Chloride, Arizona was founded in 1862 with the discovery of silver ore and is an old mining camp that never quite died. At one time there was over 72 mines operating in Chloride. The name Chloride came from the silver chloride found in the hills among other minerals in the area. Silver chloride is used in photographic emulsions and antiseptic silver solutions.

Chloride is the oldest continuously inhabited mining town in the state of Arizona. Old Miner's Day commences the last Saturday in June and is the biggest event of the year for Chloride. Festivities commemorate mining days when Chloride was the silver mining capitol of Arizona.

The Butterfield Stage served Chloride from 1868 through 1919 and the Santa Fe Railroad came into town from 1898 until 1935. All the major mining in Chloride was finished by 1944.

Today this ghost town mining camp of about 250 people still has the flavor of the old west. There are ghosts of buildings that used to be lived in, ghosts of mines that used to be producing minerals, and ghosts of people that used to live here.

Stage coaches and trains once served Chloride, today is the auto, ATV, Jeeps and horse back. The Butterfield Stage Line serviced Chloride and surrounding area in early years and in 1898, the Sante Fe Railroad began laying tracks from Kingman into Chloride. The railway station still stands today and is fairly intact, but the tracks are long gone.

The Chloride Post Office, also established in 1862, is the oldest continuously operating post office in the state of Arizona. The Chloride Fire Department houses an operational 1939 Ford fire engine built especially for the town by the Ford Motor Company. It is still in use. A Mack fire engine has been added, and both are used when needed.

This is a wonderful place for photography of nature and other things. Petroglyphs are in the mountains around Chloride. For those in sky photography, there are not many lights to spoil the night time skies, making star gazing and photography possible. A good part of the year the Milky Way is overhead.

A few miles off the main highway and many miles back in time. It is a small village of 250 people with 1 motel with full service restaurant & bar, 1 convenience store and several gift shops. Nestled in a pocket of the Cerbat Mountain Range, Chloride is a peaceful place for tourists to visit and for others to retire to when you are finally ready to get away from it all.

The elevation is 4,000 feet above sea level. Many of the present day citizens are retirees, artists, musicians, and the like. Chloride has a small RV park and overnight RV parking.