Location
North and south flanks of the Dos Cabezas Mountains between San Simon Valley and Sulphur Spring Valley, Tps. 13-15 S., Rs. 26 and 27 E.
Topographic Maps
Dos Cabezas and Luzena 15-minute quandrangles.
Geologic Map
Cooper, 1960, Reconnaissance map of the Wilcox, Fisher Hills [now named Luzena], Cochise, and Dos Cabezas quadrangle, scale 1:62,500.
Access
The Dos Cabezas district, on the south flank of the Dos Cabezas Mountains, is 15 miles east of Willcox on State Highway 186. The Teviston district, on the north side of the Dos Cabezas Mountains, is accessible by a road leading 5 miles south from Interstate 10, 17 miles northeast of Willcox and 6 i/2 miles west of Bowie (formerly Teviston).
Extent
Placers on the south flank of the mountains (Dos Cabezas district) are said to be found in all the gulches draining the mineralized part of the mountain range, an area about 3 miles long between Walnut Canyon and Howard Canyon. The most actively worked placers are located in parts of sees. 27-34, T. 14 S., R. 27 E. (Dos Cabezas quadrangle), but some deposits are probably located at widely separated points along the south flank adjacent to small gold prospects.
The gold-bearing gravels in the gulches in the main mineralized area are thin near the mountains and thicker toward the south near the village of Dos Cabezas (sec. 32, T. 14 S., R. 27 E.). The gold is flat, ragged, and fairly coarse; one report claims that nuggets ranging from 1 to 20 ounces were found.
The placers on the north flank of the Dos Cabezas Mountains (Teviston district) are found in mountain gulches and on pediments at the edge of the mountains. Most of the placer mining was concentrated in the area between Gold Gulch (sec. 24, T. 13 S., R. 26 E., Luzena quadrangle) and Ash Gulch (sec. 22 and 27, T. 13 S., R. 26E.) . The placer gravels on the pediment drained by Gold Gulch consist of coarse to fine granitic sand with some clay and many coarse, semirounded boulders. Gravels sampled to a depth of 6 feet assayed $4.08 per cubic yard.
Production History
The Dos Cabezas placers reportedly were discovered in 1901, but lode deposits in the district were known in the 1860's and worked intermittently since the 1870's. Although some reports suggest that the placers were known before 1901, I have found no production records from that time. Most of the placer gold was recovered by drywashing the gravels, and, when water was available, by sluicing and panning.
The placers in the Teviston district have been worked intermittently since the 1900's, but earlier history is unknown. Small dryland dredges worked placers in Gold Gulch in 1933, and at the Inspiration placers during the period 1937-38. The Ash Gulch placers were actively worked during the period 1930-31.
Production records combine gold recovery from the Teviston and Dos Cabezas districts, although the placers in the Teviston district were richer than those in the Dos Cabezas district.
Source
The gold in the placers was derived from erosion of goldbearing quartz veins exposed throughout the Dos Cabezas Mountains. Most of the important lode-gold mines occur within, and near, a major fault zone 2 y2 miles north of Dos Cabezas village where small, closely spaced gold-quartz-sulfide veins occur; other gold mines are north of this fault zone. A geochronologic study of the mountain range indicates that some gold-quartz veins are younger than 29 m.y. (million years).
Literature
Allen, 1922: Discovery; location; origin (Dos Cabezas district). Bray, 1933: Describes dryland dredge used at Gold Gulch. Church, 1887: Notes nonactivity in placer mining, although lode mining was active.
Engineering and Mining Journal, 1931: Assay results of sampling at Gold Gulch placer.
Erickson, 1968: Dates mineralized quartz veins.
Gardner and Johnson, 1934: Placer-mining techniques in Gold Gulch; drywashing; type of gravel.
Heikes and Yale, 1913: Value of gravels; size of large nugget (Teviston district).
Land, 1931: History; size of nuggests; emphasis on lode deposits (Dos Cabezas district).
U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1931: Location of placer-mining operation. 1939-41: Placer-mining operations at Inspiration placers; dragline dredge; amount of gravel handled; no location for placers. Wilson, 1961: Location; history; depth of gravels; size of gravels (Teviston district); production.
Wilson, Cunningham, and Butler, 1934: Bedrock geology; history and description of lode mines; does not describe placers.
