Research South of the Border

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Research South of the Border

Post by count »

Since the Peralta's and most of the "real" early miners came from Mexico, why isn't there more recent research still going on south of the border? It seems we continue to hear a great of re-hash but little about the reasons or how or who has done mining in the Superstitions? There is a great deal of information in the Mexico archives that should be explored. Perhaps that is a "book" contribution to the legacy of the Peralta mining history in the Superstitions that could be made? Does anyone know of any good archive sources? <br> <br>azmula
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Post by count »

The little bit of research done along this line has produced some fascinating information. <br>There truly was a Peralta family and they were involved in ranching and mining in "Arizona" long before it became a territory. <br>In 1776 the Peralta's were living at Tubac (Az.). In that same year, half the family left for California with the Anza expedition, the other half stayed on to pursue farming and mining. <br>Antonio G. Peralta and his son, Miguel L. Peralta, along with a large group of miners , were encountered by members of the Peeples and Walker party as they prospected down (Black Canyon Creek) about 6 miles N. of the present day Black Canyon City. This was in 1863, before the first town or mining district in the area was established. Daniel Connor, a noted historian and member of the Walker party wrote, the Mexicans had been in that area for some decades and some of their drifts and shafts were extensive operations. <br>The Walker District, (the first mining District in the area) excluded Mexicans as mine holders. All the Mexicans lost their rights to their mines even though their names appear on the earliest Yavapai Co. mining claim records (1864). <br>The names of Peralta, Gonzales, Arvizu, Salcido and Ortero all appear in those early records. All of these families were inter-related to the Peralta's by marriage. <br>Miguel Peralta was a co-founder of the town of Wickenberg, Az. and was that towns first postmaster. Later he moved to Phoenix and ran the largest mercantile store in the territory until he sold it to the Goldman Bros. in 1881. His brother, Gabriel Peralta, sharecropped and lived on the South half of Jacob Waltz 1/4 section homestead. <br>Mining in "New Spain" and early Mexico was not ruled by the "mining claim" process we know in the U.S. Only certain aristocratic families, loyal to the Spanish King, were allowed to search and take the mineral wealth. The King in turn claimed 1/5 of everything these families discovered. There were some 40 families which the King granted this official authorization. The Peralta family was one of them. <br>I can't answer AZMULA's question as to why there is so little research into this area. A wealth of information lays in the records of old Mexico and the Arizona Territory. I can only guess that it is easier to just repeat the same old "tales" than to actually look into the records and documents behind them.
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Post by count »

Dam good post on the Peralta aspect. <br> <br>Now for a question/speculation on my part. <br> <br>If Antonio and Miguel Peralta met the Peeples Expedition up north of Black Canyon City in 1863, just who was mucking about around that same time frame in the Superstitions, only to end <br>their days up on a lonely hilltop in the Masscre Grounds? <br> <br>I have always thought the 2 Mexican/Apache fight scenario a good possibilty. Perhaps the main Peralta expedition was run out of the mountains in the late 40s, but a splinter group of the family, or group of peons, smaller in number and not as well equipped came back in the early 60s for the express purpose of mining the area that the LDM was in. They of course ended up being found in the wrong place at the wrong time (which still happens, btw)and their fate was sealed. <br> <br>Peraltas? Perhaps. From what I know about the condition of the bodies, it seems that whoever was killed seemed to include a few people of means....not just peons or peasants. <br> <br>P
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Post by count »

Several good sources are : <br> <br>History of Arizona and New Mexico 1530 - 1888 H.H. Bancroft <br> <br>After Kino, Jesuits in New Spain 1711 - 1767 J. Donohue <br> <br>People of Reason, the Colonization of Sonora to 1767 J.R. Hastings <br> <br>The Frontiers of New Spain Nicolas LaFora's description. 1766 L. Kinniard <br> <br>Early History of Mining in Arizona acquisition of mineral rights from 1539 - 1866 J.C. Lacy <br> <br>Luz de Sierra Incoanita 1693 - 1721 J.M. Manje <br> <br>The Spanish Years 1776 - 1821 K. McCarty <br> <br>The Mines of Mexico Volume 9 J.R. Southworth <br> <br>Historia del estado de Sonora E.W. Villa <br> <br>A History of Mining and Cattle in Arizona and Sonora -- Mexico Historical review 28: 187-199 Hermosillo, Sonora 1952 J.J. Wagoner <br> <br>The Spanish Tradition in Gold and Silver Mining Arizona and the West 7(4): 299-314 1965 O.E. Young
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Post by count »

Thanks for the post on the info sources. The scarcity of info on that period of Spanish, Hispanic, mining in and around the Superstitions is directly attributed to all the scolars saying that no Spanish or Hispanic ever came north of the Gila River. Of course some of us do know better. Even when applying for my treasure trove permit to excavate what I feel is a Spanish mine, they would not talk unless I struck the word Spanish or Hispanic from their application. Of course , one of the major things we hope to accomplish is find something to date the activity of this mine and once and for all prove the Hispanic did mine in the Superstitions. I also believe that they came back in the 60's and tried to continue their activities. To date there has been no solid proof come out of the mountains that this all occurred. There is some written references to all of it ,but we need tangible proof, and if someone is able to do that someday, I think it will lift the vail and allow much more research , especially on the scolar's side, if they stop seeing with their tunnel vision, forgive the pun.
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Post by count »

Agreed. Excellent post. Thanks, Matt. <br> <br>The Miguel L. Peralta mentioned is the one Robert Blair was so facinated with. The Peraltas were indeed a real family. Their existence is no secret. However, there is controversy today as to which branch of the Peralta family was specifcally involved (if at all) with any mining activities in the Superstitions. There is ample indirect evidence to suggest there was an active Mexican presence in the mountains in pre-Anglo times. And it seems the Peraltas could indeed have been involved based on their own oral traditions and family recountings. <br> <br>Why no one has pursued firming this up more is hard to say. It could be the sheer bulk of data to go through or the inaccessability of much if it. <br> <br>However, as a side note, Peter might not be far off base by inferring that the second battle (massacre) - that probably took place circa 1860 - might not have been Peraltas per se. The party could have been composed of family business associates, distant relatives, and peons & workers formerly in the employ (servitude) of the Peraltas.
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Post by count »

There is only one reliable verification that I know of, concerning Spanish mining north of the Gila River. In 1949, Al Lewis discovered a very old shaft and drift tunnel while working for the Shumway Brothers on the Mammoth Mine property (today Goldfield, just west of Superstition Mountain). The shaft and drift were not connected to the Mammoth mine tunnel system. Old Ironwood and Juniper timbers taken from that drift were taken to the U of A who did a radio carbon dating of the wood fibers. Their results were, the trees were cut 130 years previously, give or take 7 years either way. This would have dated the mine to somewhere in the 1813 -1827 time period. Other artifacts found in that drift by Lewis, Ted Sliger, Hugh Nichols, and C.C. Waterbury, were also dated to that same time period. This would have been well within the Spanish time period and very early Mexican period. Well before the first Anglos started their mines.
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Post by count »

Matt, I think you are on similar path as I in my research to proof Spanish/Espanol mining in the Superstition Mountains. <br> <br>There was a Miguel Peralta who sold his mining claim in Black Canyon (Valencia). The Fort for protection, approx. 5 stone buildings, and approx. 10 gold and silver mines and placers still exist. His family was originally from the Cumpas, Sonora, Mexico area. The Peralta's, Gonzales', an Arvisu families were all related via marriages and mining interests and are to a lesser extent still in the areas of Cumpas, Ures, Arizpe and north to the border areas. Branches still exist in Mexico D.F. and California, U.S. <br> <br>The King of Spain did allow (for a fee) only the 40+ families identified in the records in Hermosilla and Chihuahua. The Peralta's were included in that list. But there were other requirement imposed on the mining claims. Maps had to filed, usually (3) made from stone for durability and incripted for security. As have been found in Sierra Blanca, Chihuahua, and Arizpe (now in Mesa). <br> <br>Note: There are two mines in Fish Creek that owe their origins to the Spanish (before Miller claimed one). I believe the claim is still on file in Florence. <br> <br>azmula
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Post by count »

AZMULA is correct about the mines in the Fish Creek and lost Dutch Canyon area. George Dracovich (a.k.a. George Henry Miller) filed a relocation on a lode gold deposit near the Tortilla ranch on April 24, 1928. He filed that claim at the courthose in Florence (Pinal County, Az.) It remains the only patented mining claim within the interior of the Superstition mountains. Dracovich believed that mine predated the first anglos in the area. <br> <br>Arizpe Sonora was beseiged by the Apache in 1847. A year later the population of 5000 people was reduced to less than 400. The church at Arizpe moved all it's documents and records to Hermosillo and Ures at this time. A manifest of these records, which included stone maps, is in the archives at Hermosillo. Several of these stone maps are missing from the church inventories and it has been suspected that the stone maps found in Arizona may have in fact been stolen from the church. I am very skeptical of the Arizona stone maps, but they do bear a remarkable resemblance to stone maps which exist at the churches in Ures and Hermosillo. <br> <br>The "real" Peralta's in Arizona were heavily involved in mining. As AZMULA pointed out, their claim records are well documented in the early Yavapai Co. mining books. This was a family with a long history of mining that was carried on into the Arizona Territory. I know of no other Peralta's who were in the central Arizona territory in the years between 1848 - 1869. <br> <br>I don't know what conclusions , if any, you can draw from these documented facts. At the very least, they present a basis for some of the tales and stories that have surfaced over the past 110 years.
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Post by count »

Matt, Are you sure that Dracovich's claim is patented? I know of no claim that would be patented in the Superstitions, for that would be private deeded property.
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Post by count »

Checked the George Dracovich claim, (Miller mines). <br> <br>Dracovich filed a relocation claim on a lode deposit he named the "Poor Mickey". It was filed at Florence, Arizona on April 24, 1928. The claim was 1500 feet in length and 300 feet on either side of the centerline. He also claimed 50 feet in a southerly direction and another 1000 feet in an easterly direction. The claim was in the Superstition Mountain Mining District, Pinal County Arizona, and on Dracovich's claim paper he located it as being about 4 miles in a easterly direction from Barckly Ranch (his spelling). <br> <br>In 1930 Dracovich applied for a Federal land patent on the mining claim. The mine was found to be within the guidelines of a comercially mineable mineral deposit. The report does not state which mineral(s) were involved. <br>Dracovich died intestate. He died not having a valid will and no executor or next of kin. I cannot say what happened to the claim property at this point. There is no record of anyone refiling a location on that claim or applying for ownership of the property in the County or Federal records. I don't know if the property reverted back to the Federal government or if it was transfered or sold. George Dracovich never extracted much wealth from the mine, or if he did, he kept it a well guarded secret. Floyd Stone (Tortilla Ranch) once told me he believed the Federal government took possession of the claim Dracovich filed. <br>This is all the information I can find on the George Dracovich (a.k.a. George Henry Miller) patent.
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Post by count »

Has anyone found any large monuments in the Superstitions leading to heavy mining areas? Large like three large semi-flat stones weighing 1-2000# each leading to a 5 foot diameter ball balanced on a narrow ledge at the base of multiple mines without timbers. With a third monument pointing directly to the tres piedras within .2 degrees over 10 miles +/-. In the area of "Poor Mickey". The monuments are similar to the Black Canyon mines. <br> <br>azmula
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