VEKOL |
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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. |
Vekol Courtesy Kurt Wenner |
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