1. Gold Basin This is a expansive area southeast of Las Vegas. Although gold has been known here since the 1870s, most of the historic mining activity occurred during the Great Depression. Nowadays, there are a few guys that come here to metal detect for isolated gold nuggets that are scattered across the […]
Arizona ghost town
Mining History of Crown King, Arizona
Crown King, Arizona, is a quiet town situated high among the pine trees of Bradshaw Mountains. This has become a popular tourist town that receives steady visitors, especially during the summer months. Visitors today come to beat the summer heat, but in the 19th century scores of immigrants came in search of gold. The most […]
Gold Mining Areas near Kingman & Bullhead City
The purpose of this article is to provide some basic information for gold prospectors exploring the desert around Kingman and Bullhead City. There are quite a few good spots worth prospecting, but the desert is vast and it can be hard to know where to start. The good news is that Mohave County is the […]
Gold, Minerals & Treasures of the Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is one of the most famous canyons in the world for its magnificent beauty. Less known are the stories of various gold and riches hidden there. At the peak of the early gold rushes in Arizona and California, this area was mainly ignored by miners. Although some minor gold deposits were found, […]
8 Gold Prospecting Areas near Lake Havasu City, AZ
There are plenty of locations in the desert around Lake Havasu City where a prospector can find some gold. In fact, Mohave County is the 2nd leading gold producer in the state of Arizona. Not everyone is familiar with the golden history of this area. Within an hour of the city you can find several […]
The Yarnell Gold Discovery in Central Arizona
If you drive up the Highway 89 from Phoenix, you’ll eventually come to a sign that says “Where a desert breeze meets the mountain air”. That is when you’ll know that you have reached the old mining town of Yarnell. The town lies on the slopes of the mountains overlooking the vast Peeples Valley. Yarnell […]
Metal Detecting for Gold near Quartzsite, Arizona
Quartzsite is a busy town during the winter. While it only has a population of about 4,000 people during the hot summer, nearly 250,000 people travel there during the winter! Most of these folks are “snowbirds” who come to enjoy the mild climate when the northern parts of the country are covered in snow. People […]
The Morenci Mine – Arizona’s Largest Open Pit Copper Mine
The Morenci Mine is located in eastern Arizona and is one of the largest copper reserves in the world. The mine is located along US Highway 191 near the small towns of Morenci and Clifton. It is about 10 miles from the southeastern edge of the San Carlos Indian Reservation. It is reported to contain […]
Mining History of Castle Dome, Arizona
Castle Dome was one of Yuma’s most productive mining sites, and remains a popular area for gold prospectors to explore. Located in the along the Colorado River in the Castle Dome Mountains, the town was established following the discovery of silver ore in the area, it turned out that the area was had richer in […]
Chloride, Arizona – Mining History of this Mojave Desert Gem
Chloride is a ghost town in Arizona that sprang up when silver was discovered in Mohave County. It was quite a boom town, and very rich ores were pulled from the rock for many years after the initial discovery. Unlike many of the old Arizona ghost towns, Chloride is not abandoned and according to the […]
King Tut & Gold Basin Placers – Prospecting Areas in Northwest Arizona
Greaterville, Arizona – Gold Mining in the Santa Rita Mountains
The Greaterville gold placers were discovered by A. Smith in 1874. After this, the boom started and many people came to these highly sought after placers to get rich and start mining some gold for themselves. The area became populated and eventually formed into a small town and community that were based strictly on mining […]
Early History of Silver Mining in Tombstone, Arizona
The history of mining in Tombstone can be traced back to 1877 when Ed Schieffelin an anti-Chiricahua Apaches scout stationed at Camp Huachuca discovered silver in the region near the Goose Flats. Ed named his claim Tombstone because he had been warned against venturing into the surrounding wilderness to their camp that the only thing […]
History of Ruby, Arizona – A Well-Preserved Mining Town
Ruby is a well-preserved ghost town in Arizona. But don’t let its humble appearance fool you. The town was once a thriving mining town with thousands of residents and numerous businesses. Gold and silver veins were first discovered near the town site on the slopes of Montana Peak in the 1700s by Spanish explorers but […]
Bisbee Mines – The Copper Queen Brings Thousands to Arizona
The Bisbee Mines turn a remote piece of the Arizona desert into a booming mining town During the period of the American Gold Rush in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Bisbee, Arizona, located in Cochise County, just southeast of Tuscon, was known as the “Queen of the Copper Camps.” Unlike many towns in the […]