Arizona Gold Mining Experience launches new season at Cave Creek Museum

On Saturday, October 25, 2025, Cave Creek Museum will showcase its exciting Arizona Gold Mining Experience.

The multi-pronged, interactive experience continues as visitors revel at the operation of the amazing Golden Reef Stamp Mill and Tramway, Arizona’s only fully operational ten-stamp ore crushing mill. The 10, 1,000-lb. stamps slam down in synchronized motion to pound ore removed from the mine into fine sand.

The stamp mill was brought from its former location at the Golden Reef Mine on Continental Mountain to Cave Creek Museum and now is located just five miles from its site on the mountain. Cave Creek Museum has the only fully operational mining stamp mill in its original mining district in Arizona. The giant stamp mill is connected to a working tramway and ore carts that carry the ore to be pulverized by the stamp mill. And, see a mine shaft that “explodes” with sights and sounds. Among other activities, guests also will visit a blacksmith shop for a demonstrationof the many skills used when parts and tools had to be fabricated onsite. Guests also are encouraged to try their luck at the gold panning station, where museum volunteers show visitors how to pan for ore and minerals just like the prospectors did.

Reservations are required. Please note that culture passes do not apply to special events at the museum. This mining campus exhibit area is not ADA-compliant. The program is approximately one-hour and 15 minutes long and largely takes place in the outside exhibit area. Footing is uneven and slightly hilly in places. Please dress appropriately for the weather and wear sunscreen. Afterward, visitors then can tour indoor and outdoor exhibits including history and archaeology and the only known tubercular cabin, which is in the National Register of Historic Places as the only known original tubercular cabin in Arizona from the early 1900s.

The Arizona Gold Mining Experience opens at 9 AM for check-in before the experience begins at 10 AM. Guests must reserve their tickets in advance as the experience is a very popular attraction and capacity is 45 persons. Admission is $20 for children over age 13 and adults and seniors; children under 12 are free. Visit cavecreekmuseum.org to register.

The 55-year-old museum’s 501(c) (3)’s mission is to preserve the artifacts of the prehistory, history, culture and legacy of the Cave Creek Mining District and the Cave Creek/Carefree foothills area through education, research, and interpretive exhibits. The Cave Creek Museum is located at 6140 E. Skyline Drive in Cave Creek, Ariz., 480.488.2764. Open October through May.