Crook Mine

Mine Description

The holdings of “Trapshooter” Reilly Gold Mines include the old Crook, Venezia, Starlight, and Mount Union mines, in Crooks Canyon. These mines are in the vicinity of Venezia post office, which, via the Senator Highway, is 15 miles from Prescott.

During the early days, these mines were rather extensively worked in the oxidized zone, which was generally from 40 to less than 200 feet deep. Later, sulphide ores were mined and treated in a 20-stamp amalgamation-concentration mill at Venezia and in the Mount Union mill. Much of this work was done by the late J. B. Tomlinson and lessees. From 1927 to about 1932, the property was held by the Westerner Gold-Lead Mining Company which, according to the U. S. Mineral Resources of 1930, milled about 100 tons of gold ore and shipped one car of lead-zinc ore. Since about 1932, the property has been held by “Trapshooter” Reilly Gold Mines. This company shipped some bullion and concentrates, but suspended operations in September, 1933.

The total combined production of these mines probably does not exceed $500,000. (57)

This area is composed of ridges and canyons with altitudes of 6,200 to 7,400 feet. It lies in the granite belt that extends southward through Mount Union and contains many dikes of rhyolitic to basic composition.

Crook vein: (59) The Crook vein outcrops at an altitude of about 7,000 feet, a short distance northeast of the Venezia road. It is very persistent and is reported to be traceable in a S. 10° E. direction for more than a mile.

During the early days, according to local people, its oxidized zone was worked by open cuts, mainly with arrastres, to depths of generally less than 40 feet, over a length of approximately 4,700 feet. The mine was operated shortly prior to 1902 by the Pan American Mining Company, and in a small way by lessees for some time afterwards. Attempts to work the lower levels of the vein were not generally successful. In 1933, the present company mined some ore from here and started an adit tunnel on the supposed extension at Venezia. The total production is estimated at $250,000.

The vein strikes N. 10° W. and dips 75° W. It occurs in gneissoid granite and follows, on the hanging wall, a persistent 15foot dike of dark-green rock. It has been opened by a long tunnel, 160 feet below the outcrop, and by a 100-foot shaft. As seen in the tunnel, the vein ranges in width from a narrow stringer to about 4 feet, and averages about 1% feet. Its longest ore shoot is said to have been 60 feet long by 20 inches wide. The vein filling consists of coarse-grained grayish-white quartz with some ankerite and abundant pyrite, galena, and black sphalerite.

Ore from a 100-foot shaft near the main tunnel contained quartz veins 4 to 6 inches wide with sulphides partly altered to chalcocite. The country rock here is partly sericitized quartzose schist.

At Venezia, a tunnel has recently been run northward for about 200 feet on the supposed extension of the Crook vein. It shows a few stringers of white quartz with some ankerite and pyrite.

A short distance below Venezia, the vein was opened by a 200-foot shaft, but the enterprise apparently was unsuccessful. About a half mile farther south, some rich ore was mined from a short tunnel where the vein is about 2 feet wide.

(57) Lindgren, W., work cited, pp. 123–25.

(59) Mainly abstracted from Lindgren, W., work cited, pp. 124–25.

Text from Arizona Lode Gold Mines and Gold Mining, Arizona Bureau of Mines. Original 1934, revised 1967

Site Name

Primary: Crook Mine
Secondary: Crook and Western Mine

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Commodity

Primary: Lead
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Silver

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Location

State: Arizona
County: Yavapai
District: Mount Union District

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Land Status

Land ownership: National Forest
Note: the land ownership field only identifies whether the area the mine is in is generally on public lands like Forest Service or BLM land, or if it is in an area that is generally private property. It does not definitively identify property status, nor does it indicate claim status or whether an area is open to prospecting. Always respect private property.

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Type: Underground

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Ownership

Not available

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S

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Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Basin And Range Province
Physiographic Section: Mexican Highland

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Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

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Orebody

Form: TABULAR

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Structure

Type: R
Description: Foliation In Precambrian Rocks Trends N35e To N45e

Type: L
Description: Dikes And Veins Parallel Foliation

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Alterations

Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: None

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Chalcocite
Ore: Galena
Ore: Sphalerite
Unknown: Pyrite

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Comments

Comment (Deposit): WORKED DURING THE EARLY DAYS TO DEPTHS LESS THAN 40 FEET (OXIDIZED ZONE), FOR A LENGTH OF APPROXIMATELY 4700 FEET. ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT

Comment (Production): ITEM ( 8 ) IS AN ESTIMATE FROM $ 200,000 OF PRODUCTION AT $ 20.67 PER OUNCE.

Comment (Deposit): STRONGEST MOST CONTINUOUS VEIN IN THE DISTRICT

Comment (Geology): DEPOSIT IS VEIN WHICH CUTS PRECAMBRIAN GRANODIORITE; RHYOLITE PORPHYRY DIKES OF PROBABLY CRET-TERT AGE ASSOCIATED WITH VEINS

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References

Reference (Deposit): USGS BULL 782, P. 124

Reference (Deposit): ELSING, M.J. AND HEINEMAN, R.E., 1936 , ARIZONA METAL PRODUCTION: ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 140 , P. 101

Reference (Production): ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 140 , P. 101

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Arizona Gold

"Where to Find Gold in Arizona" looks at the density of modern placer mining claims along with historical gold mining locations and mining district descriptions to determine areas of high gold discovery potential in Arizona. Read more: Where to Find Gold in Arizona.