Bully Bueno Mine

Non LDM treaure hunting and Old West history.
Post Reply
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

Bully Bueno Mine

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Wayne,

I noticed that you, Matthew and Dr. Glover were batting :) around the location of the Bully Bueno Mine.

While there are conflicting reports of the direction from Goodwin to the mine, I believe a good deal of evidence might lead you south instead of northward.

Barnes writes on page 336 of "Arizona Place Names", and under the heading of Bueno that "The Bully Bueno Mine was located at this place in 1872". He cites the elevation of the location at 5258'.

Where Arrastra and Turkey Creek's join, that is the approximate elevation. The location is on S. Senator Hwy. That is very close to where "Bueno", and thus, the mill were located. That is almost four miles (straight line) from where you are placing the mine.

I doubt the two locations could both be part of the "Goodwin Ledge". It will be interesting to see what you come up with. If you want some company on that trip, let me know. Looks like good quad country.

Good luck and good hunting,

Joe
zentull
Expert
Posts: 1039
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 11:15 am
Location: Surprise, Arizona

Post by zentull »

I was trying to put the name with the area and a mine that was in the discussion. Can't find my Battle Flats topo, so I am going off my Prescott forest map and I don't make notes on it, so until I find the map I am going on places I remember.

The wife and kids probably would enjoy the trip, but the animals may have not forgotten me. Not as nice as the rim, but close. Lots of mulies, some turkey and even a few cats in the basin area. Had a big cat follow and watch my camp out by East Fort. I would sit and wait for hours and on the way back in find scat all over my back trail.
zentull
Expert
Posts: 1039
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 11:15 am
Location: Surprise, Arizona

Post by zentull »

Trying to figure when I may go, hopefully next week or weekend........
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

Timing Is Everything

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Wayne,

We will not be able to get down there until the 20th. We will be camping out around Goodwin.....somewhere. We will have our trailer and quad with us and pull out Sunday, before noon, to head for home.

Wish we could do it sooner, but life has a way.......

I would prefer to join up with you, but understand if that doesn't work for you. Need a guide, so hope you can make it. :)

The Bully Bueno Mine is one muddy water project.

Let me know.

Joe
zentull
Expert
Posts: 1039
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 11:15 am
Location: Surprise, Arizona

Post by zentull »

I wouldn't be able to leave until late morning Saturday the soonest. Will let you know the Thursday before you head out.
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

MORE BULLY......

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Wayne,

Two new locations for the Bully Bueno Mine:

Before reaching Goodwin on the Pine Flats Rd., you come into Pine Flat. There is a road that head due south at that point. Take that road to a four way junction. From that junction there is a trail or jeep trail that goes southwest along the Pine Creek.

Following that trail to the southwest, it will eventually turn west with a mountain directly in front of you. Where the trail takes a turn southward, stop. The mine will be directly in front of you around 700" up the side of the mountain.

It is one of the locations of the Bully Bueno Mine. It would not surprise me if you need to take that last turn to the southwest and follow it to the end, which is between 700 to 800'.?

Tailings should be visible from whichever location has the mine.

The other location is close to the location of Bueno, south on the Senator Hwy. Take a left on Forest 89 Rd. When you come to a fork, take the left fork. The road will fork again, and the left fork is the most direcct path. When you reach the end of the road, the mine should be in sight.

Those are the two places I was given coordinates for. Not really close to where you guys are looking. Sounds like trying to find the LDM. :lol:

Anyway, sounds like it would be fun looking for it. The 20th. is the first weekend we will be able to go, and unless the creek floods, that's what we are planning. If others want to make a weekend of it, that's fine with us. Randy could use a little sun..... :D

Take care,

Joe
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

Sounds Good!

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Wayne,

Just saw your post. Is camping around the junction of Pine Flats Rd. and S. Senator Hwy. OK with you? As I understand it, we only need to find a flat place and set up camp.

Joe
zentull
Expert
Posts: 1039
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 11:15 am
Location: Surprise, Arizona

Post by zentull »

Camp where you like, I have slept in niches in caves, so I never am very picky. I thought sleeping in the back of the truck at the rendevous was kind of like a 5 star hotel. Still trying to work everything out for the weekend. Ended up in a maelstrom of work and responsibilities I am trying to clear through.
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

Das Mine....

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Wayne,

I know what you mean about sleeping in some unusual places. I remember crawling under a fallen tree and sleeping away a sudden snow squall, while bowhunting for elk, above my home in Colorado.

Glad you don't really have a preference for where we camp on the 20th. I have decided to just camp at the old mill site at Bueno. As the mine is a short distance south of that location, we won't need to spend a lot of time going back and forth.

I am bringing a metal detector, as the area of Bueno was a pretty good placer location.

If you decide to go earlier, let me know and I will give you the exact location of the mine.

Take care,

Joe
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

Claims

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Wayne,

A good deal of the area is under claims. We can camp there and go where we want, but that's about it.

There is a packet in Sharlott Hall that contains all of the information needed to locate the Bully Bueno Mine. One of the things in that packet, is a copy of the "Arizona Weekly Miner", Prescott Arizona, Saturday Morning, April 5, 1873.

I am not at liberty to provide the name of the person who left the packet, but if that is required to find it, I will ask him if it's ok.

A good deal of the surface ore ran over $100 per ton in the beginning. By the date of this article, it was running around $8.00 per ton.

Take care,

Joe
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

Location......Location.......Location

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

While the Bully Bueno Mine is not shown on any modern-day maps, it is on maps of the area from 1903 and earlier. Will C. Barnes states on page 336 of, "Arizona Place Names" that Bueno was located at an elevation of 5,258'. He goes on to say: "The Bully Bueno Mine was located at this place in 1872".

Bueno was located around 2.4 miles south from the junction of Pine Flats Road and S. Senator Hwy. (Goodwin). It was located at the confluence of the Turkey and Arrastra Creeks. Perfect location for a town.....and a mill, with an elevation of around 5,250'.

The mine is actually located a little under 1 mile southeast of Bueno, or 1.42 miles by S. Senator Hwy and Forest 89 Rd. It's elevation is 5,570'.

In his book, "1000 Old Arizona Mines", Richard J. Hinton writes on page 41, writing about the Bully Bueno: "named by Ross Browne in 1869....".
He was, of course, writing about J. Ross Browne.

The surface ore was fairly rich, but fell off quickly at depth.

Jacob Waltz may very well have prospected this area of the Bradshaw's.

Others may have come to a different conclusion as to where this is all located.....and they could be right. There is a good deal of confusion surrounding this location. I would bet a good deal of money that I am very close.......Good sources. :)

Joe Ribaudo
zentull
Expert
Posts: 1039
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 11:15 am
Location: Surprise, Arizona

Post by zentull »

If nothing else it means a cool night by the campfire, some strong coffee and some time away from the rat race. All good in my book.
Thomas Glover
Part Timer
Posts: 132
Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 7:33 pm
Contact:

Goodwin Lode

Post by Thomas Glover »

To all,

Concerning the recent interest in the Bully Bueno mine, its possible location, the location of Bueno and possiblitiy that the Bully Bueno was associated with the Goodwin Ledge...

I have just posted a map of the Goodwin Lode and associated claims from Hinton's 1877 book. Note that at the far right is the locatin of the Bueno mill. However, I do question some of the compass directions -- not by 180 degrees however.

I will also post a drawing of Prescott circa 1877 taken from the same source.

These items are posted in Joe's "Old Maps Archive".

Thomas
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

Hinton's Map...

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Thomas,

A perfect illustration of how history can be changed by one man.

Hinton, a well respected author, made a few mistakes on his map and sent many people on a wild goose chase. Few are aware of the mistake, because most folks have no idea where Bueno or the Bully Bueno Mine actually are.

There were so many mines in the area, that no matter which direction the map sent you, there was a mine. The 1903 map shows the correct location of Bueno, but does not show the mine.

The Peck Mine is around 5 miles southeast of the Bueno mill site. Once you find the old Triangle M Ranch ranch house, you are at the mill site. Pieces of the mill (iron) can still be found laying on the ground.

The town and mill were burned to the ground by Indians. Many artifacts have been found in the area and it is probably still a fertile area.

It's altogether possible that Jacob Waltz's ore came from this region. There were many rich surface outcropings throughout the Bradshaw's.
Some could have been located by Waltz, pinched out quickly and never been documented.

The area is rich in history and well worth exploring, for many reasons. Most, if not all, of the Turkey Creek land is under claims, so no one should just engage in any type of prospecting without seeking permission.

If you can make it, the welcome mat will be out.

Take care,

Joe
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

Das Connection???

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

All,

Following up on my last post, as to a possible connection between Jacob Waltz and the Bradshaw's........There's this post from Matthew Roberts on another network: :)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aurum
Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Phoenix
Posts: 128



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jesse,

The Arizona Historical society lists Robert Groom as the locator of the Bully Bueno mine, probably sometime late in the year 1863, possibly October-December. The location probably wasn't filed on until sometime in 1864 as the Turkey Creek District was not formed until that time. The first solid mining claim records of Yavapai county start with the Yavapai County Recorders records in October of 1864 but before that the individual mining districts had their own records and this is where the Bully Bueno was most likely recorded. Those records are still at the Sharlott Hall archives I am told but getting someone there to help you find them is almost impossible.

Groom was with a group of miners in 1863 led by AH Peeples who were prospecting the Bradshaw mountains following the streams that flowed south and southeast into the Agua Fria River. It was this group that while prospecting, ran into Antonio Peralta and his son Miguel L. Peralta working a mine a few miles north west of todays Bumble Bee. That mine became the Valencia and was a solid gold producer for many years and is still being worked on today. Peralta and his son were with a group of Mexican miners who had been working mines in that area for almost a half century according to Peeples. Jacob Waltz may very well have been prospecting with the Peeples group. Miguel L. Peralta later became a prominant businessman in the town of Phoenix and started the Mercantile business on Center and Washington streets in downtown Phoenix that he later sold to the Goldman brothers. If Waltz was with Peeples and the others on this expedition, he most likely met and heard the stories of Antonio and Miguel Peralta and their adventures and experiences mining in the central Arizona Territory, long before the first anglos arrived on the scene.

Aurum

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is why, those with inquiring minds, follow the history of Arizona while researching Jacob Waltz and the Superstition Mountains. You never know what little nuggets you will find along the way. :)

I never cease to be amazed at the amount of knowledge that Matthew has at his fingertips.

Joe
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

1903 Map

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Having just taken a look at a blown-up version of E.A. Haggatt's 1903 map of the Bradshaw's, I was surprised by yet another location for the Bully Bueno Mine.

While Haggatt has the location of Bueno correct, he places the Bully Bueno Mine to the northeast of Goodwin. Overall, the map is not very accuarate.

My sources for the mine being southeast of the Bueno Mill Site are likely the best to be found. Beyond that, their location agrees with an 1873 Arizona Weekly Miner article describing the mine site.

It looks like I will not be able to explore the area until this summer. Good reason to get out of Lake Havasu City, which has a bad habit of being the hottest city in the nation......more often than any other. 8O

Joe Ribaudo
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

How To Know.....

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Matthew Roberts and Greg Davis just returned from a few days in the Bradshaws. Matthew did a very nice write-up on the LDM.com site.

While they believe they were at the Bully Bueno Mine, they are not sure which of two was the correct mine. There is good reason for that. There are as many "locations" for the Bully Bueno, as there are for the LDM. :D

Not many people, today, know the correct location of the Bully Bueno and the misreading of Richard J. Hinton's books have been pegged as one of the reasons for that confusion.

Maps from that era are just as confusing, and very inaccurate. If you are standing in front of a mine that you feel could be the Bully Bueno, how can you know.....for sure?

Short of knowing people who know the location of the old mine, your best bet, IMHO, would be to look at the best evidence available. That would be a detailed description of the mine from that era.

Here is just such a description:

Turkey Creek mining District

"A number of gold veins have been located and opened in this district , and a splendid stamp mill was erected by the Bully Bueno Company, but none of these mines have proved successful.
The claim on which the most work has been done is the Bully Bueno, which is a deposit quite as singular as its barbarous name. It is one of many illustrations, so frequently met with in the West, of how mining ought not to be carried on. "A splendid stamp mill was built by this company, an eastern association, before the mine was the least developed, and when this was finally accomplished, it was only to prove that the mine was not worth it. The mining works are located on two hills, separated by a deep gulch, about one and a half mile south of Turkey creek. The deposit is an irregular body of quartz, filled with large patches and threads of hornblende. It occurs in metamorphic slates running northeast and southwest, and dipping steeply to the northwest, and the quartz bodies strike and dip with them. These constitute no vein, but are lenticular masses, entirely independent of and overlapping each other, as plainly shown in the shafts and tunnnels. These are well planned and located and had the mineral matter proved sufficiently rich to pay they could have supplied a twenty-stamp mill with ore.

Near the top of the southern hill a cut along the vein, 300 feet long, and 20 to 30 feet deep, has been made, and the hornblende quartz, 3 1/2 to 4 feet wide, has been entirely removed. Lower down on the hillside is a tunnel, 60 feet long, in which a winze is sunk to the depth of 40 feet. Still lower down, and about 100 feet above the bottom of the ravine, is another tunnel, 230 feet long. In this tunnel are two shafts; the one near its mouth is in the hanging wall of the deposit, and strikes it at a depth of 35 feet; the other is a short distance in the tunnel, and is sunk on an incline of 85 degrees. In this tunnel the lentincular shape of the deposit is well shown. Where the second shaft is sunk, the body of ore followed in the tunnel from the surface thins out and finally ceases, and another is met within a crosscut of 8 feet in the hanging wall. Where fullest developed these bodies are 7 feet wide. Horneblende is found in great-quanity in the quartz throughout, but not a trace of pyrites. It is claimed that at one point at the surface where the horneblende was entirely decomposed, imparting a rusty color to the quatz, this ore yielded over $100 per ton in arastras and that a number of tons of this rich ore were so worked, where upon the property was sold to the company that now owns it. It is certain, however, that the great bulk of the ore does not contain more than $8.00 per ton. Large piles of this lie about the mouth of the several shafts and tunnels and at the foot of the chute, which is built in a substantial manner from the lower tunnel to the bottom of the ravine, where the wagons were to receive the ore.

On the opposite hill occur two zones of the same nature as just described, one of which lies very nearly in line with the works on the other side, while the other is parallel to the first and west of it. The eastern one has been opened by two inclines. In the upper one, which is fifteen feet deep, a body of quartz and hornblende shows right at the top,
but it pinches out four feet from the surface. The remainder of the shaft is sunk in slate. The lower incline is sunk forty feet deep upon a large mass of quartz and hornblende, at least eight feet wide. At this point, it is claimed, the ore was found on the surface, which proved so rich in arastras. The mill on Turkey Creek was evidently a substantial structure, and contained twenty stamps and ran by steam engine. It has been burnt to the ground by Indians during the last spring, and the rusty and bent remnants of the stamps and other machinery, entirely worthless in this place, are all that remains. The distance from this place to Prescott, by a very good trail, is twenty-two miles, by wagon road about forty miles."

ARIZONA WEEKLY MINER, PRESCOTT, ARIZONA, SATURDAY MORNING, APRIL 5, 1873

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know if Matthew and Greg had this information, but had I known they were going to make the trip, I would have offered it gladly. Once on site it would be obvious, with the above description, if you were at the Bully Bueno.

Greg,

Do either of the mines you believed to be the Bully Bueno match the above description? Did you take a GPS along?

Joe
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

BULLY....Bully.....bully....

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

When I first saw Dr. Glover's questions concerning the Bully Bueno Mine, I assumed he must have been reading Daniel Conner's Manuscript or "Joseph Reddeford Walker and the Arizona Adventure". The book has a few names that Conner left out of his manuscript, but both accounts are basically the same.

Speaking of the stamp mill, Conner says that it was "erected on that stream (Turkey Creek) opposite the famous Bully Bueno lode...." Sounds like the mine was pretty close to the Mill.

On page 283 of the book mentioned above, the mine is described as being found by R. W. Groom while at a "prospecting camp only a little distance above the desperate battlefield of Henry Binkley..."

By all accounts the Bully Bueno Mine was a huge bust. That did not stop the story of the mine from being told across the country.

It will be fun finding that old mine. It should not really be difficult, as there is a great deal of evidence as to it's location. The more I look.....the more I find.

Joe
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

Finding The Bully Bueno

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

Last weekend Carolyn and I met our good friend Larry Wright and our new friend Dick Hufmann at the old townsite of Bueno.

On Saturday, we took the Senator Highway to the Battle Flat road and headed south. A short distance from that intersection I looked to the left and could faintly see the upper and lower road, to the mine, on a hillside.

A small boulder with brush piled on it was blocking the road into the mine.
Dick and I rode our quads over the obsticles with little problem, and Larry, like a bull in a china shop, muscled his way over the top. 8O

It was an old road, rocky and with a bit of brush growing here and there.
We took the upper road first, which led to the second dig developed at the Bully Bueno. After a good deal of searching, we found the, pretty much, sealed mine entrance. It was just below a huge water tank, which had a massive catch basin above it.

We then went back down to the lower road, which took us to the original Bully Bueno Mine.

I have mentioned some of the evidence that confirmed that we were at the correct mine, but our guide throughout the search was a friend in Colorado, who had searched for and found the mine a short time ago.

Dwight gave us directions over the phone before we left camp, and we were able to go directly to the mine. Dwight and Dick Hufmann were old friends and had guided a writer from Arizona Highways to Bueno so that he could take some pictures and write an article on the history of the town and mine.

They looked for the mine, but failed to find it. One of the pieces of evidence we followed, was an Arizona Miner article that was written about the Bully Bueno Mine in 1873. It gave a very good description of the works, and it was easy to match up what we were seeing with the old article.

Jacob Waltz worked a claim in the Turkey Creek Mining District, and that's where we were. Many of the mines in that area had very rich surface ore, but pinched out quickly at a shallow depth. The Bully Bueno was such a mine. Waltz was there quit early, and it's possible that some, or all, of his gold originated there.

There is a ton of history related to the Bradshaws, and one of the most interesting stories is about the town of Bueno and the Bully Bueno Mine.
Few people know the mines true location.

I will post pictures in the Member Archive for those who are interested.

Joe Ribaudo
Joe Ribaudo
Expert
Posts: 5453
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2002 10:36 pm

More Rock.....

Post by Joe Ribaudo »

This rock is from the Bully Bueno Mine in the Bradshaw Mountains:

Image

Joe
Post Reply