Bradshaw City, Arizona: The Silver Camp Where the First Sermon Drew a Hundred Miners

Bradshaw City, Arizona is a vanished ghost town in the Bradshaw Mountains of Yavapai County, 35 miles south of Prescott at 6,359 feet elevation. The Tiger Mine was among the richest silver producers in territorial Arizona until the Panic of 1873 collapsed prices and ended the boom. Today only a Forest Service sign marks the location.

01The Tiger Mine

The Tiger Mine holds a specific distinction: its patent, recorded on April 30, 1874, was the first mining patent ever filed in Yavapai County. Curry and Moreland's discovery in late 1870 triggered a rush that filled the southern Bradshaw Mountains with prospectors. By May 1871, more than 300 miners were working claims in the Tiger Mining District.

The ore was extraordinary. At roughly 1,000 ounces of silver per ton — valued at $1,000 to $1,200 per ton in period prices — the Tiger was one of the richest silver producers in territorial Arizona. In 1879, the mill shipped $40,000 worth of silver bars to San Francisco in a single shipment.

Over its lifetime, the Tiger Mine produced about $700,000 in silver, along with $50,000 in gold and $30,000 in copper. It continued operations into the early 1900s, transitioning from silver to gold and copper as silver prices declined.

02The Town

Bradshaw City grew to about 1,000 residents at its peak — though Forest Service signs claiming 5,000 likely refer to the entire mining district, not the town itself. The camp was named for William D. Bradshaw, a figure honored by the miners though not the founder of the settlement.

The town had its own dairy, a post office (established 1874), and enough commercial activity that in 1877 the Arizona territorial legislature appropriated $35,000 to build a road from Prescott to Bradshaw City — a significant investment in frontier infrastructure.

03The Panic of 1873

Bradshaw City's boom lasted roughly two years before the Panic of 1873 — a national financial crisis triggered by railroad speculation — crashed silver prices across the country. Mining camps that depended on high silver prices were devastated. Bradshaw City went from boomtown to declining camp almost overnight.

The post office closed by 1884. By 1896, the town was described as completely vacated, with structures either ruined or removed. The Bradshaw Mountains' pine and juniper forests reclaimed the site.

04What Remains of Bradshaw City Today

A Forest Service sign marking the location. Nothing else. The Tiger Mine site is in the mountains above Crown King, accessible via the Bradshaw Mountain back roads — rough 4WD routes through the Prescott National Forest.

Historical photographs of Bradshaw City and the Tiger Mine are held in the Sharlot Hall Museum Research Center in Prescott. The Arizona Memory Project (Arizona State Library) has images from the Tiger Mining District.