The Abandoned Gold Mines

Our first visit to Oatman was back in August of last year, right after we arrived in Kingman.  http://thetravelerstwo.blogspot.com/2013/09/clark-gable-and-carole-lombard.html 

Today, we didn't want to go for a long trip, but we did want to "go."  (And that's a surprise because ...?) So, we decided on a lazy lil' trip down Route 66.  You know it's gonna be a good trip when you start out seeing signs like this:

We've been down this road before, but this time the road is the destination.  We take our time, stopping repeatedly along the way, sometimes for my photo ops and sometimes for Granpas.  Check this out:

Flowers.  In the Desert.  In January.

We wouldn't have seen these if we hadn't stopped and walked around a bit.
This whole area is strewn with rocks of cooled lava.  What is really interesting is that my research says the volcanic-looking cone in the Black Mountain range is not an extinct volcano.  (That's weird.  It looks like an old volcano caldera, and the ground is covered in these black basalt rocks.)  They say it's what's known as a block-faulted peak caused by geologic uplift. The east side of the peak is reddish-brown; the west side is black basalt.  But they say the rocks are cooled lava. My research also says that a quick way to tell the difference is in the name: if it is a "Mount," it's probably volcanic in origin, if it is a "Mountain," it's probably uplift.

As we come out of the valley and begin to climb up to the mining areas around Oatman, I'm greeted with more excellent sight-seeing encouragement.

Back Country Byway

Burro crossing next 8 miles!  Love it!

Arizona is such a gorgeous place!  Now, if you were a pioneer, or a gold-rusher, what would you do with all of these handy rocks?  Of course!  Build a house!  And that's just what they did!

The remains of numerous structures can be found around the gold mine just before we get to Oatman.  We met a couple of folks while we were up here who said that the owners of the newly reopened mine are getting $60,000 worth of gold a day just out of the "tailings" - that's the stuff that's left after the ores are separated from the rocks.  I say "newly reopened," because the sky-high price of gold right now makes it profitable to work old goldmines.

This opening to a mineshaft is in the heart of Oatman.  Though I don't think it's active anymore, I do think it was real at one time.


The next one, however, is definitely for real.

Yup.  Just right out in the middle of nowhere there's this hole in the ground with a bit of superstructure around it.  And this sign identifies it as the "Arizona Central Shaft" of the United Western Mine.  What? Someone just took a pick and a shovel and started digging?  I suppose...  How strange.

While we're stopped on the side of the road doin' photo ops, there's another couple doing the same thing.  I think I remember seeing them in the restaurant there in Oatman.  We exchange a few pleasantries, and it seems they're checking out the same possible excavation that made us stop.  Sure enough, it's another gold mining shaft.  Cleo and Junette seem to know a bit about this stuff.  Cleo explains that the white striations in the rock indicate ore is close by - probably to the right of the last vein of white - which is precisely where the shaft had been dug!

There is a solid iron door blocking anyone who's inclined to trespass - but Granpa is tall enough to reach over the door and take a few pictures!  (Yeaaa!)  Overhead we notice this wood beam that's obviously been in place for a long, long time.  See the shim that was put in on the right side?  It's been compressed to almost nothing by the force of the rock closing in under its own weight or perhaps because of geologic shifts.

Visually you can follow the path down deeper into the excavation.  You're actually going into an old abandoned gold mine!!  How fantastic is that?!

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