Featured Site:CAVE CREEK DISTRICT
Maricopa County, AZ
Location: East flank of the New River Mountains, North of Paradise Valley, Tps. 6 and 7 N., R 4 E.. Lower Cave Creek, South of Cactus T. 3 N., R. 3 E.
Topographic Maps: Cave Creek, New River Mesa, and Sunnyslope, all 7.5 minute quadrangles. Click Here For Topographic Map Of The Cave Creek District
Access: Take I-17 north from Phoenix to the Carefree Highway exit, go East to Carefree area. Use topo maps to locate areas you are interested in and watch for private property.
Extent: Very little information other than production records has . been found relating to the placers in the Cave Creek district. Cave Creek heads near Cramm Mountain in the New River Mountains (T. 7 N., R. 4 E., unsurveyed) and flows southwest to Deer Valley, north of Phoenix. The placers are probably located along Cave Creek in the vicinity of the Maricopa and Phoenix gold mines (secs. 8 and 9, T. 6 N.. R. 4 E.. New River Mesa quadrangle). The only description of the placers I have found is that written by McConnell (1911). who describes a new placer discovery made in 1910. The ground, which was not located except for the district, contains gold-bearing gravels underlying soil and cemented gravels. The placers are found from 1 to 16 feet deep between the cemen t layer and bedrock; tests indicate that the ground values average 85 cents to $5.10 per cubic yard. Other placers are apparently found in the Winifred district on Cave Creek about 12 miles south of the Cave Creek district. U .5. Bureau of Land Management survey plats locate placer claims in sec. 22, T. 3 N ., R. 3 E. (Sunnyslope .quadrangle).
Production history: The earliest record of placer production from the Cave Creek district is for 1888; placers may have been worked before that time. Small amounts of placer gold were recovered by transitory miners between 1908 and 1915, and 1934 and 1941. From 1939 to 1941, the small production of the Cave Creek district was combined with production from the Camp Creek district in the record. The Winifred district produced a small amount of placer gold in 1932 (amount was not given).
Source: The paucity of information about the Cave Creek district precludes definite conclusions regarding the origin of the placer gold. The Maricopa and Phoenix gold mines, the largest lode-gold mines in the area. are in quartz veins in altered Precambrian schist. These deposits. and possibly other small gold veins. could have beeI~ the source of the placers in the Cave Creek district. The small production of placer gold from the Winifred district may have been derived from the veins found at the Avelina, Devide, Corona, and La Fe lode claims.
All info is from AZ bureau of mines bulletins.
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. Good hunting.
I personally have not hunted this area with a metal detector and don't know anyone who has with any success, but that doesn't mean there is no detectable gold. There is allot of private property in the area so be sure to know where you are at all times.
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