Aric
Jr. Member
- Feb 20, 2015
- 35
- 33
- Detector(s) used
- Currently using the Gepard GPR.
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
It's a heavily mineralized area to the s/e of the mountain so the existence of gold mines among the numerous silver and copper mines is not a stretch of the imagination by any means...
A pure vein of gold in a silver district may be rare, but I've read numerous assay reports where the ore tested almost a 50/50 mixture of gold and silver. I know of a few areas in the Bradshaws where that's the case. If I recall the reports, it was very hard to refine just because of it being so mixed.Gold vein in a silver district is rare.
A pure vein of gold in a silver district may be rare, but I've read numerous assay reports where the ore tested almost a 50/50 mixture of gold and silver. I know of a few areas in the Bradshaws where that's the case. If I recall the reports, it was very hard to refine just because of it being so mixed.
Probably the greatest reason for the LDM NOT to be in the SE is because during the time that Waltz was working his mine, there were a WHOLE LOT of working silver mines in the area. NO WAY for Waltz to come and go without being seen by other miners.
THAT is my biggest reason for not believing the "Pit Mine" is not the LDM.
Mike
I struggled with that mine for a long time, went back and forth, argued with myself in the mirror, etc. well maybe not argued with myself.
I finally came to the conclusion that it isn't the LDM for a few reasons. When you're there it feels like it's the right place, based on "clues" passed down for generations. Two pits and a tunnel. Extremely rough terrain, I've literally walked on top of trees/vegetation because it was so thick. Cave across from the mine. Climb up and you can see the military trail, etc. there is even a "cabin" or rock house in the canyon itself at the mouth. I could never find this house. Also the horse with the dog ear. These all lead you to believe it's the right place. When you sit at the bottom pit and ponder that Waltz actually worked this mine, that it's the LDM, it's a very powerful feeling. The imagination starts to run wild. I enjoyed it quite a lot.
When I leave, all that goes away. Then I really start to consider if that could be the mine. I decided that there's no way for a couple of reasons that I could never reconcile.
1: This mine is very very easy to get to from the QCU. You head east through the saddle, climb the ridge in the distance, and it's on the other side. Waltz would have explained this to Julia/Reiney. Why make it hard? He wanted them to find it. He gave them directions. They didn't go anywhere in this direction at all. The fact that it's so easy to describe how to get there, even if you went in the Iron Mountain side, is hard to let go.
2: This area was HEAVILY mined in the 1880' and who knows how far before that. There is a map with 25 mines around Iron Mountain on it dated 1882. It also shows the mining around Picket Post and Mineral Mountain areas, not far from here. There were people everywhere as early as 1882, probably the mid 1870's if I had to guess. One of these days I'll do research on the mines to find out when they were filed. My point here is Waltz couldn't have mined this area prior to 1882 without being known. He died in1891, and I find it hard to believe he went 10 years without visiting his mine. I could be wrong though.
So lets pretend he actually visited the mine last in the 1870's, before the filing of the Randolph District mines, and wasn't spotted. This still leaves the question as to why Julia/Rhiney never found the mine, and never even went to this side of the mountains to search for the mine. They headed straight for Weavers Needle. How can you explain that? Just the words "Head East from the board house", or "Head East from the South side of the Mountain".
Thats is how I feel about the pit mine. I wonder how many "clues" were fabricated to lead someone to this mine. It wouldn't surprise me.
Joe Ribaudo | ||||
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm Posts: 5256 |
|
Joe Ribaudo | ||||
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm Posts: 5256 |
|
Thats is how I feel about the pit mine. I wonder how many "clues" were fabricated to lead someone to this mine. It wouldn't surprise me.
I personally believe the "Pit Mine" was one of the Peralta/Gonzalez Mines.
I think Waltz got this mine in the late 1860s to early 1870s. Worked it until sometime around the mid 1880s. Snuck in once a year or so hand cobbled enough ore to last the year, then snuck back out. Not easy to do with a bunch of year round working silver mines in the area.
I have said it many times before. I think both the Pit Mine and the Mormon Stope (of the Mammoth Mine) were part of the Peralta/Gonzalez Families' Group of Mines. I think there are good placers underwater around the mouth of Labarge, and something in the neighborhood of Blacktop, as well as something on or near Tortilla. I think Bluff Springs Mt was used to cobble mined ore and keep horses and maybe Horse Mesa was used for the same (hand cobbled gold ore has been found in both places).
AZBLACKBIRD,
When you posted that almost all of the state was geologically mapped, you are correct. Most of the Supers lie on the edge of a volcanic caldera which is well known to be a big producer of all kinds of valuable minerals. On either side of the Supers we have Goldfield to the West and Globe to the East. Both exceedingly rich in minerals. The experts agree (mostly) that any gold or silver in the Supers is hidden by a 40-70 foot thick layer of volcanic tuff and Dacite. What they fail to understand (publicly at least) is that floods, rain washes, and earthquakes expose what is under the tuff here and there. This is where the gold and silver pops up at the surface from time to time. The Spanish/Mexicans weren't stupid. They had been working mines around the world for several hundred years. They knew exactly what to look for in just about every type of geological formation. Just read "De Re Metallica" written by Georgius Agricola in 1556.
When I first got into prospecting, and old timer showed me one of the secrets to finding old Spanish Mines. If you are in an area where the Spanish were known to have operated, look at all the more colorful mountains. That is evidence of mineralization. Hold your hand in the air and spread your fingers apart (fingers pointing up). See how they come together at your hand? Look on the sides of those colorful mountains. Look for the places where all those washes coming down the mountain converge. Mother nature has done a lot of the digging work for you. The Spanish liked to sink tunnels in those convergences. With all the washed down rocks, it also made the small entrances easy to hide.
When Waltz said that "no miner will find my mine", I took that to mean the funnel was only exposed at the top. Maybe exposed by a shearing uplift from an earthquake or a landslide. There was no way for any gold to wash down into a stream and be found by normal "following the color upstream then uphill" methods of prospecting.
Mike
Where I'm from, it's rumored that Waltz had built a small 2 room stone house directly over the entrance which went straight down into the mine.
Where I'm from, it's rumored that Waltz had built a small 2 room stone house directly over the entrance which went straight down into the mine.
Waltzs said you couldnt find the mine. Untill you find the house. When and where that house found its way into a cave. I dont know.
The stone house in a cave on the pefil map. I believe is a cut away. Like they use in blue prints. A pic in a pic so to speak.
I think it means the house is on that side of the cannon. Of course thats just a guess