Arizona Gold Production From Placer Deposits
Arizona ranks tenth in the United States (eighth in the western continental States) in placer gold production. The U.S. Bureau of Mines cites 500,000 troy ounces of placer gold produced in Arizona from 1792 to 1964.
Districts of largest placer production were the Lynx Creek, Big Bug, and Weaver (Rich Hill) districts (Yavapai County), the Gila City (Dome), and La Paz district (Yuma County), and the Greaterville district (Pima County), all with estimated placer production of more than 25,000 ounces.
Most of the placer gold produced in the State of Arizona was recovered by tedious work on a small scale by individuals who used rockers, pans, sluices, and dry concentrators. In only a few districts have large-scale placer-mining operations been successful, although many attempts were made to use large dry-concentrating machines.
The most successful large-scale operations have been in the Lynx Creek and the Big Bug districts, Yavapai County, where the presence of adequate supplies of water enabled large dredges to mine the gold-bearing gravels. Among the largest and most profitable large-scale dry-concentrating operations were those in the San Domingo Wash district, Maricopa County, in the Plomosa district, and at La Cholla placers, Yuma County; at Copper Basin, Yavapai County, the gravel was hauled to a central washing plant where wet methods of recovery were used.
History of Placer Mining in Arizona
Arizona's placer-mining industry began in 1774, when Padre Manuel Lopez reportedly directed Papago Indians in mining the goldbearing gravels along the flanks of the Quijotoa Mountains, Pima County. Placer mining was active in that region from 1774 to 1849, when the discovery of gold in California apparently attracted many of the Mexican miners who worked the gravels (Stephens, 1884). Arizona was then part of Mexico, and little is known of the placer mining that probably was carried on in various parts of southern Arizona.
Placers were probably worked in the Oro Blanco district, Santa Cruz County, and the Arivaca district, Pima County. The part of Arizona north of the Gila River was ceded to the United States in 1848, and the part of Arizona south of the Gila River, where most of the early placer mining occurred, was purchased in 1853. Placers were discovered in the 1850's in the Bagdad area, Yavapai County, and Chemuehuevis Mountains, Mohave County; but it was not until 1858, when placers were discovered by Colonel Jacob Snively at the north end of the Gila Mountains, Yuma County, that the first placer-mining rush in Arizona was precipitated.
The early years of the 1860's saw the discovery of the famous placers at La Paz, Yuma County, and Rich Hill and Lynx Creek, Yavapai County; many smaller and less famous placer fields were discovered at that time.
In the 1860's, Arizona was a relatively isolated and underpopulated territory, fraught with communication and travel difficulties, and beset by Indian problems. Placer mining was actively pursued throughout the territory, and some rich lode-gold mines were discovered and worked; but real news of Arizona mining was slow to filter out from the territory to the more populated areas in California and the East. The period from 1860 to 1880 is reported as the most active and productive period in placer mining, but because of poor communications, there is very little reliable information or production record.
By 1900 most placer areas had been discovered, and many were nearly worked out. Placer mining continued intermittently during the early years of the 1900's. Many attempts were made in various parts of the State to mine placer gravels by drywashing machines, but it was not until the economic impetus of the depression that placer mining became active again in Arizona. During the years 1930-38, 95 different districts were credited with placer gold production, but many of these districts produced only a few ounces.
After the boom of the 1930's, the war years of the 1940's were a setback to gold mining activity. War Production Board Order L-208 greatly restricted the development of gold mines; prospecting for and mining metals essential to the war effort was deemed more important than mining gold. Even more important, however, the economy of the 1940's encouraged work in offices, factories, and war industries for those not in military service, and as a result, many miners and prospectors left the gold fields and never returned.
After 1942, placer production never again reached the heights of the 1930's or the peak production of the 1860's to 1880's.
Purpose and Scope of Present Study
The present paper is a compilation of published information relating to the placer gold deposits of Arizona, one of a series of four papers describing the gold placer deposits of the Southwestern States. The purpose of the paper is to outline areas of placer deposits in the State of Arizona and to serve as a guide to their location, extent, production history, and source. The work was undertaken as part of the investigation of the distribution of known gold occurrences in the Western United States.
Each placer is described briefly. Location is given by geographic area and township and range. (See pi. 1 for location of the placer gold deposits.) Topographic maps and geologic maps that show the placer area are listed. Access is indicated by direction and distance along major roads and highways from a nearby center of population.
Detailed information relating to the exact location of placer deposits, their thickness, distribution, and average gold content (all values cited in the text have been converted to gold at $35 per ounce, except where otherwise noted) is included, where available, under "Extent." U.S. Bureau of Land Management land plats of surveyed township and ranges were especially helpful in locating old placer claims and some creeks and drywashes not named on recent topographic maps. These land plats were consulted for all the surveyed areas in Arizona and were especially useful in locating placers in Yavapai County, for which recent topographic maps are not available, although most of the area is surveyed. U.S. Bureau of Mines records were also consulted for the location of small placer claims.
Discovery of the placer deposit and subsequent placer-mining activity are briefly described under "Production history." Detailed discussion of mining operations is omitted, as this information can be found in the individual papers published by the State of Arizona, in the yearly Mineral Resources and the Mineral Yearbook volumes published by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the U.S. Geological Survey, and in many mining journals.
Placer gold production, in ounces (table 1), was compiled from the yearly Mineral Resources and Mineral Yearbook volumes and from information supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. These totals of recorded production are probably lower than actual gold production, for substantial amounts of coarse placer gold commonly sold by individuals to jewelers and specimen buyers are not reported to the U.S. Bureau of Mines or to the U.S. Bureau of the Mint. Information about the age and type of lode deposit that was the source of the placer gold is discussed for each district.
An extensive body of literature was searched to find information relating to all the placers in the State. A list of literature references is given with each district with annotation indicating the type of information found. Sources of information are detailed reports on mining districts, general geologic reports, Federal and State publications, and brief articles and news notes in mining journals. The Arizona Bureau of Mines has published a series of bulletins describing the geographic location and history of many placers in the State (Wilson, 1961, and earlier editions).
The present report, which draws on much information contained in the State bulletins, emphasizes locations keyed to topographic maps, detailed production data, and an extensive bibliography. A complete bibliography, given at the end of the paper, includes separate sections for all literature references and all geologic map references.
Map publications of the Geological Survey can be ordered from the U.S. Geological Survey, Distribution Section, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colo. 80225; book publications, from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.
