Arizona Lost Mines
By James Harvey McClintock in 1913
The allure of hidden riches has always captivated the human spirit, and nowhere is this more evident than in the tales of lost mines that permeate the American West. Among these legends, those originating in Arizona hold a special place, fueled by the state’s rugged landscapes, rich mining history, and the whispers of fortunes waiting to be rediscovered. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the dream of striking it rich drove countless prospectors into the arid expanses of Arizona, each hoping to uncover a legendary lode.
The romantic image of the solitary prospector, accompanied only by his trusty burro, became a symbol of this era. Driven by hope and fueled by stories, these individuals scoured the mountains and deserts, often with little more than a pickaxe and a dream. Many of these prospectors were driven by the lure of the Arizona Lost Mines. It was said that almost every prospector, whether seasoned professional or naive newcomer, harbored a personal "lost mine" story, a hidden treasure they relentlessly sought. These mines, invariably rich and elusive, were often said to lie in the most desolate and inaccessible locations: deep within scorching deserts, concealed within treacherous mountain ranges, or guarded by Indigenous peoples protecting ancient secrets.
While many of these tales were undoubtedly embellished or outright fabrications, they nonetheless held a powerful sway over the imaginations of those who sought their fortunes in the Arizona territory. The isolation of the desert, the harsh conditions, and the constant pursuit of a dream often blurred the line between reality and fantasy. The tales of Arizona Lost Mines served as both inspiration and siren song, drawing men deeper into the wilderness, where the harsh environment often took its toll. The bleached bones scattered across the desert floor served as a stark reminder of the perils of chasing dreams that may not exist.
These stories of Arizona Lost Mines often share common elements: a sudden discovery, a dramatic loss, and a tantalizing hint of untold wealth just beyond reach. They speak of hardships endured, fortunes lost, and the enduring human desire for wealth and adventure. These narratives offer a glimpse into the lives of those who dared to venture into the unknown, seeking to carve a fortune from the rugged landscape of Arizona. The legends surrounding Arizona Lost Mines are more than just stories of gold and silver; they are tales of human resilience, perseverance, and the enduring power of hope in the face of adversity.
One such legend, perhaps one of the more credible, is the story of the "Lost Soldier Mine." Unlike many other lost mine tales, this narrative has remained relatively unadorned over time, lending it a degree of plausibility.
Lost Soldier Mine
The story unfolds in the summer of 1869 when Abner McKeever and his family were ambushed by Apache warriors at their ranch near the Big Bend of the Gila River. During the attack, McKeever’s daughter, Belle, was taken captive. A group of soldiers, determined to rescue her, gave chase.
The Apache, splitting into smaller groups, scattered across the landscape, each pursued by detachments of soldiers. Sergeant Crossthwaite, along with Privates Joe Wormley and Eugene Flannigan, followed one of the westernmost trails. The relentless pursuit and unforgiving terrain took their toll. Two of their horses succumbed to fatigue and thirst, and their provisions dwindled. Desperate, they resorted to consuming some of the horseflesh to survive.
Their desperate search for water led them north into what is believed to be the Granite Wash Mountains in northern Yuma County. Just as their strength was failing, they discovered a spring, arriving in time to save their lives. Wormley, already delirious from dehydration, was near death. The following morning, the soldiers made an astounding discovery: the spring was virtually paved with gold nuggets. Above the spring, they observed two quartz veins, one narrow and the other a substantial sixteen feet wide. Using only their knives, the soldiers painstakingly extracted coarse gold from the veins. They managed to load approximately 50 pounds of the golden quartz onto their remaining horse and began their journey back to the Gila River.
Tragedy struck less than a day’s journey from the river when the horse collapsed and died. The three men, exhausted and depleted, decided to split up. Wormley, barely clinging to sanity, somehow reached the river, but his mental state was too fragile to guide a rescue party back to the location of the mine. Searchers followed his trail and soon found Flannigan, who was near death. He recounted the story of their gold discovery, and the rescue party continued their search, eventually finding Crossthwaite’s lifeless body. In his pocket, they discovered a crudely drawn map, presumably an attempt to mark the location of the golden spring, although its accuracy was questionable.
Confirmation of Flannigan’s story came with the discovery of the dead horse, still laden with the golden ore. The ore proved to be as rich as Flannigan had described, yielding $1,800 upon its sale. Despite his newfound wealth, Flannigan remained haunted by his experience. He made several attempts to return to the gold find but was overcome by his fear of the desert and never ventured far from the river. He eventually died in Phoenix in 1880.
The area that the soldiers had penetrated has since been extensively prospected, revealing numerous mines of significant value. Some speculate that the mountain they discovered was Harqua Hala, and their find might have been the Bonanza mine, located on the western edge of the mountain, which yielded millions of dollars in gold. While placer gold has also been discovered further west around Tyson’s Wells, none of these discoveries perfectly match the specific details of the Lost Soldier Mine.
Another "Lost Soldier Mine" tale tells of a soldier scouting from Fort Grant who discovered quartz speckled with free gold in the hills north of the Gila River, not far from the mouth of the San Pedro River. Though the area has been heavily prospected since then and several significant mines have been established in the vicinity, the original bonanza remains elusive, with only placer gold found in the surrounding gulches.
The "Nier Ben" Mine**
Many lost mine stories feature an Indigenous connection, often involving tales of Native Americans possessing knowledge of hidden wealth but refusing to reveal its location to white settlers. In 1863, a man named Ross Browne recounted seeing large masses of pure gold at the store of Hooper & Hunter in Arizona City. Adventurers claimed that certain Indigenous people had assured them that similar yellow stones covered the ground in specific mountain locations. However, neither threats nor gifts of whiskey, knives, tobacco, blankets, or other coveted items could persuade them to guide the white men to these rich regions. The reason given was the Indigenous people’s fear that an influx of white settlers would overwhelm their population.
Among the most popular lost mine stories in the early days of Arizona was that of "Nier Ben." In 1891, a miner named A.H. Peeples, who had prospected with the "Weaver Party," shared his knowledge of the legend with an editor. He described Ben as a black man in the party, whom the other miners called "Nier Ben." Peeples characterized him as a good man, the only one in the party who dared to prospect alone, as the local Indigenous people would not harm him, seemingly due to his skin color. Ben befriended several Yavapai chiefs, even when they were hostile to the other miners. They told him of a place with abundant gold, far more than on Rich Hill, where the party was working.
Ben showed a chief, who was particularly friendly, a nugget about the size of a man’s thumb. The chief claimed to have seen much larger pieces and offered to lead Ben to the treasure. They traveled to some water holes about 65 miles northwest of Antelope, toward McCracken, in southern Mohave County. Upon arrival, the chief refused to proceed further, seemingly overcome by religious qualms he had not considered before. All he would do was gesture broadly and say, "Plenty gold here; go hunt." Ben spent years searching, repeatedly outfitted by A.H. Peeples, who believed in his quest. Ben ultimately perished from thirst in the desert. Many others have since sought the "Ni**er Ben" diggings, but they remain undiscovered. Even Ed Schieffelin, the discoverer of the Tombstone mines, reportedly searched diligently for the lost mine, but if he ever found it, he never revealed its location.
The "Lost Dutchman" Mine
The "Lost Dutchman" is perhaps the most famous of all Arizona lost mine stories. One version of the tale involves a German man who operated out of Wickenburg in the early 1870s. He had a peculiar habit of disappearing from camp at night, taking several burros with him, their feet wrapped to prevent tracking. He would return just as mysteriously, his burros laden with incredibly rich gold ore. Despite numerous attempts to follow him, his source remained a secret. The ore was distinct from that of the Vulture Mine, suggesting a different origin.
The location of the mine remained a secret known only to its discoverer. One night, he disappeared as usual and never returned. It was presumed that he was murdered by Apache warriors. This theory was seemingly supported by the discovery of the barrel of an old muzzle-loading shotgun and a homemade mesquite gun stock near the Vulture Mine in 1895. The gun was heavily rusted, and nearby lay a bleached human skeleton. Further investigation revealed small piles of rich gold ore, likely remnants of decayed sacks, and a shallow prospect hole on a gold-bearing ledge. While the ore in the piles matched the description of the "Lost Dutchman’s" ore, the ore in the prospect hole was of lower quality and deemed unworthy of further exploration.
In the winter of 1879, a story published in the Phoenix Herald stirred up excitement among naive newcomers. The story, clearly a fabrication, told of a prospector who had been driven out of the Superstition Mountains by pygmy Indians living in cliff dwellings. The prospector claimed his partner had been killed and that he had narrowly escaped with his life. However, he also claimed that they had discovered incredibly rich gold diggings, accumulating a vast amount of gold dust in just a couple of days. The story was widely reprinted, and the Herald received so many inquiries from the East that the editor had to print a slip with the single word "take" to respond to the inquiries. The editor feared even remaining silent, as many letters described organized groups of heavily armed men planning to travel west to claim the gold dust, even if it meant death. The imaginative journalist likely feared dire consequences if any of these desperate expeditions actually reached Phoenix.
Miner, Thorne, and Adams Diggings
One of the most extensive prospecting expeditions in Arizona history originated from the tale of a prospector named Miner. He claimed to be the sole survivor of a party that had discovered extraordinary placer diggings near a hat-shaped hill beyond the Tonto Basin. He said that a single shovelful of earth had yielded seventeen ounces of gold. In May 1871, Miner arrived in Prescott with several companions from Nevada and then reached Phoenix with about thirty men. The rendezvous point was near old Fort Grant, where 267 men joined them, divided into five companies.
The Prescott party was led by Ed. Peck, the discoverer of the famous Peck Mine at Alexandria. Other notable members included Bob Groom, Al Sieber, Willard Rice, and Dan O’Leary. Governor A.P.K. Safford commanded the recruits from Tucson and was elected commander-in-chief of the party at the camp near Grant.
Two large companies of Mexicans joined them from Tucson and Sonora. From Grant, they marched to the Gila River, up the San Carlos, and then to the Salt River. They identified the hat-shaped mountain, known as Sombrero Butte, and the men extensively prospected the Tonto Creek, Cherry Creek Valleys, and the Sierra Ancha Mountains. Returning down Cherry Creek, they continued prospecting up the Pinto Creek and Pinal Creek Valleys.
Disheartened by their lack of success, the various parties eventually separated at Wheatfields and returned home. While Miner was initially believed to have been mistaken in his bearings, members of the party later concluded that he was simply a liar.
The lost Thorne Mine may have been connected to Miner’s tale, which led Safford and his party astray. The story centers on a young surgeon named Thorne, who treated the eye problems of some Apache warriors. As a reward, he was invited to visit their village, which was experiencing a similar epidemic. He was blindfolded and taken to the village, losing all sense of direction. After successfully treating the epidemic, he was placed on a horse and led to a deep, rock-walled canyon with a high ledge of quartz glittering with gold. Below, the sand of the wash was almost entirely composed of gold nuggets. Thorne feigned disinterest in the sand but secretly gathered as much as he could. In the distance, he saw a high mountain crowned with a distinctive rocky formation resembling a gigantic thumb turned backward (a description that could match Sombrero Butte) to the east of Cherry Creek Valley. Despite the Indigenous people offering him handfuls of nuggets, Thorne insisted that the gold was worthless, confident that he could find the location again. He led two expeditions into the area but encountered at least four similar formations and never rediscovered the bonanza. Thorne was later denounced as an impostor.
However, it is a fact that the Cibicu Indigenous people of the Cherry Creek Valley knew of a rich placer field. On one occasion, Alchisay, a Chiricahua Apache scout, pawned a nugget worth $500 for $10 worth of supplies and later redeemed it, demonstrating his knowledge of its value.
Somewhere in the desert west of Yuma, many expeditions have searched for the lost Peg-Leg Mine, supposedly discovered by a one-legged man named Smith approximately 40 years prior. While some believe the mine to be in Arizona, its true location remains unknown and may exist only in the imagination of a drunken prospector.
Among the lost mine stories of Northern Arizona is that of the "Adams Diggings." The details are vague, with the location varying from the Colorado River to Globe. Adams, reportedly a Mormon from San Bernardino, heard a story from a Mexican man in 1886 about a rich gold deposit. He formed a party of 22 men and traveled eastward to a location near Fort Apache, where they supposedly found the "Diggings." Eleven members of the party left for the Pima villages for supplies but never returned. Driven by hunger, nine more followed, leaving only Adams and two others in camp. The three eventually left, finding the bodies of their murdered comrades along the trail.
The trio safely returned to San Bernardino, and in 1875, Adams gathered twelve men to return to the lost bonanza. James C. Bell, later of Globe, joined the party near Prescott, along with two companions, and four more joined at Fort Verde. The passage of time had made Adams uncertain of the location, but he recalled a deep canyon running eastward, with a prominent gold ledge on the sides of the gulch and two black buttes nearby. The men searched as far as the Gila River near San Carlos, then up to the headwaters of the Gila and back to Fort Apache, all without success. The ashes of an old cabin, where Adams claimed to have buried gold dust worth at least $5,000, remain undiscovered.
Written by James Harvey McClintock in 1913, compiled and edited by Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated April 2023.
Notes and Author: This article is primarily a tale told by James Harvey McClintock between 1913 and 1916 when he published a three-volume history of Arizona called Arizona: The Youngest State. However, the article that appears here is far from verbatim. While the story remains essentially the same as originally published, heavy editing has occurred for spelling and grammar corrections, revisions for the modern reader, and updates to this historic tale. McClintock began his career working at the Salt River Herald (later known as the Arizona Republic). He later earned a teaching certificate, served as Theodore Roosevelt’s right-hand man in the Rough Riders, and became an Arizona State Representative. He died in California on May 10, 1934, at the age of 70.
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