Location
In the Granite Wash Mountains, southwest of the McMullen Valley, and in the Little Harquahala Mountains south of McMullen Valley, Tps. 5 and 6 N., R. 14 W.; T. 4 N., R. 13 W.
Topographic Maps
Salome and Hope 15-minute quadrangles.
Geologic Map
Wilson, 1960, Geologic map of Yuma County, Arizona, scale 1:375,000.
Access
From Yuma, 84 miles north on State Highway 95 to Quartzite; east 30 miles on U.S. Highway 60-70 to Hope. Dirt roads lead north about 5 miles to placer ground in the Granite Wash Mountains and southeast about 10 miles to vicinity of the Little Harquahala placers.
Extent
Gold-bearing gravels are found in many small gulches in the southeastern part of the Granite Wash Mountains and the southwestern part of the Little Harquahala Mountains.
Gulches near the Desert mine in the Granite Wash Mountains (sec. 21, T. 5 N., R. 14 W., unsurveyed, Salome quadrangle) were profitably drywashed about 1895. Placers were also found about 3 miles north of the Desert mine in the vicinity of the old Yellow Bird mine; gold-bearing gravels locally called Dutch Henry's diggings were located in the second wash south of the Yellow Bird Camp and west of the Arizona Northern prospect (sees. 32 and 33, T. 6 N., R. 14 W., unsurveyed, Salome quadrangle).
Placers in the Little Harquahala Mountains (T. 4 N., R. 13 W., Hope quadrangle) were worked from about 1884 to 1888 (at that time the area was known as the Centennial district). According to Burchard (1885), "Every gulch below the ore bodies (which include the Alps Group—unlocated) contains considerable placer gold which is flat but coarse"; Wilson (1961) reports that in 1886 and 1887 placers were worked in Harquahala Gulch in the vicinity of the Harquahala (Bonanza) mine, which was not discovered until 1888.
In 1934 some placer gold was recovered from the Concepcion claim, 8 miles south of Wenden; although this claim is not identified on the topographic maps, it is probably located on the north flank of the mountains.
Production History
Early production from the placers in the Ellsworth district is only poorly known. One report indicates that 2 ounces per day was recovered for an unspecified short time from the placers near the Desert mine; gold worth $9,000 was recovered from these deposits about 1895. During 1888, $12,500 was recovered from the placers in the Harquahala Mountains (Centennial district).
During the first 30 years of the 20th century, the placers were intermittently mined on a small scale.
Source
The gold in the placers found in the Granite Wash Mountains was derived from small gold-quartz lenses in the schists of the area. Bancroft (1911, p. 98, 101) suggests that these veinlets formed after, but as a result of, the intrusion of the large granitic mass of Salome Peak.
The deposits in the Little Harquahala Mountains were probably derived by erosion of the Harquahala and similar veins in the area.
Literature
Bancroft, 1911: Locates small placers in Granite Wash Mountains; history; production; source.
Burchard, 1885: Notes presence of placer gold.
Mining World, 1909: Notes approximate year of discovery; early placer production.
Trippel, 1889: Production statistics for 1888.
Wilson, 1961: Harquahala Gulch placer—location; history; production.
