County: Yuma
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 32°45′18″N 114°21′46″W / 32.75500°N 114.36278°W / 32.75500
Elevation: 233 ft (71 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (NO DST) (UTC-7)
Established: 1858
Disestablished: 1863
Comments: Gila City is a ghost town in Yuma County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled in 1858 in what was then the New Mexico Territory. Gila City was founded on the south bank of the Gila River, 19 miles east of the confluence of the Gila and Colorado rivers. Also known as Ligurta, the town was established as a result of Arizona’s first major gold rush, when Colonel Jacob Snively led a party of prospectors to a placer deposit along the Gila River in and around Monitor Gulch, which emerges from the Gila Mountains to the south.
Remains:
Current Status: All trace of the town is gone, but small-scale mining continues today. The area of gold-bearing gravel extends from 1/4 mile east of Dome to 3 miles west of Dome, but most placer mining was centered on Monitor Gulch, 1 1/2 miles west of Dome.
Remarks: A booming gold camp, Gila City developed nearly overnight as prospectors rushed to the site. The Butterfield Overland Mail route passed through the boom town and one of its stations, Swivelers lay a mile to the east at the eastern edge of the placer deposits where a post office was established for Gila City in December 24, 1858.
