VEKOL

NAME: Vekol
COUNTY: Pinal
ROADS: 2WD
LEGAL INFO: T9S, R2E
CLIMATE: Mild winter, Hot summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT: Winter, fall, spring
COMMENTS: Walk around the barrier.
REMAINS: Many many stone foundations.

Vekol' post office was established September 25, 1888 and discontinued October 30, 1909. Located on February 5, 1880 by John D. Walker, Juan Jose Gradello and P.R. Brady, Vekol was a camp of about 150 residents. There was nothing but lawsuits in Vekol between the owners and their families and Vekol's history reflects such. Finally, the mines played out and so did the lawsuits and today nothing is left but a lot of stone and adobe foundations. - Ghosttowns.com

In either 1950 or 1951 I visited Vekol with a fellow rock hound from Casa Grande AZ. As you approached Vekol there were several buildings on the left side of the street. On the first corner on the left was the old bank, next corner was an ice house, when you went in the floor was about six feet lower than the entrance and the floor was all sawdust, behind that was a floor level floor. Assuming that the street runs North, and I think so, these were on the left, I would say there were about i buildings in fair shape. that would be on the west side of the street. On the east side of the street I only remember 1 building which was apparently the mining office. Inside we found the remains of a wood framed table that had remnants of several layers of glass maps showing the different levels of the mine. As we went further north toward the mine itself, we went up a slope at the top of which was the Assay office, complete with sign and many clay crucibles used in testing ore. At that time, lining in the Bank building, which had the original safe, lived two brothers in their 60's or 70's. Their name was Elliot and we were told that their Father had be the manager or foreman, back in it's heyday. They showed us a great photo taken from a hill and overlooking Vekol and their Dad was in the foreground. They used the vault as a cupboard and they barely made a living by prospecting and mining. I don't know if this is the kind of info you can use, but it was fun bringing back old memories. Jack Kingsbury

UPDATE:Up until about 2 to 3 years ago the deeded property at Vekol was owned by the decedents of my uncle Richard Clemans. 
Richard and his siblings were decendents of the formerly famous Clemans Land And Cattle Company. The Clemans family owned the Reavis ranch prior to it's being included into the Superstition Wilderness area. They added additional tree plantings to the apple orchard started by old man Reevis. They also operated a large feedlot operation east of Coolidge on Cactus Forest road near Kenilworth school.  Additionally, the Clemans family owned other mineral properties near Goldfield near Apache Junction. My cousin Mike Clemans (Richards oldest stepson) and myself, arranged for historic Clemans photographs to be donated to the Superstition Mountain Historical Society.  My cousin James Clemans (Richard's youngest son) and an additional share holding partner recently arranged the sale of the Vekol. As a private property it is completely surrounded by the Tohono reservation. The gas line easement road that is often used to access the property has become a route for illegal aliens from south of the U.S./ Mexico border. When we last drove the easement road (just prior to the sale) we encountered litterly hundreds of broken bicycles along the route. These bikes were apparently run over by the U.S. border patrol's 4x4's in order to prevent re-use by other illegals. 
On that last trip to Vekol we also encountered three fully functional vehicles that had been abandoned by aliens/coyotes, one was a small commercial stakeside flatbed truck.
Although Vekol is private property, the Tohono tribe placed a large sign at the site declaring it to be an illegal dump site with additional info threatening legal action. 
The current owners are unknown to me.
John Medley 


Vekol
Courtesy Kurt Wenner

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