Entry Points:
About Bouse
Bouse is a town of 996 people in western Arizona. It was founded in 1908 as a mining camp, and today is thriving as a retirement community. It is located in the valley of the Bouse Wash, a dry riverbed that is tributary to the Colorado River. Minor mountains surround the valley, all of which hold remnants of mining in former days. Bouse is in the Sonoran desert, experiencing a very warm climate and little rain. Desert vegetation is common here, especially creosote bushes. Exotic cactuses can be found on any hill or mountain, including the tall, cylindrical saguaros, cholla and jumping cholla, so called because of their vicious prickles. The cactuses can be very scenic in the mountains.
Bouse was oriented along the railroad tracks, which pass at diagonally through the area, leading to a street system that is not aligned with north and south. State Highway 72 parallels the tracks, and the Main Street of Bouse runs perpendicular to it. State Highway 72 leads to Parker, to the northwest and Hope to the southeast, where it junctions with U.S. Highway 60. Bouse is in La Paz County. Its name is pronounced as it looks, rhyming with 'house'.
During World War II, a military camp was established at Bouse, where secret weapons were developed and troops trained to use them. An extensive historical presentation on them is found at the center of Bouse.
For More Information:
The Chamber of Commerce at Bouse provides a website. See also Wikipedia's Bouse article.