Sunflower Mine Part 1
This is a group of 14 mercury mines located in the Mazatzal Mountains, principally on the eastern slope in Gila County, but also on the western slope in Maricopa County. The district is named after the Sunflower Mine, one of the prominent mines in the district. Production began in 1916 and ceased about 1954. Mineralogy data . Info on the mines in the area.
Mercury you say ??? How do you mine a liquid metal ??
Well,, first you find some of this ore. This is a *boulder* of cinnabar. It contains Mercury. Then you crush it up and bake it at hyper high temps. The vapor ( TOXIC ) is mercury and then you condense it and you have liquid mercury. More about this process in our second trip to this mine. This process is very old and dates from the Roman Empire.
The first trip we made to look over this area was a strange trip. We did find a few mines. It was mainly a scouting trip to prep for a much more difficult second trip.
Our first problem was a unexpected one.. It seems for some unknown reason the state decided to close old route 89. Permanently. This was bizarre, all maps including google showed this was a current road. Both ends of the road were closed with about a mile between closures. We decided to explore the space between.
Turns out that the mile in-between was barren of anything interesting. Well I found a ski pole. Dave was able to relieve some pressure.
Undaunted by this set back, we pressed on.
This part of Arizona is quite nice. Forests and green stuff im told is called grass.
After some fairly 4x4 driving in Dave's not so 4x4 car we arrived at a spot with mines.
This whole area is more then 80 years old and the forest has had PLENTY of time to reclaim EVERYTHING. This makes finding mines much harder. There was evidence things had occurred.
Scattered debris including a very old rusted chair in the middle of no where. I have my ski pole I found earlier just in case it suddenly snows or I need to fend off a mountain loin inside a mine shaft.
E V E N T U A L L Y..... After M U CH searching...
Talk about hidden.... W O W....
More then one in fact...
However they were filled to the top with water. 100 % saturated down to the bottom of the shafts with water. The natural springs in the area combined with the high water table and rains had filled the mines with water.
This was a good trip because it was truly beautiful and GREEN. Us desert people need that now and then. There were things making nature noises and the air had oxygen in it and everything.
Drinking out of a natural spring fed creek was REALLY tasty.
OVERALL great trip. Good planning trip for our next MUCH more extensive and productive trip that _required_ a real 4x4.