Nortons Landing, Arizona

Norton's Landing [2] or Norton's,[3]: 116  was a steamboat landing on the Colorado River, in what was then Yuma County, Arizona Territory. Today it is in La Paz County, Arizona. Nortons Landing is 52 miles upriver from Yuma, Arizona 4 miles above Picacho, California and 18 miles below the Clip, Arizona landing.[4] : 168  It lies on a rocky point of land next to the river at 215 feet of elevation just east of Red Cloud Wash and Black Rock Wash, where roads to the district mines in the mountains met the Colorado River.[2]

Nortons Landing, Arizona
Former settlement
Nortons Landing is located in Arizona
Nortons Landing
Nortons Landing
Location within the state of Arizona
Nortons Landing is located in the United States
Nortons Landing
Nortons Landing
Nortons Landing (the United States)
Coordinates: 33°03′02″N 114°38′39″W
CountryUnited States
StateArizona
CountyLa Paz
Elevation
[1]
213 ft (5 m)
Time zoneUTC-7 (Mountain (MST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (MST)
Area code928
GNIS feature ID24540

History

Nortons Landing was developed for the Red Cloud Mine and other nearby mines of the Silver Mining District in the Trigo Mountains. The Silver District became active in 1879 when George Sills, Neils Johnson, George W. Norton, and Gus Crawford relocated many silver claims abandoned following the death of Jacob Snively in 1871.[5]: 138 

The landing and settlement was named for George W. Norton who owned the Red Cloud Mine and its smelter at the landing, and had been the engineer in charge of constructing the first railroad bridge across the Colorado River, at Yuma, Arizona in 1877.[6]: 746–747  The landing also had general store, and a post office called Norton's from June 4, 1883, to August 24, 1888, when it was discontinued, mail being sent to Yuma. It again had a post office from September 3, 1891, to March 13, 1894, when it was again discontinued and the town died.[3]: 116  Norton's Landing continued until April, 1897. The Arizona Sentinel, Yuma, AZ, on 17 April 1897: The famous and well-known silver district mining town, Norton's Landing, is completely deserted, on account of the low price of silver and the mines closing down. The inhabitants have all removed to that flourishing mining camp, Picacho.[7]

Present site

The site is now a ghost town in La Paz County, Arizona. Only a few foundations, mining equipment, and slag from the reduction works remain.[8]

References
  1. "Feature Detail Report for: Nortons Landing". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Nortons Landing
  3. John and Lillian Theobald, Arizona Territory Post Offices & Postmasters, The Arizona Historical Foundation, Phoenix, 1961.
  4. Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852-1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978
  5. James E. Sherman, Barbara H. Sherman, Ghost Towns of Arizona, University of Oklahoma Press, Aug 1, 1969
  6. James H. McClintock, Arizona, Prehistoric, Aboriginal, Pioneer, Modern: The Nation's Youngest Commonwealth Within a Land of Ancient Culture, Volume 3, S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, 1916
  7. newspapers.com, The Arizona Sentinel, Yuma, AZ, 17 April 1897
  8. Norton Landing from ghosttowns.com accessed July 31, 2015
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