Lupton – Houck – Sanders – Chambers – Petrified Forest / Painted Desert – Holbrook – Joseph City – Winslow – Meteor City – Meteor Crater – Winona – Flagstaff – Bellemont – Williams – Ash Fork – Seligman – Grand Canyon Caverns – Peach Springs – Truxton – Crozier – Valentine – Hackberry – Antares – Kingman – Golden Valley – Oatman – Golden Shores – Topock
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Classy Ass – Oatman Gift Shack – Jackass Junction – Ore House – Oatman Burros
The Classy Ass has been a number of things through the years, an auto repair shop, storeroom, silversmith shop and was once a deli called “The Dynamite Deli”. Once a feud in town resulted in explosives being plated there.
Oatman Gift Shack and Jackass Junction was the location of a mining office, a restaurant and once an ice cream parlor. The Ice Cream Parlor was ordered shut down because it was such a gossip center. In the 1930’s this was the location of an open air dance pavilion.
Across the street is The Ore House, former location of The Oatman Ice House. Underneath The Ore House are the remains of the ice house machinery. The story goes that the ice house was knocked down and the equipment covered over with whatever could be found to fill in the space after the fire chief got tired of putting out small fires caused by that machinery. The original Oatman Ice House burned down in the fire of 1921.
The burros of this region originated in the Saharan deserts of North Africa so they are at home in the Arizona desert. Not so long ago, the ancestors of the Oatman herd were used in the mines as pack animals, as well as best friends to the backcountry prospectors. There are estimated to be over 3000 burros in the hills around Oatman, The Black Mountains. The Bureau of Land Management is a federal agency who manages all aspects of the burro herds.
MAP OF OATMAN FROM 1916
“OATMAN SCAVENGER HUNT” – Take a photo of yourself in front of any of the spots mentioned in this tour (or what is currently standing there), and email them to tailingsoftime@gmail.com and we will post them on our sites. Thank you for visiting and learning about our town.
***The “Historic Oatman Walking Tour” was created for the town of Oatman, by Rob Borden, founder of the Saddle Sore Ranch (aka “SSR”), and commissioned by the Oatman Gold Road Chamber. Content contributions were made by the Oatman Chamber of Commerce, Oatman Tailings Of Time Historical Society, Leanne Toohey, Oatman residents and other historic contributors. The Saddle Sore Ranch is located just 12 miles east of Oatman, at milepost 36.5 on Historic Route 66. For more information, visit us online at www.SaddleSoreRanch.com, or email us at LiveFromSSR@gmail.com ***