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Stanton, Arizona facts for kids

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Stanton
Chuck Stanton in front of his store.
Chuck Stanton in front of his store.
Country United States
State Arizona
County Yavapai County
Population
 • Total ~3,500
Time zone MST (no DST)
Post Office opened March 5, 1875
Post Office closed June 15, 1905

Stanton is a populated place in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States that is now used as an RV park. The town was originally a stagecoach stop known as Antelope Station, and was later renamed "Stanton" after the businessman and crook Chuck Stanton, who took over the town in the 1870s. Stanton is located approximately twenty miles north of Wickenburg, at the base of Rich Hill, near the ghost towns of Octave and Weaver.

History

The town of Stanton, like the towns of Octave and Weaver, owe their existence to a group of pioneers who discovered gold in the area in 1863. Led by the frontiersman Pauline Weaver, the explorers were camped along Antelope Creek when one of the men - a tracker named Alvaro - decided to go chasing after a runaway burro. After climbing to the top of what would become known as Rich Hill, Alvaro tripped over a pile of gold nuggets that were "as big as potatoes." Soon after, Pauline Weaver and a friend named Jack Swilling found another pile of gold on top of nearby Antelope Hill. Weaver said that gold was so plentiful in the area that he could pop nuggets out of the ground with a knife, and that one acre yielded nearly $500,000 in gold.

In the late 1950s, The Saturday Evening Post purchased the ten acre town and then gave it away during a "jingle contest." The new owners didn't know what to do with the town, and they later sold it. It remained uninhabited until the late 1960s, when hippies moved in and started burning the wooden buildings for firewood. In 1976, the Lost Dutchman's Mining Association (LDMA) acquired the property and has since used the town as a members-only recreational vehicle park, which is open for six months out of the year. The LDMA has restored a few of the town's original buildings, including Chuck Stanton's store, an old saloon and dance hall, and a hotel. The town jail is also standing, and work has been done to restore the town's pioneer cemeteries.

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