Featured Site:BLACK CANYON PLACERS
Yavapai County, AZ
Location: East flank of the Bradshaw Mountains, Tps. 9.5 to 10 N., Rs 1 and 2 E.
Topographic Maps: Mayer and Bumble Bee 15 minute quadrangles. Click Here For Topographic Map Of The Black Canyon Placer District
Access: Take I-17 north from Phoenix to the Bumble Bee or Black Canyon exits. Various dirt roads lead to the placers.
Extent: Placers occur along the Black Canyon segment of Turkey Creek between Arrastre Creek and Poland Creek and have been worked upstream to the vicinity of Cleator. Placers were also mined in American and Mexican Gulches where the Bumble Bee Creek enters Black Canyon.
Placers were worked in Black Canyon below Howard's Copper Mine (sec. 31 T. 10 N., R. 2 E., Bumble Bee quadrangle), where before 1922, one man reportedly produced 20,000 in gold, probably at a spot about 1 mile downstream from the mine.
Production history: The placers in the Black Canyon area have been worked intermittently since the latter part of the 1800's. the amount of gold recovered from the Black Canyon placers was not large compared with other placers in Yavapai County, but was appreciably more than that recovered along the upper part of Turkey Creek.
Source:The placers in the Black Canyon drainage were derived from gold veins that are apparently of both Precambrian and late Cretaceous to early Tertiary (Laramide) age.
Tips: Get off the main roads and into the tributaries, look for evidence of old workings. Move slowly and dig ALL TARGETS. Always make sure you have a topo map of the area you wish to hunt. Remember to stay off marked claims and please remember to FILL ALL HOLES!! Several clubs have claims in this area and that is a good way to get started.
Metal detecting in the Black Canyon can be quite productive for the crafty and energetic nugget shooter. Gold can be found both in the drainages and on the up-lifted benches throughout the area. There are MANY hot rocks and iron stones that present some problems for VLF units. The up-lifted benches can be spotted by looking for large reddish areas covered with quartz rubble and iron stone smoothed by water.
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