osa Ranch house.[3]
- Charley Coleman
A murder occured in Sasco in April 1919. Charley Coleman, a man of questionable reputation, arrived in Sasco from Bisbee with the announced intention of killed two men. Apparently Mrs. Coleman, who lived in Sasco, renting a room in Wilson's saloon, had attracted the attention of male admirers. Although Mr. Coleman was not in Sasco, he somehow learned of this fact and decided to "do away" with two of his wife's suitors. After jumping from a moving train as it pulled through Red Rock, Coleman rented a horse and rode it into Sasco.[3]
Before encountering his intended victims, he called on his wife in her room. When an argument between the two beagan to cause considerable disturbance, Mr. Wilson, the saloon owner, interfered and ordered Coleman to leave. Coleman refused, so Wilson left the room, went into his saloon, and immediately returned with a 30-30 rifle. Without hesitation he shot and killed Coleman. According to James E. Sherman, in his book Ghost Towns of Arizona, Coleman was in the process of setting a trap for his victims. Shortly before his death, he had been in the act of compelling one of the saloon women to write letters to his wife's admirers, asking them to call on Mrs. Coleman because she wished to see them.[3]
