Darren's Rides: Crown King Arizona

Part Two

Crown King is an unincorporated community in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States, located at an elevation of 5,771 feet (1,759 m). Crown King population 133.

The site of a former gold mining town, Crown King is 28 miles west of Interstate 17 on Senator Highway, high in the Bradshaw Mountains. The community is named after the Crowned King mine, but the name was shortened to Crown King in 1888.

Horsethief Basin Lake resides 6.5 miles South-East of Crown King on Crown King Rd/Forest 259 Rd.

An estimated USD $2,000,000 in gold was taken from the Crowned King Mine alone; the mines have been closed since the 1950s and for the past half-century tourism has been the only reliable source of income in the area.

While an active mining town, Crown King was served by the Bradshaw Mountain Railroad. Rail service to the area began in 1904 upon completion of "Murphy's Impossible Railroad" — a series of switchbacks and trestles that ascended the mountain terrain between Cleator and Crown King.

More History of Crown Kng Az.

The bodies of Omer Lee Casey of Somerton and William Ray Middaugh of Yuma were found Monday in a national forest campground about 30 miles southeast of Prescott by U.S. Forest Service workers.

On Tuesday the suspect in the double murders, identified as 21-year-old Rusty Rankin of Phoenix, apparently killed himself at a Colorado hotel after police spent three hours trying to coax him out of his room. Lt. Steve Francis of the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said detectives knew of no apparent motive for the killings.

Casey and Middaugh, longtime friends, had gone to the Crown King area to go camping,

The longtime friends often went camping and spent hours in target shooting competition, Omer Lee Casey was an owner of the Casey & Sons harvesting company.

Middaugh retired from Arizona Public Service after working at the Yucca plant for more than 30 years.

The double murder was the second in recent months in the area.

In October, two other campers were found murdered in a campground not far from the site of Monday's grisly discovery. That double murder remains unsolved. Arizona police have not called Rankin a suspect in that case.

Brandon Rumbaugh, 20, and his girlfriend Lisa Gurrieri, 19, were killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head. The couple from Scottsdale were parked five miles south of a campground near Prescott.

The rest of the story.

The old general store once stood here before the 2008 Crown King Fire.

I remember going camping to Horsethief Basin Lake as a kid staying in the campgrounds. Going to the general store and getting real mile the kind straight from the cow man was it so good. This is the first time since I have been back in some 30 years.