Mine Shaft Found north of Tucson

[arizau]

We had a fairly cool day in the Tucson area so I hiked to the mine shaft again. It measures 9' x 9' and is square, descending vertically for 38'. The water level is at about the 25' point so there is about 13' of water in the bottom. This calculates to about 114 cubic yards of mostly granite material removed to create the shaft. There were no drifts or adits visible. If there are some drifts, they are submerged. I can't imagine why there would be so much water in the shaft unless a drift is bringing it in. Any drifts would likely go into the hillside following some ore or veins. I tossed a big magnet into the shaft and retrieved it about 20 times. Each time it came up with a lot of magnetite on it. One retrieval brought up a small greenish-black somewhat crystalline stone that is heavily magnetic. Under a loupe the greenish material is translucent. The black material is dull grey-black and shiny. The area has many hot rocks of apparently a black magnetite. In many areas the mineralization overwhelms my Garrett Axiom detector with an 11" mono coil. Another photo of the shaft is attached. Detecting turned up some nails and a can with solder-sealed rings on top. Contact me if anyone would like to explore this mine shaft further. It is about a 1.5 hour hike from parking on a 4WD road. There is not much more I can do alone. Any other comments, suggestions or ideas? Thanks, Ed, SaddleBrooke, Az.View attachment 2207922

I think I may have solved at least part of your mystery. It is probably/simply a prospect with negatve results. I found a reference that mentions your somewhat specific location, Cargodera Canyon. Google search "copper minerals pusch ridge" and scroll down to the link "Plate 1 (pdf). The second column references the presence of pits adjacent to the drainage. The ore they were seeking/mining apparently just ran out.
Maybe you can find some artifacts on your next outing up there.
Good luck.

PS If I lived in SaddleBrooke I would be exploring/prospecting Canada del Oro to and around the corner North of you for gold. Don't forget to check steep drainages on the North/West side of the Canada. That hillside was found to be a source of small nuggets found in the area.

 

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[Ed144]

I think I may have solved at least part of your mystery. It is probably/simply a prospect with negatve results. I found a reference that mentions your somewhat specific location, Cargodera Canyon. Google search "copper minerals pusch ridge" and scroll down to the link "Plate 1 (pdf). The second column references the presence of pits adjacent to the drainage. The ore they were seeking/mining apparently just ran out.
Maybe you can find some artifacts on your next outing up there.
Good luck.

PS If I lived in SaddleBrooke I would be exploring/prospecting Canada del Oro to and around the corner North of you for gold. Don't forget to check steep drainages on the North/West side of the Canada. That hillside was found to be a source of small nuggets found in the area.

Thanks Arizau, I found the "Plate 1" map/report and also downloaded Ryan's 1982 Pusch Ridge Minerals report. It is amazing how much mining information and data is available on-line if one can find it. The map shows two prospects near the shaft I found. One lokks like the shaft, but the depth recorded is only 15', not 38', so it may be a different shaft. I've soaked some possible ore samples overnight in liquid Iron-Out to see if anything visible is exposed.