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Fall Hike and Photos by Dale Kesel
Click photos for larger size
On to the Gold Mine
Vulture mine is about 12 miles south of Wickenburg. This mine produced more than $200 million in gold and silver from the late 1800s
until the time the U.S. government closed it in 1942. The site is still very rich with treasures of an era gone by.
We arrived a little after noon and started our tour of the mine in the building that housed the Galley and dining hall (the dining hall and bar is
no longer standing, as the roof collapsed about 6 or 7 years ago). In the mine's heyday, nearly 500 people lived on the site and were fed primarily
from the one meager kitchen facility in this building.
The portion of the building that still stands is represented in the phpotgraph with the bathtub in the foreground. This is a strange
juxtaposition, in that there is no evidence of bathrooms with running water inside any of the buildings on the site.
In the galley is an old wood-burning stove, shelves strewn with various utensils, pots, pans and other kitchen items left behind when the mine
was abruptly closed down. In the hallway in this building is a huge old wooden refrigerator-the type that was cooled with ice blocks rather
than electric current.
After a short time in this building, we headed over past the hanging tree which was the death of 18 miners during the mine's operating years. Word
has it that most of the hangings were for miners caught high-grading (stealing some of the high-grade ore).
The rest of our afternoon at the mine was spent photographing in the assay office-the buliding where the miners
took their gold and silver samples to have the value of their strikes assessed. This building consists of living quarters and a lab where the samples of ore were melted down
in an open brick hearth, and then examined using various chemicals to determine content and purity of the precious metals.
The photograph of the brick table with tongs and chemical bottles was shot in the working area
of the assay office. Also, from this room is the image of the hearth taken by photography student Denise Bohling.
The living area in this building still has much evidence of the life of the people who occupied the mine 50 to 100 years ago. In one corner is an old singer sewing machine. An old dining
table and chair sits over near the fireplace. On the window sills are many old bottles, cans and mining artifacts. And, on the wall opposite the fireplace are two pairs of old pants
that have been hanging there on nails for the past fifty years. Brandon Bohling decided to feature these in one of his photographs-notice
how the wrinkled, dried out old shoes are lined up neatly along the baseboard. If this was my firt trip to Vulture, I might wonder if
this was the way they were left when the mine was abandonded in 1942.
If you would like to put together a group to go on this hike and would like the company of and direction from a professional
photographer, please contact me at:
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