Nothing
Arizona
June 2018
What would you call a town that was a town, then it was a ghost town, and now it’s not even that?
You’d call it “Nothing,” right?
This town that couldn’t make it as a ghost town once had a sign on the outskirts of town, wherever that might be. You would see the sign as you entered…
Town of Nothing Arizona. Founded 1977. The staunch citizens of Nothing are full of Hope, Faith, and Believe in the work ethic. Thru-the-years-these dedicated people had faith in Nothing, hoped for Nothing, worked at Nothing, for Nothing.
Ahh, those staunch citizens. All four of ‘em. Really.
These days, this is what you get…

The Arizona state official historian, Marshall Trimble, had this to say in 1978, a year after the town was founded…
I found out there was four people living there, and that was the peak population of Nothing back then. The owner of the bar was a guy named Buddy. The town motto was, ‘All for Nothing.’ The bar was called “Ain’t Much Bar” and it burned down a year later.”
In 2009, Mike Jensen, who owned a portable oven, tried to open a pizza shop. They called him, “the Pizza Guy,” but the Pizza Guy went belly up. “He lost his shirt for Nothing!” says Marshall Trimble.
Since 2011, there has been nothing in Nothing and it’s likely that nothing will ever happen again in Nothing.
Surprisingly, I find Nothing on the map, 22.1 miles as the crow flies, or 23.8 miles as the crow drives, south of Wikieup on US-93, here in Arizona. We park in the dusty gravel pullout with the radio antenna and the broken-down graffiti-covered shack. I’m going to guess the tower belongs to KFTT Radio, an oldies station in Bagdad, northeast of Nothing 11.2 miles as the crow flies and twice as far as the crow drives. I’ve already described what we found in Nothing: the shack, the antenna and dust. Other than this, nothing.
Okay, that’s ridiculous, to say there is nothing here. There is a lot here. I mean, come on, the Arizona Department of Transportation installed a motorist callbox. Can’t say that’s not something.
A dirt road leads east from the side-of-the-highway pullout, crosses a cattle guard and quickly forks. I choose for us to explore Forest Route 7669 which goes to the left. We walk up and down the mildly corrugated dirt road, the only signs of civilization are the road, which appears to be maintained, some pullouts and a flexible dryer vent hose attached to the root of a tree and running into the ground. I have no explanation for this.
Half a mile on the road and we conclude that there is nothing left of Nothing. Absolutely nothing here that indicates anyone ever resided in these parts, other than a long dead rusted metal cabinet lying on its side and some tire tracks. But those don’t attest to residents.
But nothing here? Ha!
8.4 miles up Burro Creek Road as the crow walks is the area known as Six Mile Crossing. Here is what I was able to find about Six Mile Crossing…
. If you look at the real estate listings, you get… nothing.
. If you look at the list of restaurants, you get… nothing.
. If you look for sightseeing opportunities, you get… nothing.
. If you look for places to shop, you get… nothing.
How many people inhabit Six Mile Crossing? Census data sites reveal, “Six Mile Crossing has not been included in past census counts, so there is no population information for this community.”
There is no population information for this community because there is no population. Nobody lives in Six Mile Crossing! You could say there is nothing here.
But wait. Had we known at the time, we would have gotten ourselves in the car and driven Burro Creek Road, FR-7669, all the way to Six Mile Crossing. Why?
Black basalt mesas covered with desert grassland. Joshua tree, yucca, saguaro, cholla and ocotillo, palo verde and creosote bush. Scat, cattle crossings, flash flood evidence, a tailings dam from the copper mine. Cottonwood trees and streams. Javelina, toad, fish and raptor. In this area are a few cemeteries, if that’s your idea of adding something to an environment. Plenty of desert shrub, tree and rock formations. More than nothing. Much more.
But now back to Nothing. How did this place get its unique name? Folks who live nearby tell us that it was named by a bunch of drunks.
The times I’ve been with a bunch of drunks, all kinds of great ideas leap forth. Like naming a town Nothing.
When Lisa and I left the Grand Canyon, the most direct route back to Phoenix and the airport would have been to drive more or less straight south. But Nothing beckoned to us and we put in an extra hour and a half of drive time. I said to Lisa, “We didn’t drive all this way out here for Nothing. Well, yeah, actually we did…”
And y’know what? This place is something else.