Christmas, Arizona
| Christmas, Arizona | |
|---|---|
| Ghost town | |
 Christmas
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| Coordinates: 33°3′48″N 110°44′25″W / 33.06333°N 110.74028°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arizona |
| County | Gila |
| Area | |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Ghost town | 0 |
| • Density | 0/sq mi (0/km2) |
| • Metro | 0 |
| Time zone | MST (UTC-7) |
Christmas is an uninhabited mining community in Gila County, Arizona, United States. The mine which led to creation of the town was staked on Christmas Day 1902, prompting the name. During the three decades in which the town's post office operated it was a popular destination for holiday mail seeking a "Christmas" postmark. The mine is also the location where the minerals apachite, junitoite, and ruizite were first discovered.
It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.
Christmas traces its history to a pair of mining claims in the Dripping Spring Mountains. The first, filed in 1878, was made by Bill Tweed and Dennis O'Brien while the second, filed in 1882, was made by Dr. James Douglas. The claims were invalidated in 1884 when it was determined they were located within the boundaries of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Several years later prospector George B. Chittenden began petitioning the U.S. Congress to modify the reservation's boundaries. An executive order establishing new boundaries for the reservation, and removing the old mining claims from the reservation, was signed by President Teddy Roosevelt on December 22, 1902.
Chittenden arraigned for a series of relay riders between the telegraph office in Casa Grande and his camp site just outside the reservation. News of the boundary change arrived late on Christmas Eve prompting Chittenden and his partner, N. H. Mellor, to immediately set out for the old claim sites. The pair staked their claim during the early morning hours and later stated, "We filled our stockings and named the place Christmas in honor of the day."
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Wikipedia