As originally created, Mohave County consisted of the entire northwestern region of Arizona. The county seat was first at Callville but when that portion of Arizona was give to Nevada in 1865, the county seat was removed to Mohave City in 1866 and then by 1872 to Hardyville. It was changed from there to the mining center of Cerbat in 1871 and thereafter to Mineral Park in 1873. In 1887 with the completion of the railroad through Kingman, the county seat was moved to Kingman where it has remained.

Mohave county encompasses 8,486,400 acres, making it the second largest county in Arizona and the third largest in the nation. Mining and ranching are the principal industries. A large portion of the county is contained in the Hualapai Reservatino."

Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona Place Names. University of Arizona Press. 1960.
p. 200

"In northwest corner of State along Colorado River. One of the four original counties. After local Indians. "An indian word meaning 'three mountains' from their proximity to the 'Needles'." Hodge.
An Act of the 13th Legislative Assembly of Arizona contained a clause to the effect that: "The county seat of Mohave county shall be at Mineral Park or some place located on the Atlantic and Pacific railway within said country."

    The Howell Code originally spelled this word "Mojave", but according to authorities of that day, "due to an ignorant clerk," the legislative act above quoted spelled it "Mohave". Word now seems to be uniformly spelled  spelled Mohave, excepting the post office in California, which has always used the "j"."

Barnes, Will C. Arizona Place Names. University of Arizona Press. 1997
p. 282

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Websites

County Profile-Arizona Department of Commerce
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/pdf/county/mohave.pdf

Local Government Website
http://www.co.mohave.az.us/

Arizonan.com-Mohave County
http://arizonan.com/MohaveCounty/

Mohave County News
http://www.mohavecountynews.com/
 

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Cities of County

Arizona Village
Bullhead City
Chloride
Colorado City
Dolan Springs
Golden Valley
Hualapai
Kingman-County Seat
Lake Havasu
Oatman

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Sites to See

Mohave County Library District
http://www.co.mohave.az.us/1moweb/depts_files/library.htm

Mohave Museum of History and Arts
400 West Beale Street
Kingman, Arizona, 86401
928-753-3195
http://www.citlink.net/citlink/m/mocohist/museum/

The Chloride Historical Society
Jim Fritz Museum
2nd St. and Elkhart
P.O. Box 294
Chloride, AZ 86431
Ph (928) 565-3619

Colorado River Historical Society
P.O. Box 1599 Bullhead City, AZ 86430
Museum phone (928)754-3399
http://www.bullheadcity.com/tourism/hismuseum.shtml

Lake Havasu City Historical Society
PO Box 1043 Lake Havasu City, AZ 86405-
 
 

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Books/Manuscripts found in the ASU Library Catalog

History Books for Reference

Early days in Mohave County / by Roman Malach.
F817 .M5 M323x

The history of Mohave County to 1912 / by Dan W. Messersmith ; illustrations by Joe Wheeler.
F817.M5 M47x 1991

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