Grant County, New Mexico, USA.

This claim is directly west of Charlie Hill, it resides squarely in the Steeple Rock District. The roads are easy, breaking right off of Carlisle Road, which is a straight shot out of Duncan, Arizona. The claim sits at 4500ft in a high valley between Charlie Hill and some other low rising hills. Its only about 1.5 miles southeast of the Golden Goat mine and shows many of the same characteristics. This claim is about 6 miles from pavement, on the well maintained Carlisle Road. From there its a short turn off to the base of Charlie Hill and the mine. Easy to navigate with a high clearance 2WD, but as always, we recommend a 4WD. A short 10 miles on pavement to Duncan where all services are available. The ground is flat, and you can park as much as you can fit on the 20 acres. There is no water, and minimal shade, but its a very moderate temperature year round and we found it comfortable even in the dog days of July. There is a good breeze that comes off the Peloncillo Range and makes for very pleasant afternoons. Sparse vegetation as would be expected, and the occasional cactus. No traffic, by foot or by vehicle was evident. The area is well known for an amazing class of fluorite, running along in the fissures and veins that produce the gold and the silver. This site shows good evidence of that with massive, piles of quartz crystals of red, green and some blues. The tailings from this site appear to be separated and are laid out in 4 distinct sections outside the mine. Water will be a priority, there is none noted on the claim. We would advise that you pack in your own and define a source to supply your water in the future, even if its just the gas station in Duncan. As usual, we always recommend that buyers secure their claims and mines with signs and fencing if possible. This will keep the average rock-hound off your claim. Temperatures in the area will range from 24 to 65 degrees in the winter months, to 65 degree evenings and 98 degree days in the summer. The spring and fall will end up somewhere in between.

Mid to Late Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Mogollon-Datil volcanic field cover the region. The volcanic rocks include andesite lava flows, rhyolite ignimbrites, plugs and dikes. Beneath the volcanic rocks, and exposed in a few areas in the district are Precambrian granites overlain by Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. The Steeple Rock district, consists of over 60 mines along northwest-, north-, and west-northwest-trending faults. Exploration in the district began about 1860, but production did not begin until 1880 (Russell, 1947; Griggs and Wagner, 1966). By 1897, most of the major mines in the district were located and operated by several different companies. Mining ceased in the early 1900s as the near-surface gold and silver veins were depleted. In the 1930s, the price of gold rose from $20.67 to $35 per ounce and many of the mines were reopened. The U.S. Federal government closed all gold-silver mines as a result of World War II until after the war.

****The ore is a hard, bluish-white quartz; carrying values in gold and silver: this class of ore is the prevailing type over the entire district. Frequently, sulphides of lead and copper are associated with the vein filling. Generally, the mineral veins have lined fissures and fractures in the host rock. Here, the host rock is an augite-bearing andesite porphyry. Five distinct types of epithermal veins occur in the district: base metals with gold-silver, gold-silver, copper-silver, fluorite, and manganese.

Charlies Lost Gold Mine claim is so named for its proximity to Charlie Hill. Not named for the infamous high-jacker, but for Charlie Willow. Reportedly, Charlie Willow was an young cattle hand at a ranch outside of the Twin Peaks mine. Enthralled with the prospect of gold and silver and watching prospectors making a killing off of their claims, Charlie started prospecting. Story goes that he wandered the hills of the nearby ranch (Steeple Rock District) for almost 10 years before he located a rich outcropping of dark red quartz, shot through with stringers of gold. He broke off as much as his horse could carry, staked a monument and headed back for the ranch. As so often happens in these stories, a torrential rain storm came out of nowhere, Charlie was left exposed and high tailed it for some cliff faces that were directly east of his rich find.

The rain eventually subsided and Charlie resumed his trip back to the ranch. At the ranch, he showed off his find. Telling everyone that he was a miner now, and there would be no more cattle rustling for him. He brought his ores into Silver City to be assayed. The actual results are not known but it was enough for Charlie to buy a new horse and a full set-up of prospecting gear, including a team of mules.

When Charlie went to record his mine, he was told that his location was too vague, they needed more information on land marks and location. No problem, as Charlie was headed back out there anyway. This is where the story takes the familiar turn, Charlie wasn't able to locate his monument, or his rich outcrop. He blamed the Indians, and other prospectors in the area, but regardless, was unable to locate it. Charlie spent a lot of time on the hill where he had sheltered from the rain storm, determined that the mine was just west of that mountain. He even set up a small camp on the hill. Eventually it came to be known as Charlie Hill. Charlie never did find his outcrop, people just lost track of him. The hill retained its name, and on maps after 1890, the hill is shown as Charlie Hill.