Arizona Gold

From a distance, the mountain was shaped like the back of a saddle. There was a distinct dip in the middle and even a pommel. You had to wonder what was on top of the mountain located just six miles northeast of Wickenburg, AZ.

In the late 1800s...

...a party of explorers headed by a scout named Pauline Weaver camped at the foot of the mountain. A small stream flowed at the mountain's base providing water for the men and their horses.

While they were setting up camp for the night, one of the pack animals broke away and Weaver sent one of his men to bring it back. The horse led the mountain man on a merry chase and brought him to the top of the mountain where it was munching on the grass next to a stream.

As the mountain man put a rope around the horse's neck, his eyes bulged out of his head.

Beneath the running water of the stream was a shimmer of yellow. It looked like GOLD. He stopped what he was doing and reached beneath the surface of the water...

...and pulled two large gold nuggets out of the stream.

When he told his fellow explorers about the gold, they followed him up the mountain. The gold was everywhere and Weaver gave the mountain a name -- Rich Hill.

For the next 40 years, miners and prospectors took gold from the mountain. They are still finding the precious metal there today, nearly 150 years later.

During the many years I lived in Arizona working for newspapers and People Magazine, I spent many adventurous weekends traveling around the state and looking for gold. I went to places like Lynx Creek near Prescott, the McDowell Mountains north of Scottsdale and the Superstition Mountains where the legendary Lost Dutchman Gold Mine is supposedly located.

When I heard of a gold strike on the Garden of Allah Ranch just outside of Wickenburg, I drove there and met Max Evans, an author and western historian who lived at the ranch. A World War 2 combat veteran, Evans had written two books, 'The Rounders" and "The Hi-Lo Country' which were made into western movies.

Evans knew about the strike and said he hoped the owners of the ranch wouldn't sell it just to make money off the gold. He said he liked living at the ranch and didn't want to move off the property.

Arizona has hundreds of gold mines across the Grand Canyon State. While many were closed for years when gold was selling for under $35 an ounce, the upsurge in the value of gold over the past couple of decades has triggered an increase in interest in re-opening the old mines.

With gold selling between $1,200 and $1,300 per ounce and threatening to go considerably higher, mining properties are a good investment for the wise investor!

One of my good Arizona friends was Jack 'Burro' Crane, a retired gold prospector who lived just outside Circle City, a small community halfway between Phoenix and Wickenburg. Crane was a colorful little man who would squat when he talked to you rather than stand up straight.

When he stopped searching for gold after major cancer surgery -- doctors removed a tumor the size of a softball from his stomach -- he retired his pack of burros and kept them in his front yard.

Burro estimated he had taken nearly $100,000 in gold from the streambeds and mountains of Arizona (more than $1 million in today's currency values)!

Being a newspaper reporter, I was always looking for good story ideas. I asked Jack where he would recommend me to go to search for gold.

Burro grinned:

"Hell, son, anywhere you go in this state is a good choice. Arizona is a veritable gold mine. Every time it rains on Rich Hill, the water unearths even more gold. It frankly surprises me when I pan in a new place and don't find at least a little color."

The town of Stanton near the base of Rich Hill was once occupied by over 200 miners. Now a ghost town, Stanton had the usual collection of businesses for a small town including a bar, a hardware store, and a livery stable. Weaver Creek was rich in gold and many a prospector found enough of it to pay for his grocers, tobacco, liquor, and other expenses.

The Hassayampa River which flows through Wickenburg has large traces of gold throughout the river bed. Because it is a body of water, miners are prevented from using heavy machinery to extract the gold.

Years ago a flood swept through Wickenburg, destroying many houses. One of the houses was owned by a judge who had a safe that was loaded with gold. The roaring waters swept the safe away and it was never found. Local residents are convinced it is buried in the sands of the river, deep beneath the surface.

Joe Wilcox, whose family owned an Indian art store and trading post in Sedona, taught me how to pan for gold. He spent many weekends prospecting for gold in Arizona and took many gold nuggets and quartz gold out of the mountains and stream beds. Once he and his son traveled to Alaska with a couple of business partners to set up a sluice box at the foot of a glacier.

It took them over a month to start their operation.

Wilcox said:

"We found gold, but my partners turned out to be crooks. They filed a claim in town but left my name and my son's name off of it. That kind of destroyed our partnership. I figured if we stayed around there, somebody would get killed so my son and I returned to Arizona."

Another good area for finding gold...

... is around Oatman, a ghost town just a few miles north of Bullhead City and Laughlin, NV.

Oatman is riddled with mines that produce gold, silver, and turquoise. It was a favorite hangout for Clark Gable who would go there to get away from the press and the Hollywood crowd.

Gable would drink, play poker and hobnob with gold prospectors, gamblers, and cowboys who admired his lifestyle.

I had a friend named Charlie Stoll who owned a gold mine that he worked up until the day of his death. Sometimes he would load the trunk of my car with ore and tell me:

"There's a lot of gold there, son, if you can figure out how to separate it from the rocks."

I am planning another trip to Arizona in the near future. When I arrive there...

...I expect to find hundreds of retirees living on Social Security checks in their campers in places like Rich Hill, Stanton, Lynx Creek, the Superstitions and the McDowell Mountains.

A lot of prospectors are making a decent living panning for gold. And if you can't find it in Arizona, you can't find it anywhere!