POST #21-40 

Looking For Gold Mines!

 ...we search for abandoned gold mines deep in the AZ Outback!

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On March 27, Razr Driver Jim and I went on an exploration to try to fid an abandoned mine we looked up on the internet, the "Hidden Treasure Mine." We headed south again, deep into the Harquahala Mountains south of our RV Park.

On the way we found and stopped to check out a hole in a mountain far above the road.  The rock formations here have been complexly folded, faulted, and intruded by igneous rocks.. in the drone videos to follow you will see the effects.  The first  drone video flies up about 1200 feet and out about 800  feet to the hole in the wall.  The video is sped up 4X and the drone was flown as fast as it would go.  Here's that video in Low-Resolution...

For a Full Res Video for the flight to the Hole In The Wall, click HERE .

Then we flew it out to try to locate the Hidden Treasure Mine...We found it, drove over and climbed up to the entrance.  Here's a Lo-Resolution video... 

For a Full Res Video of the Hidden Treasure Mine, click HERE .

Here is a satellite photo showing the mine entrance, where we parked and some tailings piles.

When we got to the mine location, we had to climb this very steep hill of loose mine tailings... 

 

 

Then we found this entrance and cautiously went in aways...

Found this door...

Opened it up and went in a bit further...

To here...This is far enough!  I read that it goes in another 200 feet or so.  Its would be very dangerous to proceed!

That's when we saw the bats!

Time to go!  We  picked up a few bags of dirt (to pan for some gold at home) closed the door.  It was a great view from the mine entrance!

We then worked our way down the hill to the Razr and went back to the RV Park with our diggins! 

The mine was very cool.  Some info is HERE and HERE.  Here's story I found about the mine...

The one mine that not many, if any, knows much about is the Hidden Treasure Mine. George Campbell was a good friend of the owner of the Hidden Treasure Mine and their mining claims were very close together.  If you go to the mine there is a lot of the workings still there. At the top of the mountain you could see a tunnel that ran right through the top of the peak and out the other side. This was a pretty big mine works, with quite a few employees in its hay day.

Sounds like a thousand other mines in the desert southwest. But it has a different ending than most. Most old mines just ran out gold, the vein petered out, or it just wasn't worth working anymore. This is what happened to the Hidden Treasure Mine. It supplied a good living for the owner for years, but got to a point where it just wasn't worth working anymore. The owner told George of his plans to shut it down and lay off the employees. He told George there was one more shot he wanted to make in the back of one of the tunnels after the men were gone, as he didn't think it would amount to anything and he couldn't afford to pay them anymore. George told him that if he needed any help to let him know, not expecting to hear from him.

 This is where it gets interesting, as this never happens! A couple of days later George gets a call from his friend, he needs help! So George meets him at the mine and he takes him into the mine to where he had just blasted out the back stope (the back wall). George couldn't believe his eyes, there was a round vug about 6 ft. in diameter lined several inches thick with gold. Vug -- a round hole, much like the hole inside of a geode in solid rock. Now they spent days getting all the gold out. This was his buddy’s retirement. George wouldn't accept anything for helping him. This should give you an idea of what this area's geology is like. Think there might be more there?  Sure sounds like something worth looking at!

We will go through our "paydirt" later to see what is in it.  if it's interesting, next winter we will bring the metal detector and a gold pan or two and play gold miner!

We will be leaving Morenga Palms tomorrow as we continue our way north.  Next stop, Boulder City, Nevada to camp at Lake Mead.

Until Next Time!