In Search of Abandoned Contention Ghost Town

Several weeks ago when we hiked out to Presidio Santa Cruz De Terrenate, we noticed on the trail head map that the townsite of Contention was not too far off in the opposite direction. We had tried to find Contention 8 years ago when we were fairly new to the desert and I was pulling stunts like wearing tube tops and wedge heels to explore ghost towns. We never did find Contention but we also didn’t try very hard. This time around, we tried a lot harder and found our Contention.

It was a hot day but we figured it would probably be one of the last days we could do outdoorsy activities in the desert. So with plenty of water and proper attire (no wedge heels or tube tops), we loaded our mountain bikes and headed southeast towards Fairbank.

The trail to Contention is easy, mostly flat, and goes fairly fast on a mountain bike.

We arrived at the San Pedro River in no time and used the opportunity to rest in the shade of the trees on the river bank.

The map above shows the trail traversing alongside the river. We followed this and ended up going too far out so we backtracked to the big tree on the bank. If you’re standing underneath this tree, you can discern a trail almost directly across the bank. Follow this trail instead of continuing through the river bed.

Once across the bank, we hooked our bikes up to a National Conservation Lands sign post and had a look about. The actual coordinates for the townsite are 31°46′8″N, 110°12′7″W. What remains of the main townsite is fenced off. And to be quite frank, we couldn’t tell what it was that was fenced off.

In the film 3:10 to Yuma, Dan Evans told Ben Wade: “No, I don’t mind telling you. We’re going to Contention City. We’re going wait in a house by the station and when the 3:10 comes in we’re going to put you on it.”

Well, if there ever really was a house by the station, it’s no longer there. Further explorations of the townsite showed very little evidence that there was ever anything there.

After seeing a whole lot of nothing, we walked back to the National Conservations Land sign post we had left our bikes at and decided to follow one of the trails that lead away from the sign. We began to see more evidence of human activity.

We came upon the remains of a wall and continued to follow the trail.

Jackpot! The Contention Millsite:

This was once the Grand Central Mill.

Contention City was established in 1879 as a milling site for silver mined from Tombstone. It never boomed like the nearby town of Tombstone. At its peak in 1884, the population was 200. That was large enough to establish a post office, a saloon, hotel, a blacksmith, and several stores. The town mainly served as a stage coach stopping point until a railroad depot was established in early 1882. Later that year, the rail service was extended to the nearby town of Fairbank which was 4 miles closer to Tombstone, thus making Contention’s depot pointless. By 1888, the post office shutdown and the town was gone just 2 years later.