How to spot Old Spanish Mines

[eagle_scout]

this is a screen shot of Hog Canyon as seen on Bing Maps. If you look in the lower right you will see a feature, on the shoulder of the mountain, that looks similar to a crucifix. Old Spanish mines are easy to spot once you know what to look for. Several years ago, I was searching for the Lost Spanish Mine of Culebra Peak, in Southern Colorado. I found it, after a lot of footwork and searching. but the first clue came to me by a prayer answered. thats right. i was praying to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I was asking for forgiveness, and praying for help with this problem I have, Lust and greed for Gold and Treasure!. he answered my prayer, he said, " search for me and you will find the treasure". that's when a light came on! Crosses started to pop up everywhere! How many mountains in the southwest are known for the big cross on their shoulder? lots of them. Holy Cross Mountain for one. Most of these crosses were the result of Spanish mining. their technique was to dig a vertical trench, following the ore vein up the mountain, and a cross trench cut horizontally, where they lived or used beasts of burden to haul their gear up and down the vertical shaft. Those Spanish Conquistadors had a passion for gold, but had a greater passion for Jesus. they carved crosses everywhere. Especially over the top of Indian art. they thought the Native Indians were pagans.
it was the crosses that I found, while searching on foot, that lead me to the location of the mine on Culebra peak.

the mine pictured here, on Hog ridge, between hog canyon and heiroglyph canyon, is in my opinion, THE LOST DUTCHMAN MINE. Also look carefully at the shadow cast by by the natural arch, it is a heart with a triangle of light. this is also a clue for the Priest Map Stone which I will discuss later. Remember: the priest has a cross on his shoulder! just like this mountain.

 

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[alfonzo]

this is a screen shot of Hog Canyon as seen on Bing Maps. If you look in the lower right you will see a feature, on the shoulder of the mountain, that looks similar to a crucifix.

Also look carefully at the shadow cast by by the natural arch, it is a heart with a triangle of light. this is also a clue for the Priest Map Stone which I will discuss later. Remember: the priest has a cross on his shoulder! just like this mountain.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your info, i cant see the cross or the arch in the photo, but my eyes aren't what they used to be. i have been to this area only one time, at the old ruins of a ranch at the front of Hog Canyon and up to Broadway Cave. Looking forward to more of your posts, alan, northern AZ

 

[Hal Croves]

eagle scout,
Perhaps if you were to highlight the areas that you want us to look at it would be helpful. What is it about this location that makes you believe that it is the DLM? Were you able to document the mine? Any samples? One thing that you should remember is that the cross symbol/sign was not exclusive to the European invaders. It depends on which exact cross you are describing, but America's native peoples used the cross, several I believe.

About your answered prayer...I am always impressed by people who have been inspired by something more than the tangible. Your message from Jesus, was it expected or are you of an altogether different faith and totally surprised. Sorry to be so direct but it is not everyday that we get to read about something so inspirational.
Thanks!

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

 

[Hal Croves]

pippinwhitepaws,
I don't get it?
Why the frustrated whatever those things are called?
Was it the initial post or the response?
If it was the post, can you politely be a bit more eloquent?
If it was the response, well, have a go at it.

 

[eagle_scout]

To clarify what is in the picture, I flipped it 180 and drew a red cross over the top of the Old Spanish Mine, this one looks like a longhorn steer after 100's of years of erosion possibly but still has the same characteristics of an old style mine. there is a cairned trail that runs through Hog canyon, if you follow it to the top of the 'elevator' as some call it, one trail continues along the ridge, directly to this mine. be careful, don't fall into the open shaft! Hiking in the Superstition Mountains can be very dangerous. Please never hike alone.

God Bless,

jack

 

[Hal Croves]

Side by side a man made cross is difficult to see. I don't know what to say except that your suggestion is huge. Why bother to make one that large?

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

not your comments hal...
I grew up there and never heard a quarter of the things I read in here.
now the mine is above hog canyon, facing south on the main mountain...
found through prayer...ok...
another example of how studying religion does not give one a ...oh..forget I mentioned anything...
sorry.

 

[Hal Croves]

Be careful not to confuse religion and spirituality.
Some people follow in the footsteps of others... that is religion.
A few walk alone, in pursuit of the inner-self... which, for lack of a better word, is spirituality.

Religion is communal.
Spirituality is solitary... always has been, always will be.

Religion is an architectural monstrosity that casts long and dark shadows.
Spirituality is intangible and can not be contained.... "but for the sky, there are no fences facing".

Bob said so.

My point being that his answer came in prayer, which I am assuming was in a solitary moment.
Perhaps he knew the answer all along and prayer unlocked it.

I think that we should be open to talks about personal beliefs. It has a place in all this.

 

[somehiker]

Jack:

Here's a couple of G/E views. With more detail than the Bing views show.
Perhaps you can mark the mine and trail.
I see only a talus slope, with a drop of 265' in only 420', a grade of about 60%....very steep.

View attachment Jack's cross.bmp

If it were tailings, it would have to have been from a large mine.

View attachment Jack MacBride's mine.bmp

 

[Oroblanco]

Welcome to Treasurenet Eagle Scout!

This could be an interesting thread!

Old Spanish mines have had centuries for nature to have done her work in concealment. A tailings pile or waste pile is usually a good indicator, however telling a waste pile that is 300 years old, from a natural accumulation from erosion and weathering, is not so easy! Shafts fill in with debris and simple action of the sides caving in; tunnels get the same thing at the mouth, as dirt, rocks etc fall in from the sides and top, making the opening smaller and smaller over the years, or can even collapse and leave nothing but a depression where the mouth of the tunnel used to be.

Please do continue;
Oroblanco

 

[Springfield]

... I see only a talus slope, with a drop of 265' in only 420', a grade of about 60%....very steep...

That's about a 32° angle. The angle of repose for mine dumps varies - for shallow piles, they're about the same as the ground slope underneath. For larger, deeper piles, 45° (1V:1H) isn't uncommon. Like you say, that's a healthy-sized scree slope. If it were a mine dump, it seems to me, for an operation of this apparent size, like we'd need to see a decent sized flat platform at the top of the slope where the adit portal or the shaft collar would have been. You gotta get the rock out of the mine and move it to the edge of the slope before you let it slide down.

 

[somehiker]

"That's about a 32° angle"

That would be about right ...and when it's all loose rock like that, it's steep.

View attachment Grade chart.bmp

Agree as well with everything else.
There should be some visible evidence of a mining operation above the talus slope.
If it were a dump, that is.
I don't see any though, so perhaps Jack can circle what it is that he sees.

 

[gollum]

STOP IT!

Spanish Mines do not show tailings piles! Since the Spanish couldn't work these mines year round, they had to make them easy to hide until the next mining season. The Spanish went to great lengths to either scatter their tailings over many miles (and far away from their mines), or dump them in some deep hidden crevasse where they would not be seen. They had small hidden openings and no telltale tailings piles.

If Jesus came to you and told you about it (seems kind of odd for Iesu since wasn't he the one that chased off the money lenders, and didn't he say that it would be easier for a wealthy man to fit through the eye of a needle than to get into his father's kingdom?), I will take your word for that. I mean, look at Joan of Arc!

If you find a tailings pile, you have found something that has been worked sometime after about 1848, and likely by Americans.

Mike

 

[BabyNeedsANewPairO'Shoes]

...I was asking for forgiveness, and praying for help with this problem I have, Lust and greed for Gold and Treasure!. he answered my prayer, he said, " search for me and you will find the treasure". that's when a light came on! Crosses started to pop up everywhere!

Maybe you just interpreted that message in a way that justifies you to continue doing the thing you were asking forgiveness for. If what you were doing was a sin then, how is it not a sin now?

 

[Springfield]

STOP IT!

Spanish Mines do not show tailings piles! Since the Spanish couldn't work these mines year round, they had to make them easy to hide until the next mining season. The Spanish went to great lengths to either scatter their tailings over many miles (and far away from their mines), or dump them in some deep hidden crevasse where they would not be seen. They had small hidden openings and no telltale tailings piles.

If Jesus came to you and told you about it (seems kind of odd for Iesu since wasn't he the one that chased off the money lenders, and didn't he say that it would be easier for a wealthy man to fit through the eye of a needle than to get into his father's kingdom?), I will take your word for that. I mean, look at Joan of Arc!

If you find a tailings pile, you have found something that has been worked sometime after about 1848, and likely by Americans.

Mike

Relax ... that's what we're saying too - it's very quite likely a scree slope.

By the way, we know the Apaches used to conceal and scatter mine workings when they could; likewise many tribes following the 1680 rebellion. But who were the Spanish hiding their mines from? The natives certainly knew about them.

 

[gollum]

The Spanish were hiding their mines from anybody else that may have wandered into the area while they were back in Mexico during the hot Summer Months.

Now, a lot of old Spanish Mines have been found and reworked by Mexicans and later Americans. I have found a few of those in the Sheephole Mts North of Joshua Tree.

Mike

 

[Gold Maven]

I can see the longhorn shape, but why call it a crucifix?

 

[Springfield]

The Spanish were hiding their mines from anybody else that may have wandered into the area while they were back in Mexico during the hot Summer Months....

And who would those wanderers be ca 1600-1800? After, say, the 1820's, the fur trappers entered the region and saw much of the terrain for about twenty years. Then, in the 1840's, a few American traders started getting a foothold in the Rio Grande Valley of NM. Who else was in the Spanish territory who would have found these mines?

 

[chlsbrns]

Arizona History Timeline

Spanish Exploration on the Colorado Plateau