Cave Creek: Arizona Gold Mining Experience (AZGME)

Arizona Gold Mining Experience reveals historic mining system from the 1800s that now roars with life

Rackensack Canyon Tour offered on February 8

Cave Creek Museum will open the crowd-favorite Arizona Gold Mining Experience (AZGME) on Saturday, February 8 and February 22, 2025. The massive working mining exhibit will come to life from 10-11:30 AM and be followed by its Gold Fever gold mine tour at 1 PM.

The 1800s ore-crushing stamp mill and its tramway system was found in pieces on Continental Mountain many years ago. A group of skilled professionals, nicknamed the Dream Team, got together to bring the stamp mill from the mountain to the museum with the goal of seeing it roar back to life. Now, the public can see it too along with how mining took place back in different ways throughout Cave Creek’s history as a mining district.

The excitement builds with the arrastre, a primitive mill for grinding and pulverizing gold or silver ore. Visitors then witness the amazing Golden Reef Stamp Mill andTramway, Arizona’s only fully operational ten-stamp ore crushing mill at work. The 10, 1,000-lb. stamps slam down in synchronized motion to pound ore removed from the mine into fine gravel. The stamp mill was brought from its former location at the Golden Reef Mine on Continental Mountain to Cave Creek Museum, which has the only fully operational mining stamp mill in its original mining district in Arizona; it is located just five miles from its site on the mountain. The giant stamp mill also is connected to a working tramway and ore carts that carry the ore to be pulverized to the stamp mill.

The experience continues as guests peer into a mineshaft to show the blasting techniques used by hard rock miners. Next, onto the blacksmith shop for a demonstration of the many skills used when parts and tools had to be fabricated onsite. Guests also will witness a hard rock Arizona gold mine come to life as lights flash, and the earth shakes to replicate sequential dynamite explosions. Visitors will learn how the introduction of dynamite and compressed air rock drills increased a mine’s output making it far more dangerous for Arizona miners at the time.

Guests then 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. Admission is $15 for adults and children under 12 are free.

On February 8, Gold Fever participants head out for a three-hour gold mine tour in a unique 10-passenger 4WD Jeep, which will travel takes them into the Tonto National Forest and the patented Ft. Worth Gold Mine. The tour ascends them to the Mountain Chaparral vegetation zone with absolutely breathtaking views up to a 4,500-foot elevation.

Guests then proceed to the gold mine where they are rewarded with a presentation of 1800s artifacts excavated from the Ft. Worth Gold Mine site. This mine was part of the Historic Rackensack Mines, which were instrumental in the founding of Cave Creek, Ariz.

Reserve tickets online at cavecreekmuseum.org as there is a limit. Visitors, who should plan on coming early, can check in at 9 AM. Following the Arizona Gold Mining Experience, guests interested in the gold mine tour pay an additional $145 per person for the three-hour tour (no special senior or child pricing), which starts at 1 PM and departs from the museum; participants must be onsite by 12:45 PM. The Gold Fever mine tour helps cover costs for the museum’s Arizona Gold Mining Experience (which is held each month). Reservations are required for the experience and the mine tour.

The 54-year-old museum’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.