In Route 66 travel traditional knowledge , the narrow , winding , two - lane route to or from Oatman , Arizona , is the most daunting passageway on all of the Mother Road . These 10 miles of extortionate switchbacks and hairpin play between Ed ’s Camp and Oatman pass through the Black Mountains , and were oncetheeast - westward thoroughfare in that part of the land .
For 30 twelvemonth , car and trucks cross the notorious Sitgreaves Pass , with some people even opt to have the locals drive their car up the unconscionable grades or have them tow over the pass . Early elevator car ( which did n’t have fuel pumps ) would sometimes have to drive in reversal to make it up the Gold Hill Grade ! After driving forrard on the route , I ’m amazed that anyone could ever do it backward .
Nowadays car are a lot more suited for the desolate — but no less adventuresome — push back on the now - named Oatman Highway , and a detour off Interstate 40 affords a literal Historic Route 66 experience . We were golden to reach through after three upstanding weeks of summer monsoon at long last let up , and the desert was stunningly live and fleeceable .
We attract on to Oatman Highway from Kingman , and the initial stint was rather delude ; just a distinctive back road through the boonies that went directly for what seemed like twenty-four hours . But decent after we eliminate Ed ’s Camp , an abandon relic from the Route 66 day , the road became a voluminous - turny frisson that hugged the hillside with no guardrails .
Slight carsickness apart ( I have a husband who loves to challenge propose speed limit ) , we reached the Ithiel Town of Oatman just before the sunlight was setting .
With a population of 128 , Oatman is not quite a specter town but deliberate that it used to put up 10,000 the great unwashed in its heyday , this former excavation township seems to mostly subsist as a holidaymaker haul .
It ’s an intriguing glimpse into the Wild West , and when we arrived the line of work had all closed down for the day , feel like that dusty old townsfolk in the movies with a unmarried tumbleweed range down the street . On a weekend good afternoon we ’ve heard that Oatman is quite a rattling community that attracts day - tripper from nearby Laughlin , Nevada , as well as route - trippers on Route 66 .
The town flourished in 1915 when two prospectors struck $ 10 million in gold . From the early 1900s to the early 1940s , when mining was at its peak in Oatman , it was the largest producer of gold in Arizona ( together with a neighboring town , Goldroad , two miles off ) .
During the Second World War , the town ’s minelaying operation were shut down as part of the land ’s war effort , since other metals besides gold were needed at the time . In 1953 , the new — and less torturous — Interstate 40 was built between Kingman , Arizona , and Needles , California , a straighter route that bypassed Oatman completely . By the 1960s , the townsfolk was all but abandoned .
These 24-hour interval , Oatman is a must - stop for Route 66 history caramel brown . Wild donkeys freely rove the town ’s four blocks , begging for “ burro chow ” from unsuspicious tourer . The donkeys descend from ingroup animal that had form in the mines and were left behind when the last settler leave behind ; the current universe in town ( which we ’ve heard can number in the dozens on a effective Clarence Shepard Day Jr. ) is protect by the US Department of the Interior .
Although a ardor in the 1920s burned down many of Oatman ’s buildings , it spared the historical Oatman Hotel , built in 1902 and now the oldest two - story adobe structure in Mohave County . The hotel is best known for being a honeymoon stop for Clark Gable and Carole Lombard , who were get hitched with in Kingman in 1939 , and their honeymoon rooms on the 2nd flooring still exist .
The quietus of the street is full of restaurants , saloons and shops , most of them trumpeting their proud Route 66 heritage as well as their classy mascot ( hem , accent onass ! ) , but since there was not a undivided other someone there ( earnestly , closed means closed in this town ) , we could only walk past the storefronts .
I would love to revisit on a busy and bustling good afternoon when herds of burro are roaming the street while gunfighters are hold gunfight !
