Learn Gold Prospecting! How and Where to find Gold and Gems!

Information for recreational gold prospectors, rockhounds, gem collectors, and treasure hunters! Gold prospecting in the Rocky Mountains a golden opportunity to saddle up and take the family exploring! Go Rockhounding, hunt for rare gems and mineral specimens. Colorado diamonds and aquamarines! Treasure hunting stories of lost caches of gold and stolen treasure. Links to clubs, Jeep tours, outfitters, resorts, and campground information. Find the finest hotels and motels near where you are prospecting in the Rocky Mountains and book your rooms online!

Today's Date is
September 07, 2010

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Arizona Placer Gold
Joe Walker and Paulino Weaver
Joseph Rutherford Walker, famous mountain man, led a party of 30 prospectors from California over the Old Spanish Trail into New Mexico and then back west to Arizona in 1863. Heading up the Hassayampa River (which they are reputed to have named) they eventually arrived in the Bradshaw Mountains near present day Prescott. They found gold while prospecting on several area creeks, including Lynx, Big Bug and Groom. They built corrals, set up a mining district, established claims, and had a drawing, with each man receiving two claims of 100 yards each on either side of the creek. If it was a lode claim, the person could go as deep as he wished. They also drew up laws that prohibited Mexicans. The resolution, which originally read ". . . no Mexican shall have the right to buy, take up, or pre-empt a claim on this river for a term of six months to date from the first day of June, 1863 to December 1, 1863," was amended one month later to also exclude Chinese from working any portion of the district.

That same year, 1863, Paulino Weaver, A.H. Peebles, and Jack Swilling led a group of prospectors up the Hassayampa River where they discovered a rich placer deposit on top of Antelope Hill. The strike was so rich and unusual that the site was renamed Rich Hill. The story of the Rich Hill strike is a typical mining story in which one of the party went looking for a strayed burro and found gold. Some have said it is proof that "any stupid ass" can find gold. What is really unusual about the Rich Hill strike is that it was on top of a hill, and the gold was in cracks and crevices. Prospectors actually dug it out with spoons and knives. Before it played out, the Rich Hill deposit produced more than one-half million dollars in gold.

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