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| Pinal City Cemetery & Superior Tour, AZ | |
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| | Pinal City Cemetery & Superior Tour, AZ | | | |
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Pinal City Cemetery & Superior Tour, AZ
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| Walk / Tour | 2.00 Miles |
40 AEG |
| | Walk / Tour | 2.00 Miles | 4 Hrs | | 0.50 mph |
| 40 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Every now and then, something pops up about Mattie Earp"s Grave in the Pinal City Cemetery and it happened again this morning so I decided to take a drive and see if I could find this remote yet historic cemetery. I found some driving instructions on the internet and although they were pretty close, it still left a bit to be desired on those unmarked Forest Service roads.
If anyone's interested, here's the route:
1. East on 60 past the Boyce Thompson Arboretum until you reach the entrance to the Superior Air Port. At this time turn LEFT (North) at the entrance to a blue & white colored cement plant.
2. Continue on for 3/4 mile from US 60, past the cement plant on the gravel road, until you come to a "Y" and bear left.
3. After 1/2 mile, look for a Quest Fiber-Optic marker post on the North side of the road and turn LEFT (South) on a gravel Jeep/ATV trail. You will need a medium high clearance vehicle but 4x4 is not required.
4. Drive on what would appear to be the most used road/trail for another 3/4 mile (Picketpost Mtn is directly in front of you) until you pass under some power lines and you're at the entrance.
Mattie Earp's grave marker is the first one you will come to after passing through the gate. There was a bouquet of dark red roses at the marker that looked not more than a day or two old. Continuing on further there are more grave sites marked with an outline of stones, but only a few have headstones with personal information on them.
Historical Note! Mattie and Wyatt Earp separated while living in Tombstone, AZ so Mattie returned to Pinal where the couple had lived a couple of years previous. The Silver Mines had by now dried up and residents of Pinal were leaving in droves to find employment elsewhere.
Mattie was a prostitute by trade and business was slow as the miners had moved on along with the rest of the town. She resorted to drugs and heavy drinking and one day it all caught up with her and she died. The grave marker says suicide, but that's probably just a quick and easy verdict based on the time.
After leaving the cemetery, I drove on to Superior for a driving/walking tour of the city. Superior is quickly turning into another Ghost Town as once again the mines have become to expensive to operate. The valuable metals are depleted leaving primarily Copper as it's only resource. If someday the rich Copper deposits deep underground above Apache Leap are open to mining, Superior may become a Boom Town once again, but until then most of the businesses along the main street are shuttered. Today I could have fired a cannon ball down the main drags and never hit a car...... Who knows what tomorrow brings, Boom or Bust  |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Not many flowers out yet, just some small patches. |
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| On every trip into the Superstitions, I find another Gold Mine. Today the mine was filled with Memories. I can not wait for the next trip. |
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