AZ Gold Mining Experience

By Stephanie Bradley

A windy mountainside north of Cave Creek, with views all the way to Phoenix. On the ground are twisted remnants of history, splintered wood members, tangled wires, battered, barely recognizable bins and structures.

The volunteers pause from looking over the wasted remains to gaze south and envision a time when the lands stretching away from them were open, with only scarred, dirt roads to indicate the incursion of man. They imagine the bits and pieces rusting at their feet to be new and assembled and cranking out murderous screams from grinding machines and thunderous drumming from massive stamps, all in the search for gold. The history overwhelms them. They are in awe of the efforts of long-gone beasts and men who transported and constructed such massive machinery that now lay in ruins.

The volunteers now have a vision.

After countless hours, days, years, our Dream Team volunteers have brought back to life the sights and sounds from more than 100 years ago with the Arizona Gold Mining Experience. The lofty and fearsome stamp mill pounds again, the tramway is ready to load, gold panning can be attempted, the heat of the black smith can be felt. And nearby is the arrastre, the diminutive and primitive forerunner of the “modern” stamp mill, which crudely broke ore with hoped-for gold.

DREAM TEAM MEMBERS