Old 79 Mine Above Hayden, Arizona

[AzViper]

Went on a hike with drone and will have video of the old mine in the next few days. This old mine is about 4 miles north of Hayden. Double Click on the photos to expand to full screen.

 

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[AzViper]

Hi Clay,

From the looks of the use of square headed bolts and nuts that we saw around this mine and the use of rivets says this equipment is old. Do you know of any history of this mine in what was being mine and when operations began and ended? The area had a locked gate but no signs stating stay out.

Mine map link: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.0627243,-110.8156351,170a,35y,39.19t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[AzViper]

I assume that is an old Stirling or Steam engine?

 

[Clay Diggins]

Good to see you out and about Kieth. Thanks for sharing your adventure.

It's an old lead mine. It was last operated in 1962. Several companies operated it through the years. There is some nice Wulfenite found in that area but it's all off limits to mineral collecting.

It's an active mining claim (AMC48421) and has been since 1879 - thus the name 79 mine. The whole area around there is claimed by Asarco and 79Minerals. I'm surprised you didn't run into one their guards.

There are a lot of hardrock workings up in that area. Many of the current active claims there were located in the 1900 - 1940 time frame.

The square nuts are pretty standard for remote mining equipment of the time. It was an easy thing to replace a nut with some bar stock, a chisel, a drill and a tap. Even if the equipment came with hex nuts they often got replaced during maintenance and modifications.

It might be a Stirling design. Hard to tell without all the machine being there. It looks like it had a few horsepower and with that big flywheel a lot of torque once it got turning.

Heavy Pans

 

[AzViper]

Clay, I am beginning to get my legs back under me, been along time coming. Dropped 18 pounds in the last three weeks. The gate off of highway 177 had no signs. We were able to drive 3 miles until we hit another locked gate. At that point the four of us decided to hike in with our drones. Again no signage on the gate stating to keep out. Another buddy of mine who was with us who's from Montana thinks the old equipment is a two stage air compressor or a Warp generator missing Dilithium Crystal.

 

[AzCactusNate]

Hi. Just wanted to let you know that the 79 mine is under active claim. All material, buildings, relics etc are private property.
The locked gate means No Trespassing. There is no metal detecting, mining, relic hunting or removal of mineral or fossil material from the surrounding 200 acres.
Anyone found in or around the 79 mine or the attached 9 claims should know this and will be treated accordingly. You can look around if you wish but please do not destroy or disturb anything on the property.
Thanks.
Owner 79 Mine

 

[AzViper]

Hi Nate,

Thank you for the reply. We hike in only to fly our drones. We did not disturb, remove, destroy anything out at the mine. We saw no signs other than the locked gate. Sorry

 

[AzCactusNate]

No worries. We have been experiencing a lot of vandalism as of late. We are working on a restoration project of the mining facility as a historic site.


Nathan

 

[AzViper]

No worries. We have been experiencing a lot of vandalism as of late. We are working on a restoration project of the mining facility as a historic site.


Nathan

Nathan it was a pleasure seeing that old engine. I even made contact with an Ingersoll-Rand historian as I wanted to learn more about the engine. Really sad to hear of the area being hit with vandalism. I found the old site searching Google Earth looking for old mine Scio fly over. Did you see the video?

 

[PublicLands4All]

Land status?

Hi. Just wanted to let you know that the 79 mine is under active claim. All material, buildings, relics etc are private property.
The locked gate means No Trespassing. There is no metal detecting, mining, relic hunting or removal of mineral or fossil material from the surrounding 200 acres.
Anyone found in or around the 79 mine or the attached 9 claims should know this and will be treated accordingly. You can look around if you wish but please do not destroy or disturb anything on the property.
Thanks.
Owner 79 Mine

I did some checking and it looks like this is an UNpatented claim and the land is administered by the BLM. The buildings and equipment are officially property of the U.S. government. If this is private property then why aren't "Private Property","No Trespassing" signs posted all over? As far as I can tell this is public land and open for anyone to visit. To clarify, the claim owner has mineral rights ONLY.

 

[winners58]

pre-1955 mining claim located before the multi-use act?
even on claims now you can have agreements with with BLM/FS
for double lock gates/preservation of historic sites/mine safety etc...
whats left by other miners does not automatically belong to the US gov.

 

[Clay Diggins]

I did some checking and it looks like this is an UNpatented claim and the land is administered by the BLM. The buildings and equipment are officially property of the U.S. government. If this is private property then why aren't "Private Property","No Trespassing" signs posted all over? As far as I can tell this is public land and open for anyone to visit. To clarify, the claim owner has mineral rights ONLY.

Winners is right. Pre 1955 Mining claims often retain the surface rights. They can fence or lock out the public because they have surface rights as well as mineral rights. The buildings and equipment there belong to the mine - not the BLM. You can usually travel across these pre 1955 claims but you have no right to "visit", recreate or take property as long as the claim is active.

To get up to speed on why those pre 1955 claims have rights over the BLM, Forest Service and the public you might enjoy this brief 1958 overview Montana Law Review: The New Multiple Use Mining Law.

Does your house have "Private Property" and "No Trespassing" signs posted all over? If not that was probably me rummaging around in your garage last week. Makes less sense when you look at it the other way around doesn't it.

No property owner has any duty in any state to post their property as "Private Property" or "No Trespassing". If they did thieves and vagrants would have a free ride. It's the person who is traveling across the land that has a positive legal duty to know what lands they have a right to use - not the other way around.

Look a little deeper into the true nature of pre 1955 mining claims and you might just see a past that was more conducive to mining. That past is still here for those who understand the value of pre 1955 mining claims and own one.

Welcome to Treasure Net! Stick around and you are likely to learn a lot more about land use and rights. Knowing land status is just the beginning of your treasure hunting adventure.

Heavy Pans