Location
North flank of the Bradshaw Mountains and in Chino Valley. Tps. 13-17 N., R. 2 W.
Topographic Maps
All 15-minute quadrangles—Mount Union, Prescott, Paulden.
Geologic Map
Krieger, 1965, Geologic map and sections of the Prescott and Paulden quadrangles, Arizona (pls. 1, 2), scale 1:48,000.
Access
U.S. Highway 89 parallels Granite Creek in the Bradshaw Mountains, leads north, parallel to Granite Creek 22 miles to Del Rio.
Extent
Granite Creek heads on the north flank of the Bradshaw Mountains and flows north into Chino Valley. Most of the placers are found in the upper drainage of Granite Creek between Prescott and the head of the creek (T. 13 N., R. 2 W., Mount Union and Prescott quadrangles).
Gold was recovered from the gravels of the lower reaches of Granite Creek as far north as Granite Dells (sec. 12 T. 14 N., R. 2 W., Prescott quadrangle), and a little gold was recovered from creek gravels near Del Rio (sees. 22 and 23, T. 17 N., R. 2 W., Paulden quadrangle). The gold reported between Granite Dells and Del Rio was found in washes and in pediment and terrace gravels.
Production History
The placers in Granite Creek south of Prescott were discovered in the 1860's and actively worked during the 1880's. Sparks (1917) states that the town of Prescott "owes its present beautiful situation * * * to the fortunes made by placer miners in Granite Creek." This statement is perhaps an exaggeration, but the town is constructed upon some minor placers, as Wilson (1961, p. 56) reports that small nuggets were found in gravels uncovered by building excavations in Prescott.
Apparently, the placers on the mountain slope were very rich; one placer miner reportedly recovered $20,000 in placer gold from New England Gulch (probably before 1872), a branch of Granite Creek about 4 miles south of Prescott. The placers are located in that part of the Gulch in the NW14 sec. 21, T. 13 N., R. 2 W., (Mount Union quadrangle).
Source
According to Lindgren (1926, p. 108), the lodes in the northern foothills of the Bradshaw Mountains are of Precambrian age. The origin of placers located north of Prescott on Granite Creek is unknown.
Literature
Krieger, 1965: Location of gold-bearing gravels.
Lindgren, 1926: States that gold was recovered at Del Rio.
Sparks, 1917: Notes placers in Granite Creek at Prescott.
Wilson, 1933: Production from New England Gulch.
1961: Location; history (4th ed., 1933).
