Klondyke, Arizona

Klondyke, Arizona
Populated place
The general store at Klondyke in 1910
Country	United States
State	Arizona
County	Graham
Population
• Total	50
Time zone	MST (no DST)
Post Office Opened:	1907
Post Office Closed:	1955

Klondyke is a populated place in Graham County, Arizona, that was founded around 1900 by some miners who had recently returned from Alaska after participating in the Klondike Gold Rush. The town is located west of Safford in the Aravaipa Valley. The Galiuro Mountains lie to the southeast and the Santa Teresa Mountains to the north.

The mainstay of the town was the lead and silver mines, as well as the nearby cattle ranches. Klondyke's population peaked at 500, but today there are only about a dozen residents.

The first general store in town was started by a Mr. Bedoya inside a tent, but in 1904 he built a saloon, a wooden store, and a post office that was opened in 1907. The store burned down at one point, but Bedoya immediately built a new one. The town also had a school and a church.

During the Great Depression, half of the town's residents left and the post office closed in 1955. The site today may be classified as barren, although the Klondyke General Store and the Power's Cabin, located south of the town, have been preserved and are now open to tourists.

According to Bobby Zlatevski, "Klondyke is the home of one of Arizona's most notorious stories which has elements of 'Old West' tragedies." The Klondyke Cemetery, located southeast of town, holds the remains of "Old Man" Jeff Power, his mother, Martha Jane, his sons, John and Tom, and his daughter, Ola May.