Clifton
History/ Websites/Newspapers
Sites to See/ Books/ Manuscripts/Weather
"Lt. John G. Bourke related that when he was with the army c. 1869 on a scouting expedition, he was in a group which was among the first to note the rich copper deposits in the vicinity of what later became Clifton. The men took pieces of nearly pure copper ore back to Tucson. However, it was not until c. 1872 that a group of prospectors and miners from Silver City, New Mexico, explored the area and established copper mines. Among these was Charles M. Shannon, Charles Lezinsky, and Lezinsky's brother.

There is little reason to doubt that the location of the new community in the midst of towering cliffs led to its descriptive name, probably a shortening of "Cliff Town". The situation of the town was such that it was subject to dangerous floods which time and time again took lives and destroyed property. The greatest flood occurred on December 4, 1906, when it rained continuously for thirty hours. This gave the people forewarning of what might happen and most of them took refuge on higher ground. Nevertheless, eighteen people were killed by this flood. No serious flood has occurred since 1916."

Post Office Established March 1875. Town incorporated March 11, 1909.

Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona Place Names University of Arizona Press. 1960.
P. 163

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Websites

Arizona Department of Commerce-- Clifton, Arizona
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/pdf/commasst/comm/clifton.pdf

Local Site for Town of Clifton Residents
http://www.cityvalue.org/ci_clifton.htm

High Country News: Clifton, Arizona: A town no one knows
http://www.hcn.org/1994/apr04/dir/essay.html

History of Clifton Arizona
http://www.zekes.com/~zoner/past.html

The Arizonan.com-- Clifton, Arizona
http://www.arizonan.com/Clifton/

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Newspapers

Eastern Arizona Courier (aka The Copper Era)
http://www.eacourier.com/

Wilcox Range News
http://www.willcoxrangenews.com/

The Clifton clarion
AN 2 .C52 C5x

The Copper era
AN2 .C52 C67x

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Sites to See

Greenlee County Historical Museum
317 Chase Ck CLIFTON AZ 85533
(520) 865-3115

Clifton/Greenlee County Public Library
P.O. Box 1226 Clifton, Arizona 85533-1226
(520) 865-3710

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Books/Manuscripts found in the ASU Library Catalog

History of Clifton / James M. Patton.
F819 .C54 P3x 1977

History of Arizona's Clifton-Morenci mining district : a personal approach / by Ted Cogut and Bill Conger.
TN443.A6 C64x 1999

Childhood memories of a fabulous mining camp, Clifton, Arizona, 1915-1926 : life is a  journey, an adventure, and a mission / Harold T. Shortridge.
F819.C54 S56x 1990

The early history of the Clifton-Morenci district / by James Colquhoun.
F819 .C54 C62x

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Items on the Arizona and Southwest Index

Newsclippings Clifton-Strike 1917
CE EPH M-97

Ethnic Factors Leading to the Clifton-Morence Strike of 1915 - 1916.
MM CHSM-20

Phelps Dodge Corporation - Morenci Branch Plant-Production-History, 1940
FM MSM-66

Development of Mining In The Clifton-Morenci District
FE EPH MCGN-1

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Last Updated: July 15, 2002
If you would like to know more about the author of this site, Jeffrey Scott, feel free to visit his homepage.
In addition, if you have any questions about this site or Arizona History, feel free to e-mail Jeffrey