By Robert Zucker
Contributed by William Flint Carter
The white man's Arizona Gold Rush started in the late 1880s after several chance discoveries of the precious ore.
The search for gold, though, began
centuries before when, according to legends of the Lost City and Lost
mine, Spanish settlers operated a secret gold mine in the Santa Catalina
mountains.
Gold typically occurs in
quartz veins. Extracting gold ore from these hard quartz veins was
historically referred to as quartz reef mining. The gold was brought to
the surface as small particles embedded in lumps of quartz. The new
mining companies had to sink very deep shafts to get quartz from the
reefs deep underground. The quartz was then crushed into a fine dust by
stamping batteries in a stamping mill. 1
One discovery of gold bearing
quartz in the Santa Catalinas was reported in an 1886 newspaper article
that described a chance finding of gold:
"There is a particular
inquiry at this time for good gold mines in Arizona and, owing to the
low price of silver only the best and richest silver properties can be
sold. The recent discovery of vast gold bearing quartz ledges in
the Santa Catalinas was not only timely but one of the greatest
prospective importance to this city. A great gold belt will be opened,
second only in size to the largest known gold lode in the world and
first in productive capacity that will add many millions annually to the
wealth of the country and give employment to quite an army of
industrious people. These discoveries have not been made public or
notorious and lucky prospectors having had ample opportunity to locate
all they care to own, there now no reason why some publicity should not
be given to a matter of such importance. We are promised a full
description of these vast properties and hope in a short time to be able
to give a reliable and conservative report of them." 2
A 1901 article in the Arizona
Republican described the accidental discovery of quartz stones with gold
found in the Catalina Mountains:
"The maneuvers of a rat led N.H.
Ingoldsby to the discovery of a rich gold mine In southern Arizona. He
appropriately named the property the Rat Hole mine. Mr. Ingoldsby had
been spending several months near Mammoth, on the San Pedro RIver, in
Arizona. His purpose, says the Tombstone Prospector, was to enjoy the
hunting and make a collection of the animals and minerals of the
southwest. He pitched his tent in the canyon of the San Pedro in the
Santa Catalina mountalns.
He had no neighbors and was for a
long time unable to account for the disappearance of small articles that
he left lying about his camp. At last he noticed that when anything was
taken something was left In Its place. This was usually a bit of stone
or wood. The culprit he found to be a large rodent of the species known
as the trading rat. The habits of the animal made an Interesting study
for Mr. Ingoldsby, and he often lay awake at night to watch for his
visitor.
A silver spoon was missing one morning, and in Its place was a piece of quartz carrying free gold.
This still more excited Mr. Ingoldsby's curiosity, and after several
attempts he succeeded in following the animal to Its home. Near
by was the ledge from which the gold bearing quartz had been taken. Mr.
Ingoldsby made an examination thorough enough to prove that his
dlscovery was of considerable value." 3
In a 1901 article in the Arizona Republican, titled "Canada del Oro, A Rich Mining District in the Catalina Mountains."
"There Is excellent
prospect of a mining boom In the Canada Del Oro dlstrict, situated just
north of Tucson on the west side of the Santa Catalina range, says the
(Tucson) Citizen. The Arizona Copper Hill Mining company, a Denver
concern, Is the first mine on the road from Tucson. They purchased their
claims for $75,000 and have spent $125,000 in development but are now
closed down pending a sale. They expect to make a deal September 1 by
which the mine will be transferred to a large company, the consideration
being $2,000,000. They have a forty-elght foot vein of 5 per cent
leaching copper ore. If the new company takes hold a large leaching
plant will be erected. Just above the Arizona Copper Hill company Dr. N.
H. Matas of this city is working come rich gold claims. From this
property he has already taken quite a quantity of ore but recently
struck a rich body of ore carrying free gold. It Is understood that he
Is arranging for a sale, but the details could not be learned. The next
claims In the canyon are owned by Mayor Schcumacher and Charles Bauer.
They have a contract to sell the claims September 15 for a consideration
of $60,000 of which $23,000 Is to be paid down. Extensive development
work has already been done on these claims." 4
In his 1912 report on the Cody-Dyer
mine at Campo Bonito, E. J. Ewing described large outcrops of quartz he
saw on the Morning Star claim of the Southern Belle mine group which
"rose some 25' or so above the surrounding limestone." 5
Tiffany's gold quartz jewelry was a hit at the turn of the century
Gold-in-quartz was made popular as
jewelry in the 1890s when Tiffany & Co. gemologist George F. Kunz
wrote about it in his book "Gems and Precious Stones of North America"
(Dover Books, 1892). Miners would usually grind up the stone to extract
the gold, but gemologists created jewelry, watches and trinkets made of
quartz in gold.
"Single specimens for scarf-pins,
rings, and sets of pins and earrings sell from $2 to $10 each.
Exceptionally fine or curious pieces bring higher prices. It is within a
few years that gold quartz has been utilized to any great extent in
jewelry. At first the designs were usually simple and the mountings
modest, but the demand has created a supply of elaborate designs, and at
present the quartz is used in every conceivable form of jewelry, and in
articles of personal adornment and decoration of almost unlimited
variety, such as canes, paper-weights, writing-cases, perfume- bottles,
fan-sticks, bracelets, watch-chains, and lace-pins, the lat- ter in such
designs as shovels, picks, and other mining emblems. In certain new
furniture, it has been used as paneling ; and here, as in jewelry, the
effect is better brought out by added colors, such as are afforded by
agate, moss agate, native silver in a matrix, smoky quartz, iron and
copper pyrite, cinnabar, mala- chite, turquoise in the matrix, and other
bright minerals. By slitting and piecing, as is done with malachite, an
entire table- top can be made from a few pounds of gold quartz. Much of
the jewelry made of this material is sold to tourists from the Eastern
States and elsewhere.
One of the large designs made of gold
quartz, represent ing the Cathedral of Notre Dame, at Paris, is valued
at $20,000. It stands about a foot high, and is perhaps the finest piece
of work ever weighing 160 pounds was taken out of the bank of the
Nevada Hydraulic Company at Gibsonville, Cal. The boulder was smoothly
washed and had the appearance of having been ground in a pothole. Its
estimated value was $2,500, but its real worth was more than this, since
it was valuable for lapidary purposes. The gold penetrating amethystine
quartz from Hungary is very beautiful, but the California quartz is the
finest known." 6
Today, Tiiffany's & Co.
sells a 20 Carat drop earrings with yellow quartz in 18k gold for $1,500
and a pendant of smoky quartz in 18k gold sells for $7,000. 7
While all of the substantial
gold bearing quartz ore has been hauled away from the mountains,
fortunate prospectors can still find quartz bearing gold and silver, in
select areas of the mountains. Today, these stones are mined from the
same locations in the Santa Catalinas and sold as Cody Stone.
Gold in the Catalinas
According to a mineral report from the U.S. Department of Mines:
"Heylmun (1989, p. 15) reports
visible free gold in the Valerie May vein and "good gold values", and
also notes " a number of gold- bearing quartz lenses and pockets in
igneous and metamorphic rocks on the rugged south and west flanks of the
Catalinas, much of it being in areas withdrawn from mineral entry." The
mineral withdrawal reference is to the Pusch Ridge Wilderness. USBM has
no data to resolve the differences between Heylmun (1989) and Ryan
(1982a) or to quantify the other reported gold occurrences of Heylmun." 8
2. Arizona Champion, Peach Springs, Mohave, A.T. Arizona, October 2, 1886, from the Tucson Citizen.
3. Arizona Republican, April 26, 1901
4. Arizona Republican, Phoenix, 8/31/1901, p 3
5. "The business of being Buffalo
Bill: selected letters of William F. Cody, 1879-1917" By Buffalo
Bill, Sarah J. Blackstone. Page 94-96.
6. "Gems and Precious Stones of North America," by George Frederick Kunz, 1890, p. 118-119
7. Tiffany's & Co. web site
8. "MINERALAPPRMSALOF CORONADO
NATIONAL FOREST, PART 5 Santa Catalina-Rincon Mountains Unit Cochise,
Pima and Pinal Counties, Arizona" U.S. Bureau of Mines, MLA 25-94 1994,
p. 19.
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discoveries of the precious ore.