History of Arizona Gold Mining

Wickenburg Arizona

Wickenburg is a town in Maricopa and Yavapai counties, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 7,474.

History of Arizona Gold Mining

Arizona has produced more than 16 million troy ounces of gold. 

The Vulture Mine:

Small gold nugget found metal detecting.

The Vulture Mine was a gold mine and settlement in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The mine began in 1863 and became the most productive gold mine in Arizona history. From 1863 to 1942, the mine produced 340,000 ounces of gold and 260,000 ounces of silver.

Arizona gold

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Vulture mine began when a prospector from California’s gold rush, Henry Wickenburg, discovered a quartz deposit containing gold and began mining the outcrop himself. In 1863, after Henry Wickenburg discovered the Vulture mine, Vulture City, a small mining town, was established in the area. The town once had a population of 5,000 citizens. After the mine closed, the city was abandoned and became a “ghost town“. The deposit was later sold to Benjamin Phelps, who represented a group of investors that eventually organized under the name of Vulture Mining Company.

The desert surrounding the Vulture Mine did not give much in the way of produce, so an enterprising individual by the name of Jack Swilling went into the Phoenix Valley and reopened the irrigation canals left by the native peoples. Agriculture was brought back to the valley, and a grain route was established. This grain route still exists today under the name of Grand Avenue. Phoenix, Arizona, grew up around the agricultural center spawned by the needs of the Vulture Mine.

In 1942, the Vulture Mine was shut down by a regulatory agency for processing gold. This was a violation at the time because all resources were to be focused on the war effort. The mine appealed the shut-down order and reopened, but with less vigor. A few years later, the mine closed permanently.

Today the mine and ghost town are privately owned, but tours are offered. Two-hour, dirt path guided walking tours at the historic Vulture mine offers a glimpse of the olden days through a tour of some of the remaining buildings of Vulture City, a booming mining town.

The Vulture Mountains is a 29-mile (47 km) long, arid, low-elevation mountain range located in northwest Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is in the north perimeter region of the Sonoran Desert. The Arizona transition zone mountain ranges lie north and northeast, just north of Wickenburg, Arizona. The Yarnell Hill, about 14 miles (23 km) north of Wickenburg, rising into the Weaver Mountains to Yarnell, marks the dramatic elevation rise from the desert. It is also a viewpoint southwest and southeast of the desert regions, including the Vulture Mountains.

History of Arizona Gold Mining

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Crystalline gold

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