Have You Ever Been To Oatman, Arizona?

You have probably never been to Oatman, Arizona, much less heard of it.  It is a village in the Black Mountains of Mohave County, Arizona, off Old US 66, near Laughlin, Nevada  It began as a small mining camp soon after two prospectors struck gold in 1915.  It grew to a population of more than 3,500 after the discovery of gold.  The population in the 2000 census was 128.

Oatman was named to honor Olive Oatman, a young Illinois girl who had been taken captive, along with her sister, by Indians during her pioneer family's journey westward in 1851 and forced into slavery.  The rest of her family was slaughtered.  Why she and her sister were spared, is not known.  Olive was later traded to Mohave Indians, who adopted her as a duaghter and tattooed her face in the custom of their tribe.  In 1856 she was released at Fort Yuma, Arizona.  She went on to have an interesting career as a speaker.

Since gold was discovered in the Black Mountains, Oatman became a gold mining town for nearly half a century, but in 1941 the US. government ordered the town's gold mining operation shut down as part of the country's war effort.  When a new Route 66 was built that bypassed the old route, Oatman was all but abandoned.

The reason I have even heard of Oatman, Arizona, is because I am reading a book, The Blue Tattoo,  by Margot Mifflin about the life of Olive Oatman.  It's a fascinating story, and led me to want to learn more about the town.  Now it is an abandoned ghost town, but if you're ever in the vacinity and see a sign for Oatman, you will know what it once was and how it was name.