Wild Wild West Tour of Jerome: Mining History & Outlaws

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/7

Duration1h 30m

GroupUp to 14

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

The Billion-Dollar Copper Town That Slid Downhill

A 90-minute guided tour of Jerome, Arizona led by an accredited local guide and Jerome Historical Society member, covering the rise and fall of the world's largest copper mining town and the outlaws, gamblers and notorious figures who shaped it. The tour splits between an air-conditioned vehicle and walking through the historic district, stopping at the Audrey Shaft Headframe Park (where you stand on glass 1,900 feet above a mine shaft), Jerome State Historic Park and its Douglas Mansion museum, and past the town's wineries. All guides are Jerome residents trained with archives from the Jerome Historical Society.

1h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

The Experience

Ninety minutes is enough to move through Jerome's mining past without eating your whole afternoon. The tour starts at the Audrey Shaft Headframe Park, where the largest wooden headframe still standing in Arizona towers above you—completed in 1918, it rises 650 feet higher than the Empire State Building. You stand on glass directly above a 1,900-foot shaft, which gives you a concrete sense of the scale of what was pulled out of the ground here. The headframe is managed by the Jerome Historical Society and sits right next to Jerome State Historic Park.

The mine itself opened in 1882 under Territorial Governor Frederick Tritle, financed by New York investors including Eugene Jerome, the man the town is named after. Over 70 years of mining pulled out more than a billion dollars in copper, gold, silver, zinc and iron—Jerome was the world's largest copper producer during World War I. Your guide walks you through that timeline and the people who made it: Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, the Cuban Queen, and Belgian Jennie, a brothel owner whose murder became part of Jerome's legend. The Douglas Mansion, built in 1916 by a mining family, now houses a museum with old miners' equipment and remnants of the saloon gambling scene.

What happened to Jerome is as dramatic as what built it. During the 1930s, fault lines, massive explosions from the Verde Copper Company and water erosion sent parts of the town into landslides. The jail slid 225 feet from its original foundation—some months the ground moved 1½ feet. Half the tour travels by air-conditioned vehicle so you can cover the geography without the heat; the other half is on foot through the district. You'll pass Jerome's wineries on the way, and the museum and gift shop, which opened in the early 1950s and document the town's full arc from boom to near-ghost town.

What’s included

Accredited local guide who is a Jerome resident and Jerome Historical Society member.
air-conditioned vehicle for half the route.
entry to Audrey Shaft Headframe Park and Jerome State Historic Park.
access to the Douglas Mansion museum.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPets welcomePublic transport nearbyNot for heart conditions

Operated by Jerome Ghost Tours

Is this one for you?At 90 minutes, the tour leaves your afternoon open for lunch in Jerome or a drive to nearby Sedona, while still covering the mining history, the outlaws and the geological drama that shaped the town. The split between vehicle and walking means you get the full geography without overcommitting to a full-day itinerary.