Quick Trips in 2008

 

Under this heading are quick trips that we made in 2008.

 

1. An early water source for a past producer--the 79 mine, Dripping Springs Mountains, southern Arizona. The 79 mine was discovered in the 1870's and was worked sporadically until the 1950's-1960's. The mine is now a commercial source for rare/unusual mineral samples. This water source is located at a series of unnamed springs several miles south of the mine.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

 

 

 

2. The Vanadium Mine, Dripping Springs Mountains, southern Arizona. This mine was developed in the 1920's. There is a smorgasbord of metals listed for this mine--V, W, Pb, Cu, Au, Ag and Zn. At some time in its history there was a tremendous investment in infrastructure. There are MANY large concrete foundations. Despite that development there is not much of a production record for the mine. The mine which was an underground operation is located across a canyon from the mill. We think that that a haulage tunnel was constructed under the floor of the canyon. Ore was then shuttled under the canyon to the base of a shaft near the mill where it was hoisted and then processed. When we were younger, we spent quite a bit of time in the underground workings. On our last visit we did not have the energy to climb down the canyon and then up the other side! So much for the spirit of exploration!

 

 

 

 

3. Although I had grown up in the Hayden/Winkelman Arizona area, I had never heard of the wagon ruts near Superior Arizona that were left by the mule powered ore wagons hauling ore from the Silver King Mine. So on a day of geocaching, my friend Mike and I decided to check them out. Later we visited a very nice desert canyon, Whitlock Canyon with an very old looking rock ruin identified as Barnett Camp on the map.

 

 

4. The Tonto Pittsburg mine is located down in a narrow part of Tonto Creek near Jake's Corner in the Tonto Basin in central Arizona. The interest is a cableway that extends across the canyon from the mine on the east side to near the rim on the west side. There does not appear to have been much development in the mine. It is listed as a gold and iron "occurrence". There are several equipment foundations on the rim. The cableway could have been useful in moving materials across the creek especially when it was flooding.

 

Trips
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