Location
South of the Mogollon Rim in the Tonto Basin, T. 10 N., R. 10 E.
Topographic Map
Payson 15-minute quadrangle.
Geologic Maps
Lausen and Wilson, 1925, Geologic map of the Payson district, Arizona (pi. 1), scale 1 inch equals approximately 3 miles.
Wilson, Moore, and Peirce, 1959, Geologic map of Gila County, scale 1:375,000.
Access
Placers are about half a mile west of State Highway 87, about 5 miles south of Payson, and are accessible by dirt roads leading from the highway to the Ox Bow mine.Extent
Placer gold was recovered from gravels below the outcrop of the Ox Bow mine (sec. 32, T. 10 N., R. 10 E.). Most of the gold recovered was from surface gravels, but in 1939 some gold was recovered from deeper gravels said to be an old channel not related to the stream channels.
Production History
The Payson (Green Valley) district was first explored during 1875-76; the early prospectors in the 1870's and 1880's were attracted by rich float containing abundant free gold. Although many of these miners were experienced in placer mining, very little placer gold was found in the district. The placers below the Ox Bow vein were worked sporadically for a number of years between 1910 and 1960 during the rainy seasons, but they have not produced much gold.
Source
The gold was derived from the Ox Bow vein and was concentrated in the thin soil on the hillside. The gold particles occur as coarse flat nuggets to a quarter of an inch long and are a deeper color than the vein gold, probably owing to less silver.
Literature
Lausen and Wilson, 1925: Describes occurrence and character of placer gold.
Mining Journal, 1939b: Reports placer activity in old gravel channel.
Wilson, 1961: Repeats description of Lausen and Wilson (1925).
