Gold King Mine and Ghost Town

Don’t waste your time money or gas. What a rip off… who wants to pay to see a bunch of late model rusty trucks… pay the money to go in and pay more money to pan for gold. So you wait twenty minutes for someone to come back… back in 5 Minutes… yeah right

This place was a blast. For $ 5 each we enjoyed looking at the ghost town and impressive collection of trucks for well over an hour. I guess this place isn’t for everyone but it was definitely for us. We love cars and trucks and had so much fun exploring the seemingly endless collection. It was so interesting to see the old construction equipment, cars, trucks, and especially RVs. Very fun and nostalgic. The ghost town was also interesting and it was great how guests could look inside some of the buildings such as the dentist and the blacksmith. Best of all, we were able to take a ton of pictures. I would highly recommend this for just about anyone especially families. I imagine kids would love exploring all the cars and trucks. It’s a great way to spend some time in Jerome. The only reason I am giving this 4 stars is because there were a lot of bees. If management does see this please spray because I want this place to be fun and getting stung by a bee would not make for a fun day! Otherwise a great attraction and a must see for a day trip to Jerome.

It’s a junkyard owned by someone who probably has food, guns and ammo hoarded in his basement. This person lives in fear of big government coming to take all of his junk away.
This is not a ghost town, it’s not a mine, it’s not a museum, it’s not a tourist destination. It’s a roadside junk collection. $ 5 admission+ $ 1 «tax”+$ 1 credit card fee.
It’s a joke, don’t waste your time and money. I’m actually surprised they have not been sued out of business by personal injury lawyers. The place is ripe with hazards.

Wish we would have read the reviews before paying. NOT WORTH IT. We paid 5 $ per person to look at old rusted cars, two or three cool historical rooms, and offensive right winged propaganda. Honestly, after reading the owner’s offensive signs my partner and I felt uncomfortable and at edge. There are animals on the premises but they look cramped and unhappy. There was one area that claimed there was a mine in the area but all we could see was a hole in the ground. Won’t be coming back to this place and will not be recommending it to friends.

Some friends and I took a trip North of Phoenix to try and find some vehicles suitable for a restoration projects. One of the places we stopped into in our quest was Jerome. I’ve been up your plenty of times but I’ve never been up to the old gold mine museum. Since they have a ton of old vehicles we dropped in to scope out the place. This used to be an old Dodge Phelps mine so really it’s just a collection of junk and old cars. Basically it’s a junkyard that you can’t buy anything at. It’s neat to see a bunch of junk but you have to pay to see it all so be prepared to spend a couple dollars. Don’t bring the wife unless shes a gear head or else I’m sure you won’t get enough time to rummage through the junk. Don’t forget your hiking shoes

We had a blast. Our family trip included 4 adults and 2 toddlers and we all love it. The $ 5 per person was so worth every minute. It’s just walking around and looking at fun old things. Cool cars. Feeding goats and chickens, lots of photo opportunities. It was very closley related to a museum. Just a fun piece of history. We’d go back for sure.

There are many things I don’t mind paying for, but there are somethings I hate paying for and this place was full of them! I dont like paying a bogus tax which was added on to the entry fee. I don’t like paying someone else’s rent or lease. From what I heard this place is leased from the mining company. The fellow who leases it uses it as a yard to store his hoarding. It’s not a ghost town of mining history, it’s a junkyard! I don’t like paying to look at rat poop! The buildings are full of it. Disgusting. While I wasn’t asked to snuffle around in the rat poop, I really didn’t like breathing near it! I really, really, really did not like paying to read this fellow’s political viewpoints which bordered on racist.
This is not some cool hip place to see someone else’s ‘antiques.’ This is a place to see run down depressing rusted out crap and rat poop.
You might think I’m bitter about getting ripped of. Of course I am. Nonetheless, this place is awful.

Cool place to check out. Yes, there is a TON of rusting old machinery there, but it’s super cool and it has history, but some people don’t get that. There are also a ton (and I mean a TON) of old cars, trucks and tractors there that are totally swoon-​worthy to any collector who would like a project but don’t waste your time asking, they are NOT for sale! (My dad asked!) He won’t sell anything metal but he does have a ton of beautiful wood slabs cut on the old machinery that can be used for bar/​tabletops and mantles. So cool! Seriously people, you’d spend over $ 5 on a Starbucks latte without batting an eye but think $ 5 for seeing historical machinery and rare cars is overpriced? Get over yourself… Oh and he does have some very strong political views which are made obvious in signage, so if you love Obama and protecting the Mexican Spotted Owls, this may not be the place for you LOL I thought it was hilarious! Good place to kill an hour or two walking around.

As others have said, pay for visiting a junk yard??? Not even limited to just Jerome junk but crap from all over. Hard to imagine how people haven’t caught on and, more startling, how someone could manage to give 5 stars. Of course they may never have seen junk before in which case, it may be novel but not to me. This would be stuff one would have to pay to get rid of in the East.

It is pretty much a junk yard but it does have some interesting things to look at. Feeding the animals was worth the admission all on it own for me. The chihuahuas were great, they loved me but hated my boyfriend lol. I liked the creepy as hell old wooden shed with saw blades hanging all over the ceiling, it looked like a horror movie set. We ran into Don and he was very nice. All the political stuff was just in one area, not all over the place. We just laughed at how ridiculous it was instead of letting it ruin the place. If in Jerome it’s worth the $ 5.

We came here to check it out and check it out we did. Pretty cool to see ask the throwback tools, equipment, vehicles etc. Huge touristy spot (obviously) so the gift shop is huge and somewhat pricey… But that’s to be expected.
Chill place to get the feel of old jerome and kill some time.

It was a junk yard with hateful (and borderline racist) political messages (delivered both by hand written signage and personal comments).

Meh. Nothing really to see that is that exciting.

When looking up this little gem it was unclear how much $. I’m giving a 5 star rating due to it was worth the $ 5. Adult admission fee.

Not really a mine tour or a ghost town tour. Mostly just as junk yard tour. You pay $ 5 and for that you get to see a lot of stuff. Lots of old cars a few animals running around. The junk is from lots of generations. Twenties era stuff right next to junk from the 70s and 80s. If you’re a junk fan, you’ll love it

I love rusty crap as much as the next girl. In fact, probably more than the next girl. Goats, chickens donkeys? Hell YA! However if I am paying to walk through your outdoor museum of crap I don’t want to see political crap on every frigging turn! Seriously! Can I pay an extra dollar to not see the hanging spotted owl and the president Obama jokes???

I am a cheeseball. I love tourist trap kind of destinations, so going to Jerome for the ghost town experience was right up there on my list. Found this place while checking out the town. It met all my criteria for cheesiness — handmade signs, ghost town promises.
When you arrive there, you first encounter a little gift shop full of random Southwestern souvenirs and memorabilia. All of it junk and nothing I needed. Then you pay $ 5 a person to enter into the actual ghost town bit. It first it seems interesting but then I had the «doh» realization that I just paid $ 5 to see a fucking junk yard with a sprinkling of old buildings that were the actual part of the ghost town but you wouldn’t know because the whole place just looks like one big pile of rubbish. Honestly, its was an episode of Hoarders on crack. Carcasses of cars and trucks, in various states of decay and disrepair, sit all around the grounds with randomly placed signs mentioning the car make and year. But not every car has a sign, nor every building. Honestly, the place was weird. I just kept wandering around regretting my wasted $ 5 and trying to remember when I got my last tetanus shot.
One star was retained for the donkey that would give kisses — it was probably the highlight of this bleak endeavor. The worst, and most inappropriate, were the political (right-​wing) signs around the grounds. I don’t care what the employees and owners feel and believe politically. You can believe in 4-​eyed-​aliens from 3,000 light years away built the Pentagon and govern Uganda for all I care — Just don’t post all around the place on huge signs…(1) you aren’t going to change anyone’s mind or feelings about their political leaning regarding the Affordable Care Act and (2) its tacky and lame. But I guess I shouldn’t question the signs too much. The whole place was lame and its completely tacky of them to charge money to have people look at their pile of crap.

Echt der Wahnsinn! Unglaublich viele alte Autos, LKWs, Motoren, Bergbaugeräte, … Schaut leider etwas wie ein Schrottplatz aus. Alles wild durcheinander gewürfelt. Muss man trotzdem gesehen haben!

What a weird place this is. When we went here there was nobody to be seen other then the chickens. It gave me a feeling that the next sequel to chain saw massacre should be filmed here. There’s a bunch of old cars and just junk lying around. This gets a 5 because it was really creepy in a cool sort of way.

Super cool place. We made a stop in Jerome, AZ today and walked around the strange little town. When we were leaving the parking lot we noticed a sign advertising the ghost town/​gold mine and we almost dismissed it but then we thought «hey, we’re here… why not?» We’re so glad we did!
There’s a little shop with most of the same junk every other shop has… gems, scorpion paper weights, etc and at the back of the shop is a door to the ghost town/​gold mine and it cost us $ 5 each to go in. Best $ 5 I’ve spent in a long time. THAT PLACE WAS SO COOL!!!
Honestly, had I known what was behind that door I would probably be okay paying $ 15 each. I’m a bit of a gear head… I like American Pickers… I like salvaged materials and old cars… so maybe it’s more interesting to me, but when you stop and really take in all that is there, I think most everybody can appreciate what’s going on there. It’s VERY cool, VERY unique and definitely worth EVERY penny you pay to see it. Go see it if you have the opportunity.

Located in Jerome, AZ about 2 hrs from Scottsdale, we stumbled across this place while driving through town. I love scary things and when I saw Ghost Town, I wanted to see it. As soon as we pulled up, all I could think about was Rob Zombie’s movie House of 1000 Corpses… of course it had nothing to do with it, but that’s what went through my mind.
To get here, you have to drive on a short dirt road to a small parking lot by the entrance. You enter through a gift shop and pay $ 5 per person to see the gold mine/​town.
From what I could tell, the gold mine is legit… and there’s a shaft that’s closed off by a fence.
I’m not sure if these were the real buildings or if they are manufactured for show… either way, it’s not that creepy in the daytime. I bet it is at night.
There’s no tour guide, so we just wandered around looking at buildings and old, junk yard props… it’s kind of a weird setting.
There’s a «miner» near the gold mine shaft and you can pan for gold for $ 8 or you can crack rocks for minerals for $ 5.
They sell Sodas and Water for $ 1 if you get thirsty.
There’s not much to do in Jerome, so was it worth the $ 5 price of admission? I guess so… at least I can say we went to the ghost town in Jerome, which is known for haunted stuff.
Return Factor — 60%