Goldfield the Ghost Town

Friday evening I was surfing the internet looking for festivals in the Mesa area and found just the one for Dean and I to go to on Saturday. It was the Chili Cook Off at Goldfield - a ghost town!
We arrived around 10:30 in the morning and already there were many people milling around, getting samples of chili. For $4.00 you could purchase a cup and spoon then make your way to the 15 or so booths that were cooking chili for a sample. There were two top winners to be picked, one was the Peoples Choice and the second was the Best Chili picked by judges - this was a sanctioned cook off. Of course we made the rounds and after sampling all the different chili being made, and believe me they were different, we went back to what was our favorite one for another sample to make sure, then voted. I don't know if they won or not, as the winners were not going to be announced until mid-afternoon. When we finished, I can tell you that we tasted some chili that was hot, some that was mild, some sweet and some that can only be described as different. Our favorite chili had shredded beef in it and was not spicy though it did tingle the tongue.

Here are some pictures from Goldfield...... a very lively ghost town.........



The train station and the local bordello - do you see one of the "girls"?



Looking up the main street of town - the tents are where the chili was being cooked.



And looking down the main street......



Dean tried to make off with one of the "girls" but got caught by the Sheriff.....



The newest building in town, the church (the old one burnt down) and one of the old buildings .. looks like it's about ready to fall down!



We took a much needed break for a cool drink. This is the back porch of the Mammoth Saloon. Beautiful weather, cool drink and good music - what more could you want. You can also see the corner of Superstition Mountain in the background.



The mine entrance - they did find gold here.....



How about a fixer-upper.....



Interestingly, Goldfield only lasted until 1897, when the gold ore ran out. The miners moved on and a ghost town was born.

When we left Goldfield in the early afternoon we drove the Apache Trail to Tortilla Flats, but I'm going to make another entry for that part of our day.