When the silver mines in Tombstone flooded in 1886 , the mills were forced to shut down , and Charleston and Millville went into steep decline . The large Sonoran earthquake that struck on May 3 , 1887 , accompanied by more than thirty minutes of aftershocks , left all of the town 's adobe structures in ruins , and sealed the town 's fate . The town was quickly abandoned as none of the structures remained habitable . The Charleston Post Office shut down on October 24 , 1888 , and by 1889 , both Charleston and Millville were already ghost towns
Sonoran earthquake
1887 Sonora earthquake
Charleston, Arizona