ARIZONA TERRITORY –JOHNSON- GHOST TOWN STORE SCRIP  PAY TO MINER AUGUSTIEN VALENCIA. Johnson, Arizona, 2 3/8" x 4 1/8", $1.00 Store Scrip of Fiege & Co Commissary and Meat Market. Pay tp Augusten Valencia. Redeemed 19__(1902) (Paid) stamp on back. Some dampstaining rt side, o/w VG. Almost certainly Fiege & Co was a company store for the mines. Very scarce ghost town ephemera.
Johnson, located in Cochise County, AZ, 19 miles NW of Benson, PO est. as Johnson April 5 , 1900, and discont. Nov 20, 1029. Founded as the headquarters for the Peabody Company in 1883, Johnson was the successor to nearby Russellville. Mr. Johnson, the town's namesake, was general manager of the company at that time. By July, 150 men were employed working the copper from the Peabody Mine, and Johnson had a clustering of saloons, stores, and other establishments. A mining slump followed the turn of the century, but work resumed again about 1909, and Johnson accelerated its pace of development. By 1925 it had become a community of a thousand people.In addition to the Peabody, there were many other companies working and developing the area's copper wealth. Three other mines in the vicinity were the Black Prince Copper, Cochise Copper, and Keystone.The mid-twenties were good      years. Suddenly, the depression dropped the price of copper, and Johnson's life ended. Not much is left of the town, a few concrete foundations, and signs indicating previous mining.   (Az152); $200.