La Paz, Arizona

La Paz was a short-lived early gold mining town along the Colorado River in La Paz County, Arizona, United States. Today it is a deserted ghost town. In 1983, long after the town was deserted, the name was adopted by the newly formed Arizona county of La Paz. "La Paz" is Spanish for "peace"; the town was presumably named after another earlier town named La Paz, such as La Paz, Bolivia or La Paz, Baja California Sur.

History

Formerly known as Pot Holes, the town of La Paz grew up in early 1862 to serve the miners washing placer gold in the vicinity. The town was the county seat of Yuma County from 1862 to 1870. The placers were largely exhausted by 1863, but the community hung on as a shipping port until the Colorado River shifted its course westward in 1866, leaving La Paz landlocked. The shipping business was taken over by a new river town, Ehrenberg, six miles south, and La Paz became deserted and as peaceful as its name. [Gerald Thompson (1985) "Is there a gold field east of the Colorado?” the La Paz gold rush of 1862", Historical Society of Southern California, v.67, n.4, p.345-363.] .

Today nothing remains of La Paz except a couple of crumbling stone foundations and a historical marker.

Geography

La Paz is at coor dms|33|40|45|N|114|25|35|W|city, at an elevation of 178 mabove sea level.

References

External links

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* [http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/lapaz.html Ghosttowns.com: "La Paz"]