Red cloud mine

We went 4wheeling with our neighbors on Red Cloud Mine Road.  The one neighbor wanted to go all the way up past the mine to a spot he showed us on his little map that said you could see the river and have a picnic.  We got to the mine which is about 17 miles north of Martinez Lake and stopped to take some pictures.  On the way there we saw the sign hung off of the skeleton letting us know the mine was open to visitors.  I think the caretaker at the mine gets lonely plus he makes his money selling the wulfenite from the mine to us tourists.  There are lots of old structures at the mine.  I loved the old water tower looking thing that was bashed in way at the top -- gotta wonder how that happened.  The caretaker allows collectors to dig for their own specimens of wulfenite for a reasonable price.  The story is that he found a piece that was at least an inch or two in a beautiful crystalline matrix.  He sold it for $30,000 and it ended up at the Tuscon gem show and sold for $60,000 -- so the story goes.  The wulfenite from Red Cloud Mine is world famous because of the color, clarity and gem quality.  There are only two places in the world with this kind of wulfenite - Red Cloud and a place in South Africa. 

We continued our ride north of Red Cloud but the road turns into a trail and got very rough.  We decided to go back and not try to go the additional 20 miles to the river.  The rest of the group made it all the way but said the trail got even rougher.   We were glad we didn't try it and some of the riders said we were the smart ones for turning back.  

 

Wild Burros of the Potholes

 The area we go gold prospecting in is called the potholes.  I'm not sure why the name except everywhere you look there are small holes where people have dug for gold.  There is an active gold prospecting club here and there are always folks from the club digging on the club claims.  We dig on the land abutting their claims.  We would join the club but we already belong to two and that seems like enough.  

You always see evidence of the wild burro population out here.  Their droppings and trails are everywhere.  We hear them bray every time we are out but don't always see them.  The burros aren't native to the area.  They were brought in by the miners back in the 1800's and are the descendants of those that escaped or survived their owners.   It is amazing to see what they eat here because it is all thorny bushes, cactus and a few thorny trees.  The American canal, off of the Colorado River, as well as Senator was and Squaw lake are close by and that is where they go for water.  People also camp out here in the long term camping area and I'm sure they feed the burros that come close enough to them.