Hey Bingo! Question:

[Ozz]

You, being a fairly sharp pencil, can probably help with a few questions we have.
We have visited many Arizona mine sites, we see many concrete placements with old bolts sticking up, wooden chutes (those I understand) but lots of ruins around them.
How could we get more info on an old typical mine site? Most we visit are modest mine sites, some have been blasted shut, but many still have the caves or shafts intact, I understand because of wildlife shelter; owls, snakes and such.
Could we be able to tell what they mined by the type of ruins left?
Oh, I know my pictures will not give you enough information, but they are all I have, I didn’t take pictures of the emplacements. (I do have many more pictures, but these are representative.)
Thanks!
Ozz

[bncinwv]

I am not very familiar with the western mines, but I do know that they are predominantly hard rock mines (gold, copper, silver, etc.). In West Virginia (soft-rock mines being coal of course) we are fortunate in that we have a state repository that is actually on-line where if I know the location, name, topographic quadrangle, etc. of an old abandoned mine, I can actually view the original mine maps on line dating back to the early 1900's. In Arizona there are similar on-line resources but the problem is the illegal wildcat mines that were never mapped. Do a google search for Arizona Abandoned mine maps to get you started. Be forewarned, it will be a daunting but interesting journey into the past since:
"Approximately 24,183 abandoned hardrock mines exist in Arizona according to the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service estimates." Now since you are into geo-caching and can record the GPS coordinates for the mine entries (adits) that you discover in your ramblings around the desert, there are also resources on some internet sites (some are pay sites) that allow you to enter the coordinates into a google map overlay system and identify the mines by name which will in turn assist in searching for map and mine information. There, now that you have your homework for tonight, let me and the rest of the MOC know what you discover!
Bingo

[bncinwv]

Oh and I forgot to add, if you are on BLM land, you can also research the types of permits and claims that are on file in that area to see exactly what they were looking for.
Bingo

[maximo]

I live in Amador County, California. We are in the heart of the "Mother Lode" gold mining in California. Gold was discovered at Sutters Mill that started the Gold Rush of 1849. Sutters mill is less than 50 miles from here. The Kenedy Mine in Jackson was over a mile deep. We are in the foothills and the country is full of prospectors holes, glory holes. The area was also mined by dredgers and hydraulic water canons. Over the mountain in Nevada most mines were silver mines. Lots of ghost towns and head frames still there.

Frank

[Ozz]

Thank you Bingo. and I amend my fairly, to extremely sharp
Very interesting the amount of mines, but about everywhere we go, there are holes poked in the ground.
Man, that's too much pressure to report back. I have worked very hard to exhibit very little productive results from anything, that way, people really don't expect much from me.
I would like to have a dime for every rock people toss into an abandon mine shaft....
Frank, that is interesting, I often think back on how hard life must have been for those miners back then. We drove for an hour off road to get to such a place, dry, rocky, wild. I was walking around thinking that when the pack mule went to 'town' wherever that was, to get supplies, how joyful it must have been for the rest of the guys to get just the basic food needs.

[bigmurf]

OZZ: been to Gila Bend yet?

[Ozz]

No, should I go there?

[bigmurf]

Another spot in the desert.g

[Bill-N-Donna]

No one has mentioned this but a Google search of "Uranium Mining" has some interesting links!

[Mynabird]

There are Copper mines on the eastern side of state where my cousins husband worked. There are also many historical sites in the Apache Junction area including Lost Dutchman area.

Also the same cousin owns several mining claims & they will take people on tours of the desert featuring the Indian Tears & Wagon Tracks.

Enjoy your new adventures!

[gr8330]

They grow shrimp in Gila Bend or at least did within the last few years.

[Carl n Susan]

quote:Originally posted by gr8330

They grow shrimp in Gila Bend or at least did within the last few years.

Unfortunately, the competition from the far east farm raised shrimp was too much for the Gila Bend farm. They have switched to growing algae for bio-fuels. We were really looking forward to fresh shrimp when we were there last month.

[Ozz]

quote:Originally posted by Mynabird

There are Copper mines on the eastern side of state where my cousins husband worked. There are also many historical sites in the Apache Junction area including Lost Dutchman area.

Also the same cousin owns several mining claims & they will take people on tours of the desert featuring the Indian Tears & Wagon Tracks.

Enjoy your new adventures!

I bet those tours would be fun.
There is a Geologist here at Saddle Mountain that is taking a bunch of us to a mine up on Eagle Eye Tuesday, we are stoked.

[lasater]

Hey Ozz,

Here is an interesting site to visit. www.burroschmidttunnel.org/

William Henry "Burro" Schmidt single handedly dug a 2087 ft tunnel through the solid rock of Copper Mountain. Burro Schmidt Tunnel is located in Last Chance Canyon within the El Paso Mts of our CA Mojave desert. This one-man 38 year effort which began as a gold mine in1906 has recently changed hands and the result has been the loss of some amazing desert history.

Oh, take your GPS to mark where you park. When we got the the other end of the tunnel, we turned the wrong way and walked 3 miles to our truck which was 1/4 mile away. There is a pretty good dirt road leading to the tunnel but watch out for ATVs that can appear at the top of any hill, rise, and any other place with limited vis.

[Ozz]

Brad, I wonder if the new ownership will change things. We have a big mine operation fairly close to us here, that used to be open to the public, then closed. I just hear it is open again, so we will probably head there and check it out.
http://www.desertusa.com/mag00/dec/stories/vulture.html

[sfish]

We drove through Wickenburg on Saturday on our way back from a few days in Parker. There was a rodeo and the town was really busy. We might have to go back and check out the mine after we do a hike at Lake Pleasant. Thanks for the info.