Oatman, Arizona, sits in the Black Mountains west of Kingman, about twenty miles from the California border. It was a gold mining town in the early twentieth century — at its peak around 1915 it had a population of 10,000 and produced more than 36 million dollars in gold. Then the mines gave out and everyone left.
What remained was a small town on Route 66 with a main street that looked exactly like a movie set of the Old West, because it essentially was one — John Ford used Oatman as a filming location multiple times. The Clark Gable Hotel, where Gable and Carole Lombard spent their wedding night in 1939, is still standing and operating as a hotel.
The burros arrived when miners released their pack animals after the mines closed. The animals went feral and bred, and their descendants have been wandering through Oatman ever since. At some point, someone discovered that the burros would accept carrots from tourists’ hands, and the town’s marketing department, such as it was, leaned into this completely.
There are now hundreds of wild burros in and around Oatman. They walk freely through the main street, blocking traffic, accepting food, being photographed. The town sells bags of carrots specifically for this purpose. Children who have never been on a farm get to feed a large, shaggy animal with enormous ears on a Tuesday morning.
Route 66 has always known that the best attraction is the one that makes itself. The Oatman burros don’t know they’re a tourist attraction. They’re just hungry. The road provided an audience for them anyway.
We are offering licences for ROUTE 66® Beer in specific territories. An invitation to others to become part of this story. To carry a piece of the road with them and to contribute to the story. We will share a percentage of royalties with Route 66 associations to keep the story alive.
The journey continues. This story is brought to you by ROUTE 66® BEER. Find us at ROUTE66BEER.COM
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