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Crown King
Open year round, Crown King is tucked away in the cool pines of the Bradshaw Mountain range. Atop this mountain you’ll find the Del Pasco mine which sits 2000 feet above Crown King totaling an elevation of 7200 feet. This memory-making excursion is an hands-on all day event. You will visit down town Crown King, and then be literally digging it! We supply hard hats, lights, picks, and shovels, for your gold seeking adventure. We will teach you how and where to look for the remaining 90% of the gold that is still in the Bradshaw's today. The "I'm Digging it" tour is an 8 hour tour that includes lunch, snacks and refreshments, for $165.00 per person with a 6 person minimum.
Crown King, AZ came into being in the 1860's to support gold & silver mining in the Bradshaw Mountains. It continued to grow into the 20th century and was reputed to have a peak population of around 4000. Substantial ore production continued into the 1940's with George P. Harrington bankrolling the Crown King mine. He was liked by all and removed over $2,000,000 in gold from the Crown King mine. Enough ore was produced from this and surrounding mines to warrant building the Bradshaw Mountain Railway which branched up to Crown King from the Prescott & Eastern R.R. to carry miners, family, and supplies up here and mined ore back "down the hill".
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Early
History: |
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| 1800’s | |
| 1864 | Battle Flat skirmish |
| 14 Apache
Indians & 1 miner were killed. |
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| 1870 |
 Bradshaw gold
& silver rush begins! |
| The Del Pasco gold mine was the first big strike in the Bradshaw
Mountains, discovered on July 4, 1870. Located 4 miles North of
Crown King, at an elevation of 7,400 feet, this mine produced gold,
silver, and lead. Del Pasco quickly got its own mill, transferring
it's ore into Prescott for the smelting process.
The influx of new claims arose for the next 10 years and then slowly
died down; however, the Del Pasco mine is still being worked to this
day. |
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| 1875 | The Crowned King’s first claim was discovered |
| 1888 | A post office was established at the Crowned King |
| George P. Harrington as the first postmaster. | |
| 1888 | One of the first business ventures to spring up near the Crowned King |
| 1896 | Mine was a
saloon. The Crown King area was so rich in gold that this area produced the highest yield of gold and silver in the nation between 1885 and 1890. As many as 2000 individual mining operations or prospects were located in a 5 mile area prompting other mines to spring into production such as: The Luke mine located 2 miles south of Crown King employed 7 men who produced a carload of ore a month. The last shipment carried about 600 ounces of silver to 1 ton of ore. This ore was packed into wagons and carted by burros to the railroad in Phoenix. There are 3 veins at Luke; the Bolipse, Congar, and Lorana, whose shaft is 300 feet deep with 3 different levels. The Rapid Transit mine is located less than a mile south of Luke mine. The ore from this mine was worked in two different locations, the Oro Bella Mill and the Tiger Mill. During this time, the last shipment of 2 bullion bars were valued at $1,800.00. The Oro Bella, Oro Bonito, and Grey Eagle mines, produced rich gold ore at, or near, the surface level. The ore from these mines were successfully treated on the spot by chlorination, and/or by the cyanide process. The Tiger mine produced large shipments of rich silver ore. This mine was worked to the depths of 350 feet and then abandoned. The Peck mine was also a silver producing mine. The first shipment of ore produced $1,000.00 when silver was worth $1.00 an ounce. The Gladiator
and War Eagle mines are located 3 1/2 miles North of Crown King and
just below the Del Pasco mine with an elevation of 7000 feet. These
veins contained gold , silver, lead, copper, and zinc. The Gladiator
shipped 20 tons of ore daily in its hay-day. The ore was shipped to
the Clarkdale smelter for processing. |
| Late | 1897 Crowned King Mine has a post office, company store, several |
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saloons, two Chinese restaurants and a feed yard. |
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| 1900’s | |
| 1904 | Town burns;
Saloon saved!
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Crown King General Store established  |
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| 1916 | Current Saloon moved from Oro Belle to Crown King. According to |
| Bruce Wilson’s “Crown King and the Southern Bradshaw's: A Complete | |
| History,” Tom Anderson was “the man who probably lived in Crown | |
| King longer than anybody else” and had the saloon moved piece by | |
| piece to its current location. | |
| 1917 | Crown King School is established & first Church built. |
| 1950 | Fire in Crown King; Church burns, Store & Saloon barely saved. |
| Thirsty fire-fighters knocked back most of the Saloon’s contents after | |
| the fire was extinguished. | |
| 1972 | Battle Flat fire destroys over 28,000 acres. |
| 1986 | Fire Station
built on the site of the original church. |
| 1988 | Tie House burns, Saloon saved! |
| 1995 | The Mill at Crown King opens as a restaurant, first new business structure built in over 75 years. |
| 2003 | Switchback Bar & Cafe burns; Saloon saved! |
| 2004 | Crown King General Store celebrates 100-year anniversary. |
| 2008 | Crown King "Lane 2 fire"started by a lost hiker. |
Now: 80 to 100 full-time residents Hiking & Riding trails to explore Rowdy event weekends that might go down in history! |
"I'm digging it"
tour 6 person minimum
$165.00 p.p.
   
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