79 MINE

NAME: 79 Mine
COUNTY: Gila
ROADS: 4WD
LEGAL INFO: 1
CLIMATE: Hot summer, mild winter
BEST TIME TO VISIT: We visited in April...wasn't too hot. 		COMMENTS: You MUST have a 4wd, high clearance vehicle (I used a stock Jeep Wrangler). The trail to the mine starts on a graded dirt road, but you will need to exit and cross a creek bed about .5 mile up the road. The trail becomes rockier as you climb toward the mine. Eventually, you will find a locked gate and will have to park and hike in the rest of the way on the existing two-track. It will take you directly to the mine.
REMAINS: Old wooden mining facilities, gas/kerosene engine, chute, many concete and wooden foundations, at least one lift, several wooden buildings (free standing and collapsed/washed away), many MANY cave-ins, several boarded-up mines. You'll see several wooden foundations to your left as you hike into the mining area; don't stop, you're not at the mine yet. I believe these were homes at one time but am not certain.
Excerpt from www.mindat.org: "A former underground Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag-Au-Mo-Sb-V-Fe mine located in the SE¼ sec. 21 and sec. 28, T4S, R15E (Hayden 7.5 minute topo map), about 1½ miles W of Chilito ghost town, 4.5 miles NNW of Hayden, 2 miles NW of Toronado Peak, on federal land. Discovered 1879 by Mike and Pat O'Brien. Purchased 1921 by Continental Commission Co.; purchased May, 1922 by the Seventy-Nine Mining Co. and reconveyed back to the Continental Commission Co. (1919-1922, 1923-1926) after litigation. Sold at public auction in 1926. Reopened 1928 by the Seventy-Nine Lead-Copper Co. Closed in January, 1938 due to declining metal prices. Reopened in 1940 by the Shattuck-Denn Mining Corp. until 1949. Acquired by Callahan Zinc-Lead Company, Inc. 1950. Previous owners also included Grisson Mines. Some production until 1951. Owned by the ACM Corp. (1967). Mined for specimens until the late 1990's by John Mediz, Copper City Rock Shop, and others, when mud slides from an El Niño episode intruded into the workings." I doubt 79 Mine ever had a post office. There is evidence of private/company housing including a suprisingly sturdy structure overlooking the mine proper. Submitted by: John Raatz


Abandoned (house?) building near 79 Mine
Courtesy John Raatz


79 Mine structures
Courtesy John Raatz


79 Mine structures
Courtesy John Raatz


Gas/Kerosene Engine
Courtesy John Raatz


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson


79 Mine
Courtesy Keith Thompson

Arizona #79 Mine from Keith Thompson on Vimeo.

 

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