Exploring Arizona- abandoned, wrecked cars & trucks, old hiways, etc

Here are the parts of the car we found this week. I was surprised to find this one because we had been in this area 4-5 times already and thought we had it al covered- wrong.









more pics of this great adventure to follow. This was our 6th one including the one in the Benson area. 5th one on the hwy 60 area. We have another planned later this month and will do a new area in May closer to Show Low. With the weather getting warmer, will be exploring the cooler areas by next month.

 

That Fisher tag is cooooool.
Yea, time to go where the cooler temps prevail. Theyre out in force. Warmer drier winters have the food bustin at the seams. I've never had mice or anything that I know of in the yard because of the dogs and cats. This year,,,,,3.

 

This is one of my favorite threads. Thanks for posting guys!

 

definitely subscribing. awesome finds.

 

More pics of what we found on our last trip. Our next one is in about a week.

This is another pic of the parts of the car we found, probably a late 20s or early 30s GM brand.



We also revisited the Claypool tunnel because we had a new person with us who had not seen it yet. Glad to see the barriers were down



As mentioned earlier in this thread, the Claypool tunnel was a hiway tunnel, part of hwy 60. According to what records I have found, it was used between 1922-1952

After that, we headed on toward Globe, bought permits and hit the subway, then headed north towards the Salt River Canyon to continue where we left off last time. We ended up doing a little '4 wheeling' in my old GTO on a quad trail. It did get a little rough at times but, the old Pontiac did its job and we drove to an area most would consider impossible to reach by car. We did go in 2 cars this time so, we would not have gotten stranded if something happened. We left the other car further down the road and hopped in my GTO.



Then, we reexplored a mine we found last time but, really did not have adequate lighting to see it well. We did not find anything new but, did get to confirm some things and explored the mine in its entirety. Up to this time in our ventures, this mine was the largest and most interesting to explore.


this part of the mine ended in water which turned out not to be as deep as we had thought. The extra lighting really helped. Obviously, it is absolute pitch black inside the mine something we are not used to.
From there, we headed out to explore areas we found last time with binoculars at distance. This would be the majority of our hiking for the day. to be continued...

 

Here are some pictures I took over in Nevada a few years ago (I know you want Arizona).

 

Steve, how deep did that water turn out to be? That's the same mine I was in isn't it?

 

I live in Maryland but will be visiting my daughter in Scottsdale from May 11th through the 20th. Any chance you are doing any trips on the 19th? Would love to hook up with you guys.

Dan

 

don't you worry about rattlers while climbing around all those car bodies.. seems like a lot of good hiding spots

 

Yes, it is the same water and area we explored. With good lighting and throwing rocks in the water, It became much easier to see it was only maybe a few feet deep. There is another opening in the mine towards the right after the water starts. I moved several rocks onto the water to make steps so I could walk out on the steps to see around the corner. No one else was that motivated. Anyway, it appeared that that area to the right did not go that deep.
Rememner how we hike all the way up that hill to get to the openings? well, We drove in the GTO almost all the way to them this time!!
'she done good'

 

Well, since you asked about May 19......
That is the day of my next car show. Beside being a hot rodder, drag racer, junk collector, parts yard, etc, am also a promoter and event host for drag racing and show events in Arizona. May 19 is the date of my next show.



It is in the high country of St Johns in eastern central Arizona about 220 miles from the Phx area. So, will be busy running that. However, we have an exploratory hike planned the following day a little closer but, still a good distance from the Phoenix area. I have found many cars already in this area and we will be exploring some of them , hiking and exploring the old sections of hwy, etc.

 

The next portion of our last exploratory hike was, by far, the most interesting and exciting. We hiked a good distance on fair ground to an area I found last time and looked over with binoculars. I had found what first appeared to be an old bulldozer. Then, upon further study, it looked more like some sort of trailer with a boxy, squared of front that was facing me, maybe a mile or so, away. In the same area was a large amount of peices of equipment of all kinds. There were also very large amounts of tailings. All indicated a large mine was located there, we were correct!



This mine ended up being larger and much more interesting than all other mines we have explored so far! It didn't have water in it, at least, we do not think so. There was so much to see and explore in there, we did not cover the entire mine even though we explored it for a considerable time





For the first time, we found work benches, old cans of food the miners apparantely had for their lunch, an old water jug. Then we found empty boxes of blasting caps and explosives. Then rails and much more. The ceiling/roof was surprisingly smooth. It almost gave the feeling of being under water and looking up at the top of the waves, etc.
we are spending time now on the net researching what exactly we have found and when it was being used. My guess is it was operating possibly as early as the 30s and maybe as late as the early 80s. The equipment and misc we are find appears to be 40's-60's. Some equip was dated as far back as 1918!



This explosives box, as an example does not list the zip code. Zip codes were in place and well used by the mid 60s.

It was really something. We went very deep into this mine to the point where I started to get uncomfy. We plan to return but, with much more lighting. We will have multiple lanterns so we can really see where we are and what there is to see. In a way, it is really creepy doing this but, even more interesting and exciting. I've never been in a mine before until recently. Not sure if we will find a larger mine that this one on future outings. I feel this way based on the amount of tailings and equipment here but, it is possible. Not sure what the danger level is but, none of us felt we were in any real danger and we are not reckless types. Still, the thought of getting trapped in there if something went wrong... it would be all over.
Just as a precaution, in the future, we will leave at least one person outside with a phone and car keys. We will bring snack food and water and basic first aid equip next time we go in. These old mines appear, in all ways, to be safe and sturdy from what we can tell.
My primary interest is still in old hwys and finding old cars but, these old mines are just too interesting to pass by.
more to be continued. ...

 

WOW Indeed!

Though I do wonder why you worry about those pesky little rattle snakes, they don't even make it into the top 10 most deadly!! HA!

We have a few to worry about......

http://greensnake9.tripod.com/id23.html

Just playin' keep safe out there.

Doc.

 

Cool thread, thanks for posting.

 

What a great thread! Seeing these pictures and reading about your adventures makes me want to move to Arizona. But I'm in Pennsylvania now, and reminiscing about our Salt River Canyon exploration in March. Here's a few more pics:

 

Steve, was this new mine below the tin shed in the area of what we thought was a bulldozer? So the Goat made it all the way up the mine we were in before? My wife and I went back to Sedona the next day by way of the Salt River Canyon and I got this shot

 

Jack,
Jailed for driving without license and registration?

 

Yea Arizona is tough on that, especially for snowbirds. But my moll broke me out and had the getaway car gassed and ready to head east LOL The facilties weren't the best in there. It certainly wasn't up to par with the Ritz

 

I need this tailgate

 

"There, I fixed it"

 

You guys are having way to much fun. I'm jealous

 

love this thread!!!

 

I've lived in this state for almost half of my life and have never seen any of these cool places. I gotta get out more. That mine is awesome.

 

Ya Mike,,,But isnt Yuma the arm pit of AZ???? About the only thing down there is sand dunes.

 

Haha ya I guess so. We don't even have dunes, thats a few miles away in California. It grows on you though...

 

LOL,,, Schedule a trip up here & join us on an outing!!!!

 

After trouring this second mine that day, we hiked further out to locate this peice of equipment I had found with binoculars on the prior hike. I had determined at distance that it was a tandem type trailer with a steering axle in front and that is was boxy and appeared to have a radiator or, at least some sort of grill, on the front. Here is what we found.



It is a very large diesel engine with a small gas engine attached to it used to start it. It drives a very large, by my standards, air compressor. We figured out this was used to power the jack hammers and circulate the air in the mine.



The wheels on the trailer are metal with spokes, based on that, would guess it is not newer than the mid 30s but, do not know. the engine looks more modern to me. Surprisingly and refreshingly, it has not been vandalized!



Most of the controls and linkage is still operable too. Even the belts for the cooling fan seem to be in fair condition. Not sure of its weight, I'd guess at least 8,000 pounds. Who knows what pulled it there. This is in steep terrain and lots of brush has grown over the decades. I can only wonder if there are cars and equipment that went over the side by accident. It would take considerable time to explore the entire area and we may take that challenge on.
However, I still know of several more cars that I have found in other areas. Our next hike will start to return to the main hiways looking for them.

 

OK I've benn through the complete thread and I'm glued to it . You guys must be having a ball . Do you think there is any gold in any of those mines? I can see hambers coming out and spending vacations with you . Good luck and keep it coming , this is better than Discovery Channel .

 

What a nice post! thanks so much for the kind words, yes it has been very fun and adventurous and we are going back to continue on Thursday.

These mines appear to be asbestos mines though some are reported as silver mines. I guess they ran out of customers when asbestos useage became out of vogue.

 

Steve, it's great that you guys got back there to check out up close what we saw that day from far away