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Oatman is a former gold mining town located in the hills on Historic Highway 66 between Kingman and the California border. It is named in honor of Olive Oatman, a young girl from Illinois, who was kidnapped by Apaches and forced to work as their slave. She was rescued in 1857. At its peak Oatman boasted a population of around 10,000 and during the less than thirty years of its existence from the turn of the century to 1931 the fifty mines in the area produced $36 million in ore. Legend has it that in 1939, following their marriage in Kingman, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard honeymooned at the Oatman Hotel. Today there are a few tourist oriented businesses and a very healthy herd of burros - descendents of the animals used by the prospectors a lifetime ago.
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