OATMAN, Ariz. -- A century ago, prospector Jose Jerez was searching for his strayed burros in the hills of northwest Arizona when he accidentally discovered gold.
Jerez's find led to a boom that left the area near Kingman dotted with mining towns. But it was not a lasting prosperity.All that remains today of the thriving communities are a few wooden shacks and heaps of rubble here and there.
Except for one.
A small, dusty town called Oatman is the lone survivor and a reminder of Mohave County's gold-mining boom, which lasted until the mid-1930s.
Oatman now has only 150 residents and is barely four blocks long, but its Old West charm coupled with a laid-back attitude is attracting about 500,000 visitors a year.
The town, founded about 1906, is hidden in the harsh desert of the Black Mountains about 28 miles from Kingman along Route 66.
The locals, some of them virtual historians when it comes to the town's past, like to point out that long before I-40 there was Route 66, and even before that there was Oatman with its gold pouring out of the surrounding mountains.
At its height in the late 1920s, Oatman had about 10,000 residents, mostly miners.
They also brag that in 1939, Hollywood's Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their wedding night here.
Oatman declined after I-40 was built in 1951, and at one point the residents were as few as 25. It looked like the town would die.
The mining community re-emerged as a tourist destination after "How the West Was Won" was filmed here in 1962.
During the winter season from October to April, more than 1,000 weekend tourists watch staged gunfights along Main Street.
They can also feed the wild burros that still wander through the streets as reminders of the town's onetime livelihood. The animals are the descendants of domesticated donkeys that escaped or were released by miners after the federal government closed the last remaining mines in 1942 as nonessential to the war effort.
On hot mornings, when visitors are sparse, the four-legged creatures almost outnumber the two-legged ones.
Tourist authorities and locals says the burros are partly responsible for the town's popularity.
What's left of the former mining community is preserved, thanks to the residents, many retired, who take a lot of pride in Oatman.
Just stroll along the plank sidewalk and among the handful of souvenir stores and four saloons -- many containing their original storefronts -- and you're bound to meet a few friendly characters.
There is a hotel in town. The Oatman Hotel, built in 1902 and refurbished in 1924 following a fire, is listed on the National Historic Building Registry. It has 10 rooms available for a $35 donation for a night's stay -- except for the Clark Gable room, where it's said the actor and Lombard slept on their wedding night. That one costs $55.
The Oatman Hotel bar and restaurant and the Mission Inn are the only two public places to dine in town.