‡Ref.: Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 135 (1933), Arizona Gold Placers & Placering: 41-44.
Wilson, E.D. (1961) Gold Placers and Placering in Arizona. Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 168 (revised 1978): 46-48.
USGS Wilhoit Quadrangle map.
MRDS database Dep. ID #10137856, MRDS ID #M001103, MAS ID #0040250552.
A placer gold deposit area located North of Copper Basin Wash, between Skull Valley and the Sierra Prieta. Started about the 1880's. Reactivated about 1929. Placers were located all along Copper Basin Wash in the early 1930's.
A plain slopes southwestward from an elevation of 5,500 feet at the base of the Sierra Prieta to 4,000 feet at the junction of Skull Valley and Copper Basin Washes. Most of this plain is floored with extensive deposits of gravel, sand, and clay, locally interbedded and mantles with volcanic tuffs and flows, but its easternmost one to three miles of width is a pediment that has been carved on granite. The whole area is dissected by many southwestward-trending gulches which are tributary to Skull Valley Wash.
The bedrock of the placers generally consists of cemented gravels, but, in certain areas relatively far from the mountains, it is hard clay. The gold-bearing gravels are made up largely of granitic sand together with various amounts of boulders and clay. The gold-bearing gravels form a relatively thin mantle on the ridges, but range in thickness from 3 or 4 feet up to 15, or more, feet in the gulches. The richest streaks are generally near bedrock. The gold is 925 to 950 fine.
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Map Reference: 34°27'23"N , 112°35'53"W
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