Crown King offers a road worthy of travel

SUBMITTED ARTICLE~ 1/18/2012

Traveling the now 28 miles of dusty, washboard dirt road up to the town of Crown King may seem daunting to some folks… but we challenge you to step back in time to the early 1900s when this “living ghost town” was at the peak of its prosperity.  At its peak, the fabled Bradshaw Mountains, home to Crown King, produced a king’s ransom in silver and gold at its peak. 
Those vast riches inspired a railroad entrepreneur by the name of Frank Murphy to extend his Prescott and Eastern Line from Mayer into the heart of the majestic Bradshaws.  Many folks warned Murphy of the challenges this maze of rugged perpendicular grades, complicated by steep canyons and rocky summits of crumbling granite would be for the completion of the railway.  Inviting the challenge Murphy began building his rail line that is best remembered as “Frank Murphy’s Impossible Railroad”.  The Crown King Line stretched east from Mayer across the vast cattle country to Cleator.  From there it was 13 treacherous miles, rising 3,000 feet in elevation into Crown King.
The track had many kinks and loops and on some of the narrow switch backs the steam engine had to head up a short ways beyond the switchback, then reverse uphill to the next hairpin turn before heading forward again.  Four switchbacks still remain. After completion the new railroad brought civilization to Crown King.  The Line ran from 1903-1926.  By the early 1920s the ore started to play out and the line went into decline.  The treacherous terrain took its toll on the old iron-bellied locomotives.  The last train pulled out of Crown King in November 1926 and soon after the Santa Fe pulled up the tracks.  The old trestles were planked over to make way for automobile traffic.  The famed old tracks are now the washboard dirt road leading visitors to the refreshing, cool pines surrounding the town of Crown King.
Our community welcomes visitors to Crown King, Arizona, a historic gold mining town, nestled in the cool pines high in the scenic Prescott National Forest.  Our secluded, isolated, quaint town is located just 90 minutes north of the Valley in the beautiful pine-covered Bradshaw Mountains.  Our town is made up of about 80 to 100 fulltime residents however the population is increased somewhat in the summer by those who own vacation cabins/houses.  Crown King's elevation is approximately 6,000 feet so the area provides lovely, cool temperatures for those who are eager to escape the summer heat of Phoenix. Visit our website at www.crownkingfun.com to help plan an adventure.