Location
East flank of the New River Mountains, north of Paradise Valley, Tps. 6 and 7 N., R. 4 E.. Lower Cave Creek, south of Cactus, T. 3 N., R. 3 E.
Topographic Maps
All 7 1/2-minute quadrangles—Cave Creek, New River Mesa, Sunnyslope.
Geologic Map
Wilson, Moore, and Peirce, 1957, Geologic map of Maricopa County, scale 1:375,000.
Access
From Phoenix, 42 miles northeast on light-duty road to the town of Cave Creek.
Extent
Very little information other than production records has been found relating to the placers in the Cave Creek district. Cave Creek heads near Cramm Mountain in the New River Mountains (T. 7 N., R. 4 E., unsurveyed) and flows southwest to Deer Valley, north of Phoenix. The placers are probably located along Cave Creek in the vicinity of the Maricopa and Phoenix gold mines (sees. 8 and 9, T. 6 N., R. 4 E., New River Mesa quadrangle).
The only description of the placers I have found is that written by McConnell (1911), who describes a new placer discovery made in 1910. The ground, which was not located except for the district, contains gold-bearing gravels underlying soil and cemented gravels. The placers are found from 1 to 16 feet deep between the cement layer and bedrock; tests indicate that the ground values average 85 cents to $5.10 per cubic yard.
Other placers are apparently found in the Winifred district on Cave Creek about 12 miles south of the Cave Creek district. U.S. Bureau of Land Management survey plats locate placer claims in sec. 22, T. 3 N., R. 3 E. (Sunnyslope quadrangle).
Production History
The earliest record of placer production from the Cave Creek district is for 1888; placers may have been worked before that time. Small amounts of placer gold were recovered by transitory miners between 1908 and 1915, and 1934 and 1941. From 1939 to 1941, the small production of the Cave Creek district was combined with production from the Camp Creek district in the record. The Winifred district produced a small amount of placer gold in 1932 (amount was not given).
Source
The paucity of information about the Cave Creek district precludes definite conclusions regarding the origin of the placer gold. The Maricopa and Phoenix gold mines, the largest lode-gold mines in the area, are in quartz veins in altered Precambrian schist. These deposits, and possibly other small gold veins, could have been the source of the placers in the Cave Creek district.
The small production of placer gold from the Winifred district may have been derived from the veins found at the Avelina, Divide, Corona, and La Fe lode claims.
Literature
McConnell, 1911: Placer ground discovered; thickness and depth of placer gravels; average gold value per cubic yard.
Trippel, 1889: Production statistics for 1888.
Wilson, Cunningham, and Butler, 1934: Describes lode mines and general geology.
