Ore Cart Trail Selection

"The Sail Cart" by Christopher Lucic of Oracle

Situated in the northern foothills of the Catalina Mountains at an elevation of 4514 feet, the unincorporated community of Oracle was founded in the waning decades of the nineteenth century.  A miner named Albert Weldon made the trip west via Cape Horn in his uncle’s ship, The Oracle.  While working at the Oracle mine Weldon began building a brush camp on the site of our modern day town.  Early settler Edwin S. Dodge applied for a post office for the town in the 1880’s, and while his first choice for a name was rejected in favor of the name of Weldon’s ship, The Oracle, most residents are happy to live with the moniker.  By January 1882, there were eight buildings on the site and after the Apache mine began working the area grew.  Learn more by visiting the Oracle Historical Society.