Senator Highway - Crossing the Bradshaw Mountains
Crown King and the Senator Highway
There are faster ways to reach Prescott, but this route follows more than a mountain road. It begins in a mining district formed during Arizona’s territorial period, climbs along the grade of a railroad once considered nearly impossible to build, visits a recreation area shaped during the Great Depression, and then crosses one of the territory’s earliest toll-road corridors.
Watch the full SENATOR HIGHWAY video:
Our drive starts near Cleator, climbs to Crown King, makes a side trip into Horsethief Basin, and then follows Senator Highway north to Prescott. The Senator Highway portion covers just under 30 miles, reaches over 7,100 feet, and is rated moderate, with the Rock Garden serving as its main technical obstacle.
Cleator: From Mining Camp to Surviving Settlement
Cleator began as part of the Turkey Creek mining district in the 1860s, when placer gold drew miners into the drainage below the Bradshaw Mountains. The settlement grew more useful once the railroad reached the area around the turn of the century, giving nearby mines a cheaper way to move ore, equipment, and supplies.
A local merchant later acquired the town and eventually renamed it Cleator. Mining declined during the following decades, and the post office closed in the 1950s, but the settlement remained in the family. Its surviving buildings still sit beside the old railroad corridor and provide a tangible introduction to the region’s mining past.
Read more about our Turkey Creek trip.
Following the Impossible Railroad
The Bradshaw Mountain Railroad was organized in 1901, with construction beginning that same year. The tracks reached the Turkey Creek area the following year, and three years after the company was formed, the line had been extended all the way to Crown King.
The climb required switchbacks, large timber trestles, steep grades, and a tunnel through the mountain. Those engineering demands gave rise to the name “Murphy’s Impossible Railroad.” The upper section survived for only a little more than two decades before the tracks were removed, and parts of today’s road now follow the abandoned grade.
Crown King: A Railroad Town in the Pines
Crown King developed around the Crowned King Mine and became the railroad’s mountain terminus in 1904. With the arrival of regular freight and passenger service, the community expanded to include saloons, stores, restaurants, freight businesses, bunkhouses, and a hospital.
Several buildings still connect the town with that period. The General Store opened the
same year the railroad arrived, while the present saloon building was moved to Crown King from the nearby mining camp of Oro Belle about a dozen years later. The one-room schoolhouse followed soon after. Crown King did not disappear when mining slowed. It adapted into a year-round mountain community while retaining much of its original character.
Horsethief Basin and the Depression-Era Resort
Horsethief Basin’s modern recreational landscape took shape during the Great Depression. Beginning in the early 1930s, the City of Phoenix developed the basin as a mountain retreat, with cabins, a general store, recreation facilities, and camping areas added over the next several years.
Civilian Conservation Corps crews helped build the dam, shelters, and other public improvements around the lake. A fire lookout was also erected above the basin during the same period. Together, the lake, dam, cabins, and lookout mark a clear shift in the Bradshaws, from a landscape dominated by mining toward one increasingly managed for recreation and forest protection.
Returning to Senator Highway
From Horsethief Basin, we retrace the road to Crown King and turn north onto Senator Highway. We are driving the published route in reverse, so the waypoint numbers and mileage count backward as we travel toward Prescott.
The road began in 1866 as the Prescott and Lynx Creek Toll Road. Within the next decade, it had been extended toward the Senator Mine, and over time the corridor continued south through the Bradshaw Mountains toward Crown King.
The Senator Mine operated intermittently from the territorial era into the early twentieth century, making it one of the longer-lived mining operations in the Bradshaws. Its early claimholders included prominent territorial officials, which reflects how closely mining, transportation, and government were connected during Arizona’s development.
The road was not built for sightseeing. It carried freight wagons, miners, mail, stage passengers, machinery, food, and ore between Prescott and the mining camps scattered through the mountains. Its alignment followed practical needs rather than convenience, connecting water sources, mines, settlements, and stage stops across difficult terrain.
The Rock Garden
Because we are driving north from Crown King, we reach the hardest obstacle fairly early. The Rock Garden begins with a ledge of approximately 12 inches, followed by about 150 feet of loose, jagged rock.
I stop and walk the obstacle before driving it, checking the ledge, exposed rocks, and available tire paths. In dry conditions, the section is manageable in a capable four-wheel-drive, but limited clearance or poor tire placement can still leave a vehicle hung up on the ledge or resting on its center.
Crossing the Bradshaw Mountains
Beyond the Rock Garden, the route settles into a slower rhythm. The road alternates between ponderosa forest, exposed ridges, oak woodland, and drier chaparral, with tight corners and short sightlines limiting speed.
A second rock ledge presents another clearance concern farther along the route. It is shorter and less prominent than the Rock Garden, but the exposed rock still requires a deliberate line. Most of the drive, however, is defined less by a single obstacle than by rough surface, blind corners, and the steady distance between services.
Palace Station
Palace Station was built in the mid-1870s as a hand-hewn log residence in Crook Canyon. Within a few years, it had become a regular stop for stage traffic moving between Prescott and the mining districts to the south.
The station provided food, rest, supplies, and care for horses before travelers continued across the mountains. It remained in use for stage service into the early twentieth century and survives as one of the clearest physical reminders of organized travel through the Bradshaws before modern roads.
The Final Miles North
Leaving Palace Station, the road gradually becomes less remote. The surface improves, homes begin to appear, and the route transitions from isolated forest road to the edge of Prescott.
From Crown King, we have covered just under 30 miles. The Rock Garden is the principal technical obstacle, but the larger experience comes from the road itself: narrow sightlines, changing elevation, old grades, and the remains of the transportation network that once connected Arizona’s mining camps.
Prescott was founded in the 1860s as Arizona Territory’s first capital. The capital later moved to Tucson, returned to Prescott a decade later, and eventually moved permanently to Phoenix.
Watch the Bradshaw Mountains Video
The full Hardline video follows the route from Cleator to Prescott, including the surviving mining settlement, the Impossible Railroad grade, Crown King, Horsethief Lake, the CCC-era recreation area, the Rock Garden, Palace Station, and the final miles of Senator Highway.
Watch “Into the Bradshaw Mountains” on YouTube:
The history provides the framework, but the video shows why these roads were difficult to build and travel. The grades, narrow shelves, forest transitions, rock ledges, and distance between communities make the region’s transportation history visible in the terrain.
Trip Details
Route: Cleator to Crown King to Horsethief Basin to Crown King to Senator Highway to Prescott
Use TrailsOffroad with our 'Discount Code'.
Trails Offroad – Senator Highway Route Guide Detailed technical guide, difficulty ratings, and current conditions.
Trails Offroad – Horsethief Basin Route Guide Detailed technical guide, difficulty ratings, and current conditions.
Backway to Crown King Route Guide Detailed technical guide, difficulty ratings, and current conditions. (see our Trip)
Cleator & Turkey Creek Route Guide Detailed technical guide, difficulty ratings, and current conditions. (see our Trip)
Senator Highway distance: 29.84 miles
Published difficulty: Moderate, 3 out of 10
Estimated driving time: Approximately four hours in dry conditions, excluding stops
Highest published elevation: 7,186 feet
Main obstacle: Rock Garden, with an approximately 12-inch ledge and 150 feet of loose, jagged rock
Secondary obstacle: Rock ledge farther north on the route
Historic sites: Cleator, the Bradshaw Mountain Railroad grade, Crown King, Horsethief Basin, Senator Highway, and Palace Station
Road surfaces and access conditions can change because of weather, wildfire, erosion, maintenance, and seasonal closures. Confirm current conditions before entering the route and allow additional time for historical stops and the Horsethief Basin detour.
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