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One Way Ore Another: Abandoned-Mine Hunting in Arizona by 4x4

The Route 66 area in northwestern Arizona is rich in mining history, so we took five 4x4s on an off-road adventure to visit a few old mine sites.
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Here's something you might not know: The Route 66 area in northwestern Arizona is rich in mining history. Something else: 4x4s are required to access some of the old, abandoned mine sites.

With that in mind, we set out to explore a few old mine sites that were prolific in the past. Our method of conveyance was five well-equipped 4x4s. Our group consisted of three modified Lexus SUVs, a trick Toyota Tacoma pickup, and a modded Jeep Wrangler.

Cool Springs sits on the eastern slope of the Black Mountains between Kingman, Arizona, and Oatman, Arizona. This water source was first used by native tribes, then in the 1850s as a watering site for U.S. Army horses and camels. A gas station was built here in the 1920s when Route 66 began bringing cars and trucks to the area.

About Route 66

The infamous asphalt ribbon of Route 66, completed in 1926 and officially decommissioned in 1985, once stretched nearly 2,500 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. Our plan was to explore some destinations along a portion of Route 66, then point our 4x4s onto the dirt to follow 4WD trails on BLM land.

Near Kingman, Arizona, an original stretch of Route 66 still exists, on the way to the historic town of Oatman. One portion, called the Arizona Sidewinder, runs from Cool Springs Station to Oatman. It includes 191 turns in the span of 8 road miles. It's not quite Tail of the Dragon-level, but it offers scenic views of painted desert mountains, and few guardrails. On the way to Oatman, we topped-out over Sitgreaves Pass at 3,550 feet and got glimpses of significant mining terraces in the rugged valleys below.

The small town of Oatman was founded about 1906, driven by successful prospecting nearby. A lot of precious ore was pulled from the ground throughout the 1930s, and by the time the mines were closed, around 1942, the area had produced over 1.8 million ounces of gold. We wandered the streets of the small town and found plenty of derelict remains from times when the town was fully inhabited.

We traveled east on Route 66, back into Kingman in Mohave County, an area that is also rich in mining heritage. Here we found a Route 66 museum that chronicles the byway. The deep depression and drought in the 1930s spurred many thousands of people to try migrating from the Midwest to California, in search of a better life. Route 66 served as their path west. Surprisingly, only a small percentage of those that took the long trip stayed in California. Most eventually returned to their Midwest homes.

Intothe Dirt

Moss Wash trail starts about 30 miles southeast of Kingman, and that's where we jumped into the dirt. The terrain is high desert here, at about 4,400 feet, and winds through sandy stretches interspersed with rock outcroppings. We followed the trail west a few miles until we came upon the Gold King Mansion. This building was constructed in early 1929. It served as a place to entertain wealthy investors and house the foreman of the Gold King Corporation. The nearby Gold King Mine was created to extract ore containing gold, silver, copper, and lead. However, before the mine saw significant profitability, the stock market crash of 1929 resulted in the mine closing.

We continued our westward travel in Moss Wash, finding a bit of water here and there flowing in the sand from Upper Moss Spring. There are also a couple of small mica and feldspar mine sites along this route. We climbed higher in elevation and turned north out of the wash, climbing in altitude until we eventually transitioned from high-desert scrub to pine trees.

The sun was starting to drop from the sky, so we looked for a camp spot in the trees that was sheltered from the wind we suspected would kick up overnight. We found a flat spot in the pine forest and settled in at 6,900 feet. Dinner and a warm campfire felt comforting after the long day of four-wheeling and hiking among the mine ruins.

We woke to the sound of tiny hail in camp, but the spat was brief, and the morning air started to warm from the overnight low of 37 degrees. Leaving camp, we headed south, following ridgeline routes up and switchbacks around the Hualapai Mountain range.

The next stop was the Boriana Mine site, a towering concrete and timber mill structure with multiple ore chutes and tailings fields strung across the mountainside. We explored several of the ascending roads that lead to other ruin sites, as well as a couple of mine entrances. Boriana Mine was originally opened in 1908, with production starting in 1915. Tungsten was its primary mineral resource, though copper, gold, and silver were found there in smaller quantities. The site was highly active, like many mines, up until the WWII era. At one point, the mill structure burned, and flooding and tunnel collapses left some ore inaccessible. The last year of mine operation was 1980.

We wheeled our 4x4s farther south and detoured into a rugged side-canyon. Here we found the giant remains of the Copper World Mine (elevation 5,102 feet), where timber remains of a large structure cascade down the mountainside to a sandy wash. We hiked our way over more mine tailings and found several workshop buildings on the top level of the operation.

After descending from the Hualapai Mountains, we followed a two-track road headed southeast toward Phoenix. We'd explored stretches of scenic trail, and one way or another picked our way over challenging terrain to step back in time and access some interesting mining history.

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