Good day Oro,
My ideal outcome wouldn't be a tourist destination. It would be more in the form of documentation of what existed, who did it and when. Pictures and narrative in book form would be enough.
The actual site is probably too remote to attract a steady stream of tourist. I do think the area should be protected and it should receive its designation as a historic site. Those hardy enough to make the trip would be rewarded with at least a rest stop with a bronze plaque.
Why do you think I mourn the discarding of the timber? Keeping a four foot section for dating purposes and display in an exhibit wouldn't have required much in the way of cash outlay. It would have at least provided opportunity to validate the very questions you ask. I'm betting a graduate student (or two) at ASU would have given their eye teeth for the opportunity to work on such a project.
I don't need convincing. But it would have been convincing to skeptics.
But hey, remember I'm from Virginia. We are head over heels in love with history and treat it will reverence. At least we did. Times are changing, alas. The all too true joke around these parts is how many Virginians does it take to screw in a light blub. Answer: 5. One to screw in the blub and 4 to document the historic valve of the old blub. That's more truth than joke.
There are many people, especially in government affairs, that will say with a straight face that NO Spanish mining ever took place in the Wilderness area. That's just not true.
Thank you Old for taking the time to explain, and for recognizing that I was really asking the question, not trying to be funny or sarcastic. I am still puzzled as to what is so historic about this Pit mine, and/or the Randolph district? It is only one of something like 67 mining districts in the state of Arizona that were mainly for gold or silver. As far as I can see, there is no solid proof of any Spanish and/or Mexican or Jesuit activity in the Randolph district. When it was first opened up, there was no mention of finding any trace of any previous mining activity anywhere in the district. I will start posting some of the news tidbits on this district tonight in a moment, so all can see. It did not get the same level of hyped up 'rush' press that some districts got, heck even the Goldfield district which is sometimes called Superstitions in the news articles, seems to have gotten more of the news media sales pitch in its favor.
Just for the record, I moved to VA about 1978, lived there a number of years and that is where I became a prison guard (at Powhatan Correction Center, which I hear is now either closed to be closed) and coincidentally also where I first started prospecting. Virginia has a LOT of history, and even a few lost mines of her own. Still have a warm place in my heart for the Old Dominion state, especially the Blue Ridge country. Unfortunately there has been a great deal of new development in some key areas of the state, or I might have still been living there instead of where we are now. I too am a lover of history, just don't see old mines as being of very great significance unless something like the Comstock or Homestake, which affected the whole nation.
Joe - you wrote
Jack San Felice has drawn a view of the inside of the Pit Mine on page 120 of "LOST EL DORADO OF JACOB WALTZ". In that drawing he shows the Pit Mine as being 70' deep from top to bottom, and 80' long for the tunnel. Although Jack answered my direct question that he "had not been in the mine" I can only assume that someone had described the inside of mine to him.
That does not sound like the historic description of the Silver Chief to me.
Perhaps if you check a few of those details?
It has a shaft of 40 feet another of 70 feet and a tunnel connecting below of 230 feet, ore is splendid the assay value is said to be from $60 to $1,300 ton. It is generally a carbonate and there is also galena. A drift 18 feet long which from the bottom of the shaft shows 2 feet of very rich metal is in white quartz. The Silver Chief looks better now than has done before."
Jack has it as 70' deep from top to bottom, and 80' long for the tunnel. Both descriptions include a shaft 70 feet long, and a sizable tunnel as well. Remember we are working from the descriptions of others, not actual measurements. And the published descriptions are over 100 years old, some work was almost certainly done after and NOT published, and just how accurate were those measurements (more likely estimates) when written down?
Some people are convinced that the Pit mine is the Lost Dutchman mine. I believe that by all the info available, this is not very likely. The burden of proof is on those making the claims. We have a historical record of a number of silver mines that operated in the district, and NO gold mines in that same district. Hence the reason for doubt. As pockets of gold were known to occur in some of those mines in the Randolph district, the logical conclusion (IMHO) is that the people who did some work in the Pit mine, had hit one of those pockets. The various clues that at least seem to fit with the numerous clues attributed to the LDM,
would seem to support the contention that this could be
the lost Peralta mine. Against that conclusion, we have the fact that a number of claims were staked on that very area, and some mines were operated, yet no mention of anyone ever finding any evidence of previous mining activity there. If the whole danged area was not now within a Wilderness Area, I would strongly consider a trip there, as I am also interested in silver as well as gold but as things stand, I won't be able to without breaking promises already made, and it would not convince anyone if I were to say that I have examined the mine.
I would certainly not attempt to discredit you Joe, on any grounds. I will however try to sway your opinion or change your mind at times however!
