Arizona

Arizona

When Gus called he told Linc he was sending the paperwork for the mine
shares, a list of the areas the main office wanted him to check out,
and a check for expenses. He figured that he wouldn't fly down and
rent a car because of the rugged terrain the areas were in. He
figured he would want to drive down and go from there. Linc said that
was what he was planning on, because of Angel. She went with him
everywhere now. Gus said he was sending the stuff down with a guy from
town so he should get it all tomorrow. Linc said thanks, he would be
looking for him.
Linc decided to clean out the truck and get some of his things packed.
He would have to pick up a bundle of stakes and some more flagging,
when he got to Arizona.
He put both of his packs in the truck along with a small tent and
sleeping bag in case he needed them. He knew he could always go to
the retreat if he really wanted to, but you never know for sure what
you could run into, when out scouting around. He packed a bag of dog
food for Angel and some snacks for the pack, along with some water for
them. He also took the gun he had before. Never know what animals he
might run into down there.
The Guy from town brought down the package, but it was too late in the
day for Linc to start for Arizona.
He took the papers for the mine shares to the office then to the
retreat and put them in the desk there. He thought about getting a
frame for it and putting it on the wall there in his office. He was
feeling pretty smug about it.
The next morning early, he hugged Lucas, and told him he would keep in
touch with him, and then he and Angel left for Arizona.
Looking at the areas they wanted him to check out, he could see they
were not all far from Prescott, Arizona. He had never been down this
way before so he was surprised to find it was in the mountains. It
was a lot warmer there than up in Goldfield, so he would have ho
trouble camping out if need be, but only if he had to.
He found the Lowes store and got the stakes and flagging. Went to the
BLM office and got maps, and talked to one of the gals that worked
there, about the mines up where the office wanted him to check out.
She told hem he was lucky there, because there had been a forest fire
in the area the year before, so there was a whole lot less vegetation
to contend with. She also told him about the fires they had over by
the town of Cherry that he was to check out. She said there were no
working mines near Prescott because if the environmentalists...He
asked her if she knew about any mines on the desert, and got some maps
of the areas that he had researched on the web before he left home.
He saw that there had been a lot of mines in some areas down there in
the early days. What was best, there were a lot of places to check
out that were not close to any towns. Some of the very old ones were
in remote places. That was good if there were any that could be
reopened or if there were still any good reserves left in them. He
had sent for some prospectus on three of them, and two looked ok . He
would check them out.
He thanked the gal for the info and went to a local hotel and parked
and locked the truck and then went to the retreat. The truck would be
safe in their parking lot and he really wanted a good dinner, a hot
bath and some clean clothes as well as a couple of days rest, that he
could only get there, with the time element.
While at the retreat, he went over the maps of the area above
Prescott, up in the more rugged places. There were very few roads in
most of the areas, but with the fires up there, they may have pushed
in a few. He wouldn't know til he got up that way. One place was on
the other side of a town on the top of the mountain. There were quite
a few old mines in the area. He would have to check them out. He
wondered if they were out of reserves or were closed during the war
years and never reopened. He thought maybe he better go the museum
and check out some of the history of the area, but you would think the
head office had done that already. Who knows? The gal at the BLM
office said they had a lot of info and pictures at the museum there in
Prescott, on the mining history. The gal told him they opened at ten
in the morning.
Linc had to stay at the retreat until he could go back for the truck
at about nine thirty Prescott time. He and Angel got a lot of rest
and some play time too. Angel was good at catching the frizby now, but
she will not run after it if it goes out in the water too far. She
had never really gotten over nearly drowning. She went in for a swim
if Linc went in but never alone. Just as well he thought.
Down at the museum, he looked for the pictures of the old mines.
There was an older gent who was very knowledgeable about the old
mines, and he gave Linc some pamphlets on a lot of them . He also
told Linc thet he thought the mining days were over for the Prescott
area Too many of the old mines have been reclaimed, and sold to
people who have turned then into housing additions. Lots of small
homes and cabins are bought by people from the Phoenix area for summer
places to get away from the heat of the desert. Way too many he said
for the people who want to go to the mountains to camp and hunt He
told linc, a man used to be able to go hunting anywhere up there, but
now so many areas are closed to hunting with all the new houses. A
man used to take a gold pan and go just about anywhere up there and
get some gold, but now they have stopped a lot of it because the
creeks are next to so many new houses. People now days just have no
idea how much nicer it was before all the people moved in. He shook
his head and apologized for being so outspoken, but Linc told him he
was glad to know all this. It will save him a lot of trouble looking
for some of the places.
Linc went up into the mountains, and found one place the main office
wanted him to check out, was now under construction of a new hiking
trail, that will go right past one reclaimed mine. If the owners of
that mine was holding out for a buyer for a housing development, they
are going to be surprised there. The only other interesting mine in
the Bradshaw range was on the other side of the mountain from
Prescott. That mine hadn't been reclaimed as yet. Linc couldn't get
anywhere near it for all the fences, and no trespassing signs. He
pulled out a pamphlet for the area and found that this particular mine
was under a litigation of some kind. Something the head office will
have to check out. He just knew he wasn't able to
Back over the mountain, and over another mountain on the other side of
Prescott was the last mine in this area for him to check.
It was too late in the day for him to try and go there so he went back
into town and parked the truck at another hotel and went to the
retreat.
After a few days there, he went back early in the morning to get the
truck and go over to the other side, to the Copper Basin mine. This
was an old copper mine, that had been reclaimed and it too was fenced
and posted, no trespassing everywhere. He saw two older guys gold
panning in the creek below the road past the mine, so he stopped and
talked to them. One old guy knew a woman who used to work in the
office of the mine when it was open. He said she told him when the
mine pettered out somewhat, they wanted to open pit the mine but the
environmentalists blew that idea out of the water. The guy also told
him that all the free gold in the creek was from old ancient river
gravels, that went over the top of the mountains millions of years
ago. He told Linc, two old timers that used to live up there,
dredged the creek, back before the mine took over all of their claims.
The only gold in this mine was with the copper, and they had a smelter
to get it. Not heavy in gold. A big mining company own the mine now,
and they are holding on to it to use for collateral when they need a
loan or something. That big mansion you passed up there on the hill
used to be just a small mine. You are wasting your time here buddy if
you think this will ever open as a mine again. In time it will just
be another housing addition. People still get a little gold here and
there on this creek, if they are willing to move some dirt to get to
it. Some days good, some days not so good. Linc asked them about the
gold mines out by Cherry. They told him there are no working mines
that have not been reclaimed for housing. There are a couple of
creeks that have panning claims on them, but more gold found right
here. Waste of time looking out that way. Your best bet is down on
the desert. Darn few people want to live down there. Lots of old
mines and creeks to find gold in but only when you have water or a
metal locator. If you are looking for free gold, try around Hope. If
looking for lode gold, go on down to the next town and take the old
road out to Swansea. Still some good old mines out that way. Yep,
Linc said, "I heard them, and was going to head out that way next" .
The old guy told Linc, if he was still looking in this area, go on up
the road, and when you have passed the second gate on your right, take
the next road to the right. Back in about a half mile you will come
to an old mine with an incline shaft. Whole thing full of water. The
road takes you across the old tailings . I have panned the creek that
runs out of the mine, under the road, down over the tailings, and
into an old creek bed. and got a few pickers and such. Trouble is,
it's a nasty climb up and down that hill, back to your rig. This was
not a big mine, and I can't remember the name of it. Back to the road
and on down it farther are two more mines one reclaimed and back to
the forest service, and the other is now a homestead. The road will
take you on down to Kirkland. Turn left and it will take you to a
junction . Right one will go to a big open pit copper mine at
Bagdad, and left will take you back to highway 85. At the junction,
left to Prescott, or right, to the desert. Linc thanked the old guys
and went on up the road. The road they said to turn on, was right on
the top of a ridge. He turned there and found the mine they were
talking about. He pulled off onto the tailing pile and got out to
take a look around. The mine shaft was just off an old creek bed It
probably had water underground most of the time and now it was running
through the mine itself. They must have had a hard time working it
back in the old days. Maybe in the summer the water was lower in the
mine and they had some pumps that could handle it. Some of the ore on
the tailings looked ok but this would be a very expensive mine to ever
reopen. This area would even be hard to reclaim because it was in a
wash to narrow to do anything with, even if they wanted to turn it
into a housing development. Mountain too steep too, that's why the
road went across the old tailings. Old guy said they made the road
there, to get to the timber in the area.
Back at the road, he turned right and went down the hill. He could
see the remains of an old rock cabin up on a hill, and just below
that was nun old road that had been kelly hunpped three times, and an
old sign that said,
Old Navy Mine. On past it, down the road a bit farther was the
mine, turned homestead. The house and outbuilding were quite old.
Looked like they raised a lot of pigs and some horses.
The creek that drained from the incline mine and all the other
drainages went passed this old homestead. It was deep here because
the canyon had narrowed down quite a bit from the top. Past the
homestead the creek dropped off a great deal, and ran through a
narrow spot. Linc could look down to the creek that was running good
and he could see four guys had a small dredge in it, working by the
boulders . He could also see the remains of an old ore hauler that
had went over the steep hillside into the creek, and they had never
taken it out. It was very old looking, and the motor was the only
thing rescued from it.
Going on down a road that wound along the canyon wall he finally came
out on a ridge top over looking the town of Skull Valley. The road ran
down one ridge after another til it reached the valley floor.
At the end of the road, he turned left and went back to highway 85.
When he got to that junction, he could look up on the mountain and see
an open pit gold mine that was still working. All other mines in this
area are now private property, the old gent at the museum told him.
Linc turned right here and went down to the desert.

When he reached the valley floor from the top of the pass, he went
past a road the went to the town of Stanton It and others in the area
had been turnd into huge camping spots that have recreational gold
panning on their creeks. No more working gold mines here There was
one old mine that had been re-running tailings from another mine that
had been closed by environmentalists

He drove on into the town of Congress, turned there onto the road
that went through the place and out toward California and the desert.

To be continued.