Pine Grove District – Yavapai County, Arizona
The main mine was easily accessible
It could easily be traveled with a full-size 4WD
Contact us for exact coordinates.

The Tuscumbia mining claim is situated on the northern slope of the Bradshaw mountains about 25 miles south southeast of Prescott, in Yavapai County, Arizona. The Tuscumbia is part of a chain of rich Gold Mines in the Bradshaw range, running with other famous producers such as the Mohawk, Buster, Wild Flower, Gladiator and the Crown King. The Tuscumbia Mine contained a number of open workings at the time of survey in 2016. Surveyors noted two (2) shafts and four (4) adits with over 640' of drifts. The mine has been worked intermittently over the past 100 years. According to the USGS in 1883 the Tuscumbia produced approximately 45,000 ounces of silver, and another strike in the 1920's indicated large production of gold, but there is no documentation on the amount produced. The Tuscumbia Mine was held and worked over the next 60 years. The Tuscumbia mines were sold in 1981 for $40,000.00 according to historical documents, the purchaser never went into any sort of development or production. Of special note for the Tuscumbia Mine is a carload of ore that was taken out in 1907. The ore ran 600 oz of silver and 3 ounces of gold per ton. The Tuscumbia is an ideal candidate for a small mining operation. Sampling and drilling would clearly define the veins and depths and provide for the operation to expand based on that information.

Here, a northeastward-trending belt of schist is intruded on the east by granite, on the west by granite and diorite, and on the southwest by granodiorite. These rocks are cut by northeastward-trending dikes of granite and rhyolite-porphyry.

Three prominent groups of veins occur in the district. They strike north-northeastward, dip about 60° NW., and are generally less than 5 feet wide. The shoots, which tend to pitch northward, occur in the granodiorite and to a less extent in the harder rocks.

The vein gangue consists mainly of quartz with some ankerite and calcite. Pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, and tetrahedrite occur in the quartz of the unoxidized zone. Although
some free gold is present in the primary zone, most of the ore mined was partly oxidized. In places, this ore contains $100 worth of gold and silver per ton, but the primary ores are generally about one-tenth as rich. Either silver or gold may predominate, but the richer silver ore tends to be accompanied by abundant ankerite. The water level in the Crown King mine is 250 feet below the surface.

The veins appear to be genetically connected with either the granodiorite or the rhyolite-porphyry and are probably of Mesozoic or early Tertiary age.[1]

The following excerpts are from the Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources Mining Collection.

Report from Sept. 1909

What is apparently the strongest and richest vein of the group, and upon which most of the development work in done on account of geographical advantages', the Tuscarora-Tuscumbia lode shows the least surface workings.

In speaking of amount of development work done will state that I have taken no measurements, but have been fully informed by Mr. Pascoe, who has been living on the ground for several years, and, who by the way, is surely a most industrious miner and also very competent. He gave me the length of the several tunnels as follows: No. 1 690 feet, No. 2 440 feet, No. 3 625 feet, and No 4 160 feet, at the time of my visit, aggregating 1,815 feet. Good car track of iron T-rails is laid in all these tunnels...From the bottom of the Tuscarora shaft, a level is run south 92 feet, and north 457 feet. The south level reaches to the surface. Besides these workings, 7 have seen several old shafts, partly filled in, none however of sufficient depth to be considered. Evidently, they failed to disclose any rich ore enough that would have warranted development by shaft, when it could be done much cheaper by tunnels, and in those days hundred dollar ore was not considered good enough, and they had none of our modern appliances in use on this property. The ore was hoisted out of the shafts by hand-windlass, and after carefully sorting same was packed on burros to the mill over two miles distance...I did not take any samples, for I did not consider it necessary...the character of the ore, together with the record of this mine, speak for themselves.

Beginning with the shaft, which I should Judge to be about 100 feet deep, from the bottom of which the above mentioned level runs south 92 feet and coming to the surface, and north 437 feet, all of which was evidently in ore...This ore is a heavy silver ore, and from tests made by Mr. Pascoe, it can safely be rated to average $40.00 per ton silver, lead and some gold. The richer portion of the lode continues however...In the tunnel No. 2, I found a winze fifty feet in from the mouth making connections with tunnel No. 3 at a point about 500 feet in where a car load of ore was taken out that ran over 600 ounces silver per ton.

In tunnel No. 3, ore makes its appearance within 100 feet from the mouth in the floor of the tunnel, where occasional blasts disclose the apex of another extensive shoot of ore and reaching back fully 400 feet. At 150 feet from the mouth a bunch of ore has been stoped out, and at about 400 feet from the mouth ore begins again to show In the roof of the tunnel, in places widening out to large kidneys of very rich ore, as that car load shipment has demonstrated, there is no denying the fact that a great deal of rather low grade ore is carried in this lode, but it is also a fact that the record of this property is made up of ore above the hundred dollar mark. One can get assays as readily running up into the thousands as in the tens, and I should judge the average values of the ores to be of such a grade as to be classed among the high grade propositions. The workings have proved the existence of at least two large ore shoots in the Tuscumbia-Tuscarora lode...Trusting this additional description will assist you in the negotiations in hand, I remain Yours very truly,

Jules Bauren

Jules Bauren also went on to exclaim in a further correspondence in reference to the Tuscumbia claims "140 acres of as highly mineralized land as I ever saw during my 32 years' experience in mines and mining."

10/19/76

Fred Lorette, Mayer has opened the old Tuscumbia mine and has some 5.0 - 6.0 oz. gold ore which he was concentrating to about 2,000 oz. /ton.

11/10/77

Lorette has closed his mining and milling operations at the Tuscumbia mine for the winter; he has several offers to sell.

10/23/78

Report letter from Metal Refiners Ltd. - "I collected a representative sample totaling some 300 pounds over a distance of some 90 feet...I crushed and milled the sample and retrieved 34.8 ounces per ton and gold 0.03 ounces per ton. These results showed an excellent recovery of over 97% of the silver in the concentrate, plus good recovery of the small amount of gold.

4/25/79

Ike Kusisto et al. have leased the property and plans to mine the silver-antimony ore. The principle mineral is silver bearing tetrahedrite. They plan to mine and mill about 20-24 tons of ore per day. The mill consists of crushing, grinding and floatation equipment. The ore is expected to average 30 oz. /ton in silver with some ore running as high as 400 oz. Ag/ton. Mill recovery is expected to near 80%.

10/17/80

Mason Coggin, Consulting Engineer, reported that he had visited the Tuscumbia Mine. He feels that the mine has excellent potential and the last opened drift should be sampled in the floor to delineate what he feels may be the apex of a good ore shoot.

10/3/1980

A report by Coe & Van Loo a consulting engineer group had the following to say about the property - "There is reasonable probability that the Tuscumbia vein extends both north and south and that additional reserves of ore grade materials can be found...There is a probability of other veins in the immediate area with additional potential reserves...Thick brush and a thin cover of topsoils may have masked such a vein.

11/18/83

Gordon Miner reported that Fred Lorette has the Tuscumbia Group, Yavapai County for sale for $40,000 including the mill that is on the property.

2/27/84

John Christensen purchased the Tuscumbia Group, Yavapai County. He plans on starting up the mill to run 30,000 ton of dump, running 6-8 oz of silver.

The plan of operations submitted to the BLM in 1984 included reopening the abandoned adit and constructing a larger 50 ton/day flotation mill and a tailings pond. The milling operation was set to employ six to eleven people on a year round basis. The water used for the milling operation was to be produced from an existing mine shaft. The two storage tanks and water lines were previously installed. The camp and the mill were to be powered by a stationary diesel generator.

The Tuscumbia mines are major silver producers with a considerable amount of gold that has been noted as a primary commodity. We documented 2 shafts and 4 adits on the site. The larger adit intercepts 4 ore bodies and has multiple levels. The main drift is 578' long. Another adit goes back 30' to a collapse and the other two adits would need to have their entrances dug out before they could be worked. The first shaft descends 10 feet and then is plugged by a dead cow. Another, larger shaft has a large sinkhole around its portal.

This is likely the Tuscorora Shaft that is discussed in AZGS reports. This shaft would need to be stabilized before it could be worked or explored. The mines have been worked on and off for over a hundred years. The road to the claim is reportedly closed, but with an active mining claim and a notice of operation, you will have access to the road. It would need some rehab as no one has been on it in the last 40 years, and it could easily be traveled with a full-size 4WD.

Federally Registered Mining Claim ID: AMC440546