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AZentertain: Arizona Gold Rush Legend of the Iron Door Mine in the Santa Catalina Mountains
Purchase Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains on Amazon.com Hidden deep in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona, may lie the answer to the legendary Iron Door Mine. This one of the most extensively hunted old lost mines in North America and the Southwest USA. In Spanish, the Mine with the Iron Door is called "minas de la hierro con puerto en la Canada del Oro (Mine of the Iron Door in the Canyon of Gold)." But the door may not have been made entirely out of iron, instead it may just have been re-enforced with iron bars. The Cañada del Oro flows through the middle of the Catalina Mountains, north of Tucson, and is a known, and proven, source of gold deposits. The origins of the Iron Door Mine legend has been attributed to Jesuit priests who lived in the area until 1767 when they were ordered to return to Spain by the pope. The legend claims that the priests hid gold that they mined in the Santa Catalina Mountains. According to the legend, an "iron door" was constructed over the entrance before they left. However, it may have been just a large wooden door reinforced with iron. But, they never returned and the gold may still be there, buried by hundreds of years of dirt, overgrowth, and an earthquake.
The legend reveals some clues to its existence. According to Father Kino's diary, he wrote that wherever there is a mine, there is a mission nearby. The legend of the lost city of the Catalina's is intertwined with the legend of the lost mine. When the Gold Rush of the 1880s hit the Arizona territory and the tiny village of Tucson, the legend about the hidden bullion was shared by the local natives. They claimed their ancestors worked the secret mines once owned by the Spanish in the Catalina and Rincon mountains since the time of Father Eusebio Kino in the late 1680s. This excited ambitious prospectors, and many prominent Tucson businessmen, who extensively explored the rolling mountains just northeast of the village. Even the world-famous icon entertainer William "Buffalo Bill" Cody searched for the legendary lost mine of the Santa Catalina Mountains after the turn of the 20th century. Cody spent many winters north of Tucson at his mining camp called Campo Bonito. His mines supplied the tungsten needed for Thomas Edison's light bulbs. During the last weekend in February, Cody's life is celebrate with the annual Buffalo Bill Cody Days in Oracle. The extensive book, "Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains," written by Robert Zucker, and collaborated with seasoned prospector Flint Carter, explores in depth all of the all of legends of the Iron Door Mine and the history of the Tucson Gold Rush of the 1880s in the Santa Catalina Mountains, north of Tucson.
Author Available to Share Legends and HistoryRobert Zucker, author of "Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains," is available to speak to your group or organization about the history and legends of the Catalina Mountains, including a presentation on the famous Iron Door Mine legend of the Catalinas. To arrange a presentation book talk, call 520-623-3733 or email [email protected].
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This
information is found in the comprehensive book on the legends and
history of the Catalina Mountains– "Treasures of the Santa Catalina
Mountains." 
Jewelry
grade gold and silver ore in quartz pieces mined from the Santa
Catalina mountains and Mt. Lemmon area are produced in jewelry by
WIlliam T. "Flint" Carter in Catalina, Arizona. See 
," by Robert E. Zucker with collaboration from William "Flint" Carter.
Poster for the Mine with the Iron Door movie. Stars Richard Arlen,
Cecilia Parker and Henry B. Walthall. Poster measures approx. 11 x 17.
Rolled and shipped in a sturdy tube. This poster is from The Mine with
the Iron Door (1936).