Old Gold Mine and Railroad Bed to Mill Site

Описание: The Picacho Mining District comprised dozens of one-off gold mines and prospects. One of my earlier videos, I take a long hike to one of these mines that still had old equipment lying around. In general, most mining areas become deserted when the mines play out or just don't produce enough gold. But this one was doing just fine when the Colorado River was dammed near Yuma, cutting off their transportation network.

The primary mine was located about five or six miles from the townsite and the stamp mill. To get the ore to the mill, a narrow gauge railroad was built. The majority of the rail was laid through canyons, with the last mile or so winding through small mountains, a scenic railroad of its day! The railroad was short lived, and within a couple of years record rainfall washed the majority of it away. Before the railroad could be repaired, it was decided to move the stamp mill up to the mine.

The old stamp mill site was made up of two stamp mills; the original one, constructed of Rhyolite Tuff, still has most of the walls standing and is an interesting structure to see. A second, larger mill was built to replace the original mill. It was this second mill that was dismantled and moved to the mine.

It's incredible how much of this place remains after being abandoned for over 100 years!