A Ride to Look Over Some Placer Gold Mining Equipment Arizona

 

On one of my walks in the hills near the Hayden/Winkelman area I had come across some mining equipment parked in an out of the way sand wash. Neither of my traveling buddies knew about this equipment, so we decided to take a day and drive in as close as we could and then take a short walk to look over the area. Once there we found that there had been no change that I could tell from when I had been there nearly 2 years before. With the price of gold as high as it was, it seemed strange to me that the equipment had been brought in and then had been left to just sit.

In the years that I have been going to the hills, this trip was the first one that I have encountered a "public lands" official. Just by coincidence, the fellow was headed into the same area. The claim owner had filed for permission to declare an area of his claim as "private" and the official was going to look the situation over before making his decision. We forgot to ask where and how the claim owner was going to supply water for his operation. There was no obvious supply that we could see. We later wondered whether he would be granted permission to run an overland water line, or dig a well or would have to haul his water.

The pieces of equipment are of a size more suitable for commercial production. They are not that usually seen with the average weekend prospector.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

 

 

Trips
Home