The Hillside Mine is a lead and gold mine located in Yavapai county, Arizona at an elevation of 3,100 feet.
About the MRDS Data:
All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.
Mine Info
Elevation: 3,100 Feet (945 Meters)
Commodity: Lead, Gold
Lat, Long: 34.63667, -113.20944
Map: View on Google Maps
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Mine Description
Situation
The Hillside property of seven claims is in Secs. 16 and 21, T. 15 N., R. 9 W., in the vicinity of Boulder Creek. From the railway at Hillside station, it is accessible by 32 miles of road.
History
This deposit was discovered in 1887 by John Lawler. The first ore, which consisted of lead carbonate rich in gold and silver, was shipped to Pueblo, Colorado. From 1887 to 1892, Lawler did about 7,000 feet of development Work, built an 84-mile road to Seligman, erected a Small stamp mill, and made a considerable production. In 1892, the property was sold to H. A. Warner who organized the Seven Stars Gold Mining Company. Guided in part by the advice of T. A. Rickard, this company carried out considerable development work, erected a mill, and built a road to Hillside station. The Warner companies, however, failed in the 1893 depression, and the Hillside property, after protracted litigation, reverted to Lawler. For several years after 1904, the mine was worked intermittently, mainly by lessees. Upon the death of Lawler in 1917, operations ceased until early in 1934 when H. L. Williams purchased the property and constructed a new 125-ton mill. Regular operations, employing eight men underground and twelve in the mill, began in July, 1934.
Production
According to records and estimates by Homer R. Wood, who was engineer at the property during part of its activity, the Hillside mine produced 13,094 tons of ore which yielded 9,329 ounces of gold and 219,918 ounces of silver, in all Worth about $296,500.
Topography and geology: The Hillside mine is on the east side of Boulder Creek, in a deep canyon of moderately fissile grayish mica schist. This schist is intruded on the east by coarse-grained granite and, 2 miles south of the mine, by the Bagdad granite porphyry stock. Narrow dikes of pegmatite are locally present.
Vein and Workings
The Hillside Vein occurs within a nearly vertical fault zone that strikes N.-N. 15° E. and, in places, Separates into branches a few feet apart. In the vicinity of the vein, the Schist dips almost flat.
The vein has been opened by over 10,000 feet of workings, distributed over a length of approximately 2,400 feet. Its Width ranges from a few inches to several feet and averages about 1 1/2 feet. On the fourth or deepest level, which is from 60 to 300 feet below the surface, it consists of stringers and irregular bunches of coarse-grained massive White quartz with abundant sulphides.
Microscopic examination of a polished section of ore from the fourth level shows that the sulphides are mainly pyrite and galena, together with some sphalerite. Considerable oxide and carbonate material, containing principally iron, lead, and zinc, is visible. The pyrite ranges from massive texture to grains less than 200-mesh in size. The galena occurs as irregular bodies many of which are visible to the unaided eye. They Commonly terminate in small veinlets less than 0.0004 inch Wide. The gold occurs both in the oxidized material and in the sulphides, but is most abundant in the galena. The silver of the sulphide zone occurs mainly with the sphalerite. Specimens of Wire silver have been found in Vugs in all the levels, and cerargyrite is locally abundant in the upper workings.
The vein Contains some sulphides on the third level and is practically all oxidized above the second level. It has been largely stoped out from the second level to the surface. The wall rock shows strong alteration to quartz and sericite.
Text from Arizona Lode Gold Mines and Gold Mining, Arizona Bureau of Mines. Original 1934, revised 1967
Hillside Mine MRDS details
Site Name
Primary: Hillside Mine
Commodity
Primary: Lead
Primary: Gold
Secondary: Copper
Secondary: Zinc
Secondary: Silver
Secondary: Uranium
Secondary: Vanadium
Location
State: Arizona
County: Yavapai
District: Eureka District
Land Status
Land ownership: Private
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.
Holdings
Not available
Workings
Type: Underground
Ownership
Not available
Production
Year: 1951
Time Period: 1901 - 1951
Material type: CU
Description: Cp_Grade: ^0.3 %
Year: 1951
Time Period: 1887 - 1951
Material type: AG
Description: Cp_Grade: ^4.1 Oz/Ton
Year: 1951
Time Period: 1887 - 1951
Material type: AU
Description: Cp_Grade: ^0.18 Oz/Ton
Deposit
Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: S
Physiography
General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Basin And Range Province
Physiographic Section: Mexican Highland
Mineral Deposit Model
Not available
Orebody
Not available
Structure
Type: R
Description: Foliation In Shcist Trends N-S To N20w; Major N-S Trending Faults
Type: L
Description: Veins Parallel Quartz Monzonite Porphyry Dikes Or Faults
Alterations
Alteration Type: L
Alteration Text: None
Rocks
Not available
Analytical Data
Not available
Materials
Ore: Pyrite
Ore: Sphalerite
Ore: Malachite
Ore: Smithsonite
Ore: Covellite
Ore: Cerargyrite
Ore: Argentite
Ore: Silver
Ore: Galena
Ore: Pitchblende
Ore: Chalcocite
Ore: Hemimorphite
Gangue: Quartz
Gangue: Fluorite
Comments
Comment (Geology): DEPOSIT IS QUARTZ VEIN THAT CUTS PROTEROZOIC QUARTZ-MICA SCHIST AND MUSCOVITE-GRANITE; VEINS ARE UNRELATED AND YOUNGER THAN GRANITE, BUT ARE GENETICALLY RELATED TO QUARTZ MONZONITE PORPHYRY DIKES
Comment (Development): CONTAINS THREE CLAIMS; CAMP, SEVEN STARS, HAPPY JACK
Comment (Deposit): VEIN STRIKE VARIES FROM N10W-N25E
References
Reference (Deposit): ANDERSON, C.A., 1955 , GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF THE BAGDAD AREA, YAVAPAI COUNTY, ARIZONA: U.S.G.S. PROF. PAPER 278 , P. 83
Reference (Deposit): WILSON, E.D., 1934 , ARIZONA LODE GOLD MINES AND GOLD MINING: ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES BULLETIN 137 , P. 24
Reference (Deposit): AM MIN, 1951, V. 36, P. 1-22
Reference (Deposit): USAEC RM0-679, 1950
Reference (Production): U.S.G.S. 278 , P. 84
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.
