Ok, it's time for Journal Entry #1: Old Diggings in Prescott 2/9/26
Today, I visited a site I had stumbled upon last Wednesday. I was going to write an entry for that visit, but figured it would be repetitive so I will post the account of today's activities. The drive in is truly a treat in the mornings, because it is mildly warm but the air is crisp and cool (and there is not a soul in sight). As last time, I drove to a nearby trailhead and parked my vehicle. A few extra items were stowed in today's pack - my largest estwing, a shovel, a trowel, a 6lb sledgehammer, some cold chisels and gloves. (Unfortunately, the last time I visited and took a few swings without gloves my finger immediately began to blister...it was quite painful.) The weather was good - sunny without a cloud in sight, although the going was certainly harder with all the extra weight.
On the trail before I venture off, there can be found a lot of extremely foliated rock, I believe it is some sort of mudstone / shale combination. Lots of reddish colors can be seen and sparkly mica as well. Here's a photo of the rocks. Flat shards of the eroded stone can be found all along the trail:
Also: If anybody wants to identify rocks, you're more than welcome since I'm still a novice.
This trail slopes gently upwards through some hills without many trees. Reaching the pines is a welcome shade, and many of the trees don't have low branches, which allows the free wind to circulate gently under the forest (very nice for walking). The ground becomes much softer as it is blanketed with pine needles and oak leaves (also very nice for walking). Not long into the trees on a higher hill, the trail veers sharply to the left, and this is where I by chance chose instead to walk up a promising-looking gully to the right.
Though it does not appear steep in the photo, it rises quite sharply. If you look closely, at the bottom a few pieces of quartz can be seen, which is why I chose to walk up thataway in the first place.
Following this gully upwards, one will happen upon a few very old looking items, though their exact use and appearance have both been largely lost to time.
Eventually, a small flat clearing is reached some ways up. A flat path which has not seen use for many winters leads down to the right, it is wide enough for a vehicle which seems like substantial work to prepare. It was very curious to see many completely grey long-dead pine needles under the fresh ones on the path, since that means they have been sitting there untouched, unmoved and preserved for so long a time. Nearby can also be found a similarly unused fire ring. I have not followed the dirt road; a ways down it is overgrown with manzanita bushes and that is as far as I ventured. I wish I had gone further, but the afternoon was getting on and I felt some uncertainty at the idea of straying too far from the trail. Indeed some courage in the form of a Colt would have likely helped in this scenario.
And just around the bend past both the clearing and the firepit is what I call the "Old Diggings". It consists of a sideways cut into the hillside under a tree (not really sure how safe that is), where some group had been chasing a quartz vein outcrop. In the photo it does not appear very deep, but it goes quite a ways into the hillside. I would estimate the cut as 12-15 feet in terms of pure verticality and 10 feet in depth. There is a very old sign above the diggings but I was unable to make out what writing was on it before. Indeed, I could see that nobody had been here in a very long time, on account of the old quartz, the waste rock pile being heavily covered in soil, and the sign. The exposed quartz was very dark and weather stained (as you can see on the bottom half). When I took these photos I had already chipped away a bit at the top which is why there is white fresh stuff exposed. To the right of the digging is the waste rock pile which you can see in the left photo. A lot of earth had over time covered the pile and seeped into the gaps in the stones. I dug out some of the waste pile hoping to find something, but did not find any visible gold - only lots of little mineralized quartz and country rock bits. I do believe the old timers did not find the mine to be very profitable, as they only dug a little ways in. The vein continues up the hill, getting pinker as it goes.
can you make out what the sign says? also...are those bullet holes? lol
Similarly, a lot of the digging floor was covered in what amounted to many years of fallen pine needles. The earth smelled very rich and sweet when I overturned much of it as I was digging it out. I would estimate at least 4 inches of old pine needles and leaves. As someone once said, what was not profitable for them might be profitable for me, so I set my pack down and hammered away at the wall for a good bit, somewhat optimistic. The hammer sang (or rang, whatever the saying is), sparks and quartz flew, dust swirled in the air, but thanks to the gloves no blisters were had despite much harder work. There was an incredible amount of mineralization, with iron, copper, chalcopyrite, etc all in vuggy quartz especially in the middle and just off the hanging wall (left wall). The quartz was heavily banded all throughout. The colors were very vivid. At some points, I would reach pockets of pure rusty soft material inside the vuggy quartz which would crumble away if I poked at it. Unfortunately, there was no visible gold.
I believe if one goes deeper down it would be possible to find it as all the right conditions are there and it is in a historically gold bearing district. Still, I consider it only fair as that would have been far too easy if I did find such a rich strike on my first outings after someone already prospected this site! I did eventually collect some great samples and view them under a loupe, but I can't quite tell if all the shiny flecks are pyrite or not. I am inclined to side with pyrite since it was all over the samples. Here is what I consider my Best Sample: a giant heavy slab of copper? and chalcopyrite running all throughout the slab. The photos don't quite capture the shiny-ness. Splitting stones is quite exciting though my arms are *very* tired, it feels like I am opening easter eggs as there is always something new inside.
TL,DR; No Gold, but Cool Samples and a Good Hike 🌞
Edit: Here are some of the other samples I took.
I may return tomorrow and hike past this site into the hills. It's not marked on any map, and there are no claims in this direction (the nearest are only to the South and East). We shall see. Anyway, that's it for today's goings and doings, hopefully Lady Luck will smile upon us soon.
. The biggest bit is the size of a grain of rice.
