2. From Gold, to Silver, to Copper
By the early 1850s, individual prospectors and small groups of miners were actively searching for placer deposits throughout the American Southwest. The simplest and easiest method of finding gold, placer mining, was merely finding the gold, which had eroded from veins as a result of alluvial or weathering action and then had been carried downstream. That bit of gold, depending on weight or stream velocity, would eventually be deposited, remaining in place until discovery by a prospector(s) using a pan, rocker or sluice.

Arizona's First Gold Rush
Francis X. Aubry reported seeing evidence of gold floating on the Colorado River in 1853 but said it was of little value, and nothing was done to develop it. Five years later, Arizona's first major gold rush occurred when Jacob Snively led a party of prospectors to a placer deposit on the Gila River about 19 miles east of its juncture with the Colorado River. A booming camp, Gila City soon developed. By 1861, there were 1,000 miners in the camp, which was described as follows by J. Ross Brown, a journalist who traveled extensively in the West:

"Enterprising men hurried to the spot with barrels of whiskey and billiard tables; Jewish merchants came with ready-made clothing and fancy wares; traders crowded in with wagons-loads of pork and beans; and gamblers came with cards and monte-tables. There was everything in Gila City within a few months but a church and a jail,"

Despite early riches and fast growth, the Gila City placer deposits soon played out. Later, when the river shifted its course, the camp was abandoned and there is no longer any evidence of its existence.

The next important placer strike occurred in 1862 when the ex-mountain man, Paulino Weaver, led a group of prospectors to the Colorado River above Yuma and discovered the La Paz placer deposits. A major camp quickly developed. By year's end La Paz had 5,000 residents, was important enough to be the first capital of Yuma County, and was believed by many to be the logical choice for the territorial capital. As had happened with Gila City, however, the river shifted leaving the placer deposits high and dry about 12 miles from water. When the deposits played out, La Paz was abandoned, and today, little remains of what was once Arizona's largest city.

As technology changed hardrock mining, the pneumatic drill replaced hand drilling. However, the penumatic drill created new health problems for the miner and soon became identified by the miners as the "widow maker." The exhaust air kept granite particles in the air, these particles when inhaled by the miner cut up the lungs, developed scar tissue, a condition known as "silicosis" and often led to an early death for the miner. Later water was used to keep the dust down, not only making it healthier for the miner but also making the drill more efficient.

Photo Courtesy Sharlott Hall Museum Library/Archives. Prescott, Arizona

Rivers and Riches
Joseph Rutherford Walker, another ex-mountain man, led a party of 30 prospectors from California over the Old Spanish Trail into New Mexico and then back west to Arizona in 1963. Heading up the Hassayampa River (which they are reputed to have named) they eventually arrived in the Bradshaw Mountains near present day Prescott. They found gold on several area creeks, including Lynx, Big Bug and Groom. They built corrals, set up a mining district, established claims, and had a drawing, with each man receiving two claims of 100 yards each on either side of the creek. If it was a lode claim, the person could go as deep as he wished. They also drew up laws that prohibited Mexicans. The resolution, which originally read ". . . no Mexican shall have the right to buy, take up, or pre-empt a claim on this river for a term of six months to date from the first day of June, 1863 to December 1, 1863," was amended one month later to also exclude Chinese from working any portion of the district.

That same year, 1863, Paulino Weaver, A.H. Peebles, and Jack Swilling led a group of prospectors up the Hassayampa River where they discovered a rich placer deposit on top of Antelope Hill. The strike was so rich and unusual that the site was renamed Rich Hill. The story of the Rich Hill strike is a typical mining story in which one of the party went looking for a strayed burro and found gold. Some have said it is proof that "any stupid ass" can find gold. What is really unusual about the Rich Hill strike is that it was on top of a hill, and the gold was in cracks and crevices. Prospectors actually dug it out with spoons and knives. Before it played out, the Rich Hill deposit produced more than one-half million dollars in gold.

Also in 1863, Henry Wickenburg, apparently attracted by the Rich Hill stories and the Walker party's reports of success in the Bradshaw Mountains, prospected up the Hassayampa River, near what is present day Wickenburg. Legend has it that Wickenburg threw a rock at a vulture (some say at his burro). When the rock broke, Wickenburg saw that it contained gold ore. Although 12 miles from the river, Wickenburg established a claim.

When word spread of a placer "strike" the stream quickly became lined with prospectors hoping to find a rich deposit.

Photo Courtesy Arizona Historical Foundation

Rather than work the mine, he sold the ore at $15 a ton. Purchasers had to transport the ore to the Hassayampa River, where a number of arrastras had been built for processing. Wickenburg later sold the mine (named the Vulture Mine because of the story of its origins) for $68,000. Although productive until well into the 20th century the Vulture Mine had many problems, including the degree of high-grading (stealing of particularly rich nuggets or pieces of ore) by the miners. Some historians believe the Vulture Mine was also the source of the gold for the Lost Dutchman Legend.

The next decade saw continued placer activity but few major discoveries. Possibly the most important strike was at Greaterville in the southeastern part of the territory. Discovered in 1874 by A. Smith, the Greaterville placers quickly became a camp of 200 miners. It was said that they could make $10 per day by dry washing. Water had to be carried four miles from the river and cost three cents a gallon. By 1880, the richer gravels had been worked over, and the camp was, for all intents and purposes, abandoned.

Finding Lost Mines
Concurrent with placer development, the search for abandoned Spanish lode mines produced dramatic results. In 1854 Peter Brady led twenty men into the Ajo region, the same area earlier explored by Tom Childs. As with his predecessor, Childs, it is generally believed that Brady was also searching for the Plancas de Plata. Upon reaching the Ajo region, Brady established the Arizona Mining and Trading Company, which had been formed in San Francisco. The company found both silver and copper but not enough to be profitable. As a result, it soon abandoned the mine.

The First Corporate Investors
About the same time another San Franciscan, Charles D. Poston (the Father of Arizona), formed a party to search for abandoned Spanish mines in Sonora. The party sailed up the Gulf of California and traveled overland to the Tubac area where they located previously worked mines. Returning to San Francisco, Poston was able to get enough financial backing to form the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company and open several mines in the Tubac area.

By 1858 Poston employed more than a thousand Mexican miners. He also had Arizona's first printing press brought into the area. He ran everything, made the laws, printed the money (Boletas), and even performed marriage ceremonies between miners and the women attracted to the camp.

In his memoirs, Poston, who liked to sit in the river and read the newspaper while smoking cigars, said: "We had no law but love, and no occupation but labor. No government, no taxes, no public debt, no politics. It was a community in a perfect state of nature."2 That "perfect state of nature" ended when a Catholic priest arrived and told the couples married by Poston they were not legally wed. Poston restored harmony by paying the priest to perform marriages and giving each couple a wedding present.

The need for money forced Poston east to find other investors, among them Samuel Colt of Ohio. He also persuaded the commander at Fort Yuma, Samuel P. Heintzelman, to become a shareholder. Others began to buy or take over other abandoned mines, one of the most important miners being Sylvestor Mowry, an ex-officer also from Fort Yuma. Mowry bought the Patagonia mine about thirty miles east of Nogales.

A little known (and little used in Arizona) phase of placer mining was hydraulic mining. Developed in California and used extensively there, especially by Chinese miners, this method of mining placer deposits was used at several sites in Arizona. This picture is from a Lynx Creek site but hydraulic mining operations were used at several other locations, most notably at Greaterville in southern Arizona and Walnut Grove in the Bradshaws.

Photo Courtesy Sharlott Hall Museum Library/Archives. Prescott, Arizona