Detention camp under construction in Clarkdale, AZ

Living in central Arizona I have heard about the rumored secret military base in Secret Canyon near Sedona Arizona. I have actively searched for it and have not found it. In my search for it I was informed of another project going on in a small town called Clarkdale. The locals call the site Transylvania. I was told that work has been going on at the site for about 10 years now. Most of the work is being done at night. (while I was at the site taking photos, I could here sounds of construction work, but couldn't see where it was being done.) I was able to take over 70 pictures of the site.
A brief history of the site... The site used to be a processing plant for copper ore mining. I believe that it was first used in the 1920's. I am working on finding a picture of the site from the 1920's to compare the changes that are being made now.

This first picture is of the gate and guard shack that is being fixed up.

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This picture is of the lock and chain on the site gate. Look at the chain it appears to be fairly new.

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Here is a picture looking down the fence from the site gate.

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This is a picture of the railroad tracks that lead into the site.

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This is a close up of the guard shack. Look at the left side of the shack and you will see new electrical conduit running into the shack. Also, look at the center of the picture. there is a port-o-pot in the picture. Evidence that some kind of work is going on there.

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This picture was taken further up the fence looking back towards the guard shack. Notice the new trailers behind the front building. I believe this how they are bring the materials into the site.

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Here is a picture off the train yard at the site. In the second bay was a fairly new locomotive and in the last bay was a new white pick-up truck. I know they are hard to see, but this was as close as I could get. I was holding my camera up to the fence with full zoom on.

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Please take a look at this. Is it a detention camp in the making? A lot of the local that live near this place seem to think so. No one seems to know who is doing the work. In a small town that is kind of odd. everyone knows everyone else. I was also informed a lot of the work goes on at night. I will try and make a trip there at night to see if I can confirm this.

If you want to go to the site then u2u me and I will give you directions to it.

New facilities for the Vally Verde Railroad, probably. Clarksdale has been promoting it heavily as a tourist destination.

This site has a map, which has a big star right about the spot it looks like you shot your pictures.

The pictures show an ominous looking place. I can't wait to find out whether this is a 'new camp' or not. I'm not convinced this is a site for a tourist railroad but others will have to confirm or deny this.

The site is not the tourist railroad, but it is up the track about 1/4 mile. The site was last owned by Phelps-Dodge. A mining co. here in the southwest. It was traded to the state of AZ as part of a large land swap some years back. If you want I will post pics of the tourist railroad to show you the difference.

here is a picture of the tourist RR in Clarkdale.

www.verdecanyonrr.com...

It looks a lot different than the site I was taking pictures of.

I stand corrected. It appears the faciility will be used for ghoulish, inhuman experiments by the undead

The land now belongs to, I kid you not, Transylvania International, an appropriate moniker, considering the season. I can't find any hard info on the company itself, so TI may be just a holding company.

The complete tax record for the land is here. There's an aerial photo there which shows the parcel, along with the foundation of a building the same size and shape as the one you photographed.

The facility, which used to be called Verde River Iron, is being upgraded and will be used for a mineral reclamation plant (there's a huge mountain of old iron-works slag just north of the site) -- they're mining slag for gold!

MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF CLARKDALE HELD ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17TH, 2004, IN THE MEN'S LOUNGE, CLARK MEMORIAL CLUBHOUSE, 19 N. NINTH STREET, CLARKDALE, ARIZONA.

Transylvania International, Inc., through their representatives from Verde River Iron Company, request a new conditional use permit to allow the establishment and operation of an industrial use, reclamation and processing of the slag pile at the old smelter site, in the I, Industrial zone district and the north end of Luke Lane, Assessor's tax parcel number 400-02-004E. The parcel is comprised of approximately 110 acres and contains several buildings and remnants of the old smelter operation.

Two years later, they're still haggling over the details.

In the meanwhile, the town has started on a new sewage treatment plant, being built...guess where?

Minutes of a Special Meeting of the Common Council of the Town of Clarkdale
Held on Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 8:00 a.m. in Conference Room A of the
Verde Valley Medical Center, 269 S. Candy Lane, Cottonwood, Arizona.

The Town has leased the site for the land application, approx. 50 acres on Verde River Iron property (Transylvania International). To reach this site an easement was granted along the Verde Canyon Railroad tracks, which run from the existing wastewater facility site North, North West along the track bed.

Transylvania is (maybe) a subsidiary of Searchlight Minerals (there's quite a few complicated deals going on here and I'm not motivated to track down all of them here -- suffice it to say that everybody seems to own stock in everybody else).

SEARCHLIGHT MINERALS CORP. RESUMES DRILLING AT CLARKDALE SLAG
RECLAMATION PROJECT

SEVEN ADDITIONAL DRILL HOLES PLANNED FOR “CHAIN OF CUSTODY”
ANALYSIS OF GOLD AND OTHER METALS CONTAINED IN SLAG PILE

HENDERSON, Nevada (June 1, 2006) – Searchlight Minerals Corp. (OTC BB: SRCH) (the “Company”), today announced that the Company has commenced the drilling of an additional seven holes at the Company’s Clarkdale Slag Reclamation Project in Clarkdale, Arizona. Drilling activities commenced on May 31, 2006.

The drilling activities, along with the analysis of the drill cuttings derived from the seven new holes and three previously drilled holes, will be analyzed under Chain of Custody (COC) parameters by Mountain States R&D International (“MSDRI”), an independent engineering firm based in Tucson, Arizona. MSDRI will perform gold, silver, copper, zinc and iron analysis.

About Searchlight Minerals Corp.

Searchlight Minerals Corp. is a dynamic minerals exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of projects in the southwestern United States. The Company is currently involved in two projects: (1) the Clarkdale Slag Reclamation Project, which seeks to recover base and precious metals from the reprocessing of slag material produced from the smelting of copper ores from former mines in Jerome, Arizona; and (2) the Searchlight Gold Project, which involves the exploration for precious metals on mining claims near Searchlight, Nevada.

Originally posted by rand
The facility, which used to be called Verde River Iron, is being upgraded and will be used for a mineral reclamation plant (there's a huge mountain of old iron-works slag just north of the site) -- they're mining slag for gold!

Sounds like a cover story to me.

Hi all, I found this site while looking for information about land use rules in my area. I am the only private residence on Luke Ln. I drive by this site many times every day. I agree, it does look foreboding, but it's no concentration camp. They recently put up a bunch of "no trespassing" signs: big deal. They are reclaiming the slag pile left over from the copper smelter. Take a look at the Yavapai GIS website and you soon know who I am. This is nonsense, I trespass on their property daily and know the people who work there. No one could pull off a conspriracy in a town this small and stupid.

As far as I know, and I live very close, it is a mining operation.

My Boss has visited the site with the owners. They are going to be taking gold out of this huge slag pile. He said the pile was the size of 4 aircraft carriers. They are going to employ some kind of new technology to get the gold out.

My door guy that I use for our contracting company was just awarded the bid contract for a large office complex scheduled to be built there.

But who really knows anymore. I could be a cover story.

Edit to add: Although I've not seen the underground base in secret canyon, I know people that have, and they know of people that have disappeared. You wouldn't want to end up in Dolce, so be very careful poking around back there. My flooring guy did a job back there for a local, and he said she showed him through a telescope a very large square hole, and it scares the crap out of her sometimes at night.

[edit on 10-8-2008 by seawolf197]

I've been to Transylvania, having walked and climbed through the old smelter at night for kicks, and having walked on the slag pile many times.

Interesting place and a beautiful relic of history, but not likely any kind of "internment camp".