Silver Bell, Arizona | |
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Coordinates: 32°23′05″N 111°29′56″W / 32.38472°N 111.49889°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Arizona |
County | Pima |
Time zone | UTC-7 (MST (no DST)) |
Post Office opened | August 18, 1904 |
Silver Bell is a ghost town in the Silver Bell Mountains in Pima County, Arizona, United States. The name "Silver Bell" refers to a more recent ghost town, which was established in 1954 and abandoned in 1984. The original town, established in 1904, was named "Silverbell" and abandoned in the early 1930s.[1][2] Both towns were utilized and later abandoned due to the mining of copper in the area.
According to James E. Sherman's Ghost Towns of Arizona, Silverbell was "one of the most renowned mining camps in the Southwest," and was also described as "the Hell-hole of Arizona." Today nothing remains of the town other than a cemetery.[3]
The later Silver Bell was established when Asarco shifted its attention back to mining in the Silver Bell Mountains in the early 1950s. Located four miles (6.4 km) southeast of the original town site, next to the present-day Silver Bell Mine, the town of Silver Bell was also short-lived, and only a few small ruins remain.[1]