McCracken Mine

In 1874 Jackson McCracken and Jack Owens were exploring the remote area north of the Bill Williams River finding several promising claims but none as good as the one found near McCracken Peak.  This mine produced silver which assayed at $1000/ton producing a reported $1.5 million dollars of silver before closing in 1879. 

Our Backcountry Adventures Arizona book gives detailed directions for reaching the mine saying 4WD is absolutely necessary—what it didn’t say was it would be advantageous to have four legs like that of a a billy goat!!  We bounced and bucked (and that’s putting it mildly!!) getting to within a mile of the peak when my driver, the cowboy decided it would be smarter to walk the rest of the way!  Smart—I’m not so sure—that was a very, very steep climb to the summit!!! 

Can you spot the poor little jeep—photo taken from the summit.

There was a reason we wanted to reach the summit of McCracken Peak—the book stated there were lots of beautiful crystals on the ground and in the rocks at the top so off we went huffing and puffing like two people who have done nothing but walk level paths in the desert for almost two months!  Emmi wasn’t impressed either—she was hot!!

The views were spectacular, you could see for miles and miles.  We could even see a little sliver of Alamo Lake.  Lots of quartz and crystals imbedded in the rocks—I doubt this photo will show you how beautiful they were.

After spending some time rattling around in the rocks and collecting a few to bring home we headed back down the steep hill which was almost as bad as coming up—lots of loose rocks causing us to lose our footing several times.  Finally we reached the little yellow jeep and gratefully sank into its seats! 

Back home it had been a rather warm day and the inside of the motorhome was toasty.  So, here at 6:30pm we are enjoying sitting outside in our comfy chairs listening to all the birds and writing this blog.  Another fun day in Arizona.