Author's note: The most productive placers in Arizona are in the high mountainous region of south-central Yavapai County. Most of the placers are concentrated on the slopes of the Bradshaw Mountains in the vicinity of many small lode deposits. Because of the large number of small mining districts that include parts of gold-bearing streams. I have grouped the placers on the basis of drainage areas rather than formal mining districts
Location
East flank of the Bradshaw Mountains, T. 11 N., R. 1 E.
Topographic Maps
Mount Union and Mayer 15-minute quadrangles.
Geologic Maps
Anderson and Blacet, 1972a, Geologic map of the Mayer quadrangle, Yavapai County, Arizona, scale 1:62:500.
1972b, Geologic map of the Mount Union quadrangle, Yavapai County, Arizona, scale 1:62,500.
Access
About 2 miles south of Mayer, a light-duty road leads south from State Highway 69 about 8 miles to the Turkey Creek area; about 11 miles south of Mayer, the road to Cleator leads west about 3 miles from State Highway 69 and a dirt road leads north to Turkey Creek area.
Extent
Small placer deposits near Turkey Creek Station (once located I mile north of Cleator, sec. 35, T. 11 N., R. 1 E., unsurveyed, Mayer quadrangle) were drywashed for many years; placers are said to occur in the vicinity of Pine Flat, along the upper part of Turkey Creek near the Cunningham mine (approximately sec. 5, T. 11 N., R. 1 W., unsurveyed, Mount Union quadrangle).
Two small placers are located on Turkey Creek, midway between the two placers mentioned above, which are about 1.6 and 2.9 miles upstream from Turkey Creek Station (unsurveyed area, SE14 Mount Union quadrangle). Placers were also worked in terrace gravels along Turkey Creek downstream from the Golden Turkey mine (approximately sec. 12, T. 10 N., R. 1 E., unsurveyed).
Production History
The placers in Turkey Creek were worked intermittently between 1908 and 1941, and small amounts of gold recovered. The placer gold credited to the Peck district by the U.S. Bureau of Mines probably comes from this area.
Source
The placers in the Turkey Creek drainage probably were derived from gold veins in close proximity to the various small placers. Lindgren (1926, p. 156) states that Precambrian gold veins at Turkey Creek Station are the source of the gold in the shallow placers on the flat below the veins.
Literature
Blacet, 1968: Map locates placers on Turkey Creek.
Guiteras, 1936: Placer-mining operations in 1936.
Lindgren, 1926: Locates placers on Turkey Creek.
