Oatman, Arizona
Mohave County
04-50620
Oatman is a former mining town in the Black Mountains in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is located on the former Route 66 and is now a popular meeting place for bikers, tourists and adventurers from around the world.
History
After the first place had some other name, it was named after Olive Oatman, a small girl who was once kidnapped by Apaches and freed in 1857.
In 1921 a large part of the smaller buildings of Oatman burned down. Built in 1902 Oatman Hotel was preserved and is now the oldest two-story house in Mohave County, which was still built of adobe mud bricks. It is now a listed building and was once gained notoriety because it was Clark Gable and Carole Lombard as a base during their honeymoon in 1939. The Gable and Lombard Suite is one of the hotel's main attractions. Clark Gable fell in love with the place and later returned keep coming back to play with the miners poker.
Oatman mining town
In the gold mining town of Oatman, gold was around 30 million dollars, calculated in value from 1930, broken down. 1924 joined the United Eastern Mines, one of the largest gold mines in the village. 1941, the gold mining in Oatman of the U.S. government was entirely prohibited, because during the Second World War, other metals were much more urgently needed. Due to its location on Route 66 to the place but the fate of many other mining towns was initially spared, who succumbed after the end of the gold rush ghost towns. After the Interstate Highway 40 between Kingman and Needles completed in 1952 and Oatman, like many other cities has been circumvented, but also degenerated Oatman almost a ghost town.
Oatman today
In the 1970s, was founded as a rival to Las Vegas at the lowest marginal tip of Nevada, Reno Laughlin, which brought a large number of new visitors to Oatman. With Route 66 nostalgia Oatman became a tourist attraction. From Kingman, leads one of the prettiest parts of the " Mother Road " through the tangled Sitgreaves Pass past " Ed 's Camp " according to Oatman.
Called Wild donkeys, "Burros ", running around the city freely. They are descended from pack animals that were once released by their owners after they were no longer needed. Everywhere there are carrots and "dog food " to buy, so that the tourists can feed the animals. Although the donkeys are usually very tame, it is pointed out on signs throughout the city that it is wildlife to be careful with the note.
Guests are offered various attractions, from classic car rallies to mock gunfights in Wild West style and played stagecoach robberies or the Sidewalk Egg Fry contest, in which participants try on the sidewalk to fry fried eggs with solar energy. Up to 500,000 visitors each year come to Oatman.
Gallery
The Route 66 to Oatman
Sitgreaves Pass
Route 66 in the Black Mountains