Desert Messenger

April 6, 2016 www.DesertMessenger.com 15 Nestled deep in the wild lands of central Arizona, the Weaver Moun- tains are made up of pre-Cambrian granite and Tertiary lavas. These mountains also contain some of the richest gold mining areas of Arizo- na, including Wickenburg, Yarnell, Congress, and Stanton. And for nearly 150 years, some of the larg- est gold nuggets ever found in Ari- zona have come from an area in the Weaver Mining District known as Rich Hill. In fact, the Potato Patch Mine at the top of Rich Hill is so named because of the potato-sized nuggets it famously produces. In 1863, a prospector named Abra- ham Peeples arrived in Yuma. He had been prospecting in the Sierra Nevada but wanted to try his luck in Arizona. At the same time, Ex- plorer Pauline Weaver had just come from negotiating contracts with the Apache and Yavapai In- dians in Central Arizona to avail their lands to him for "hunting, gathering, and prospecting". The two men met in Yuma, and im- mediately began discussing plans to explore the mountains near the Hassayampa River, which, accord- ing to the local Indians, contained much gold. They put together an expedition party and set off to find their fortunes in this new land. Upon their arrival in May, some local tribal elders called their at- tention to a ragged peak and stat- ed that gold could be found there. The Peeples/Weaver party set up camp at the base of that mountain and began working the creek beds and washes. Within a few hours, By Jenn Jedidiah Free for RocksInMyHead™ Potatoes, nuggets & a great orogeny they had picked up over $1800 in gold, the equivalent at today's price of about $110,000. Continued ex- ploration produced areas full of nug- get-rich gravels covering the sur- face. Several men, while searching for horses that had wandered off, returned with a large quantity of po- tato-sized chunks of gold that they had found littering the ground at the top of the hill. The party continued to work the area for about a month, collecting all the visible gold on the surface. After the surface gold was played out the men began digging slightly below the surface of the gravels, and again had excellent success. The site became known as Rich Hill, and the mining camp known as Weaverville sprung up at its base. During the height of the gold rush, Rich Hill produced about 25 pounds of placer gold a week. In the summer of 1863, Pauline's son, Ben, discovered the first gold-laden quartz lode in the district. A month later, another lode deposit was dis- covered on the northwest side of Rich Hill. Almost overnight the area became a boomtown, with a population of about 1500 people, boasting saloons, casinos, dance halls, and even a red-light district. Within the first five years, more than 25,000 ounces of gold were found at Rich Hill. After several years of intense activ- ity, however, all of the gold located at or near the surface was mined out. As gold recovery became more diffi- cult, the town began to attract peo- ple more interested in stealing gold than digging it out of the ground. ADVENTURES WITH ROCKS ™ The town became filled with out- laws and wealth seemed to vanish as quickly as it was found. Weaver- ville, whose name was shortened to Weaver, developed a reputation so dangerous that even the local law- men would not go there. A Mexican gang led by Francisco Vega moved into the town and Weaver became a base for stagecoach robberies, cattle rustling, and all sorts of illicit and illegal activities that continued until the eventual demise of the town. By the late 1800's just about all of the easily recovered gold in the surface placers and exposed lode veins was played out and the majority of the miners and outlaws moved elsewhere. The handful of prospectors who remained began to seriously investigate hard rock mining of the Rich Hill lode depos- its, and successful mining of these deposits still continues today. It is the unusual geology of Rich Hill that results in its extraordinary mineral wealth. The original rock strata of central Arizona consisted of alternating layers of sedimentary deposits and sheets of lava from volcanic eruptions. Around 1750 million years ago, large plumes of molten magma intruded through the layers of lava and sediment. Richer in silica than the other lay- ers, the magma pushed up into faults and cracks, crystallized slow- ly, and formed granite. The sud- den influx of heat from the granite cooked the sedimentary layers and created a fine-grained metamor- phic rock known as greenstone. Ancient belts of greenstone are as- sociated with many extremely rich goldfields around the world. Ad- ditionally, the hot magma intru- sions boiled the auriferous ground water within the greenstone belts, dissolving concentrations of gold and transporting it in a solution of quartz to fill the fractures and veins within the host greenstone. The final piece of the puzzle oc- curred about 30 million years ago during a major mountain-building geologic event called an Orogeny. In the Weaver district, the Larim- ide Orogeny uplifted the gold-laden quartz and greenstone veins to the surface, exposing them to weather- ing and erosion. It is this distinct sequence of events that produced the abundance of gold found in the Weaver District. Today, Rich Hill still consistently yields nuggets of all sizes for those willing to do the work to locate them. Though Rich Hill has been prospected hard, the placer dis- trict extends for miles so there are many opportunities still to explore the fringes to find untapped de- posits. As recently as a few years ago, a two pound nugget was found by two Lost Dutchman Mining As- sociation members. Recreational prospectors can be successful with metal detectors or drywashers and a willingness to dig down a couple of feet to retrieve their finds. For more information on mining in Central Arizona, visit RocksInMy- Head.com. We have everything you need for your prospecting, rockhounding, and lapidary adven- tures, including books, maps, tools, supplies, and equipment. We also have a large selection of rocks, fos- sils, minerals, and gemstones. We will be open again on Nov. 1st, 2016, at Rice Ranch, A37, in Quartzsite, but until then you can order online, by email, or by phone at 605-376- 8754. Don't forget to Like us on Facebook and sign up for our News- letter. Happy prospecting and we'll see ya in the fall! Weaver Post Office

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