For Some Of The Best Mining, You Have To Venture Indoors. By Kevin Franklin IT HAS ALL the makings of an archeological detective story. Deep within the forested mountain we find the ruins of a bygone era of glory. The debris of daily life is strewn about, abandoned in the rush to leave. A dark and cavernous maw cuts into the slope.
Water flows out of it from a spring somewhere deep inside.
Like some ancient hieroglyphic, a sign with a macabre Jolly Roger warns us not to enter at risk to our lives. We peer inside and shine our lights on the icy water and slimy mineralization of the old mine. It's like an Indiana Jones movie. The place is marked on our map with a cartographic rune indicating the mine, but there's no name or history. Hidden deep inside the Santa Rita Mountains, we wonder who worked this place and when.