The Arizona Gold Mining Experience opens for the November holidays

Cave Creek, Arizona – Cave Creek Museum will open its wildly popular western event, the Arizona Gold Mining Experience, on Saturday, November 14 and Saturday, November 28, 2026, from 9 to 11:15 AM.

During the one-of-a-kind large outdoor exhibit, entertaining and crusty old miner El Monty Jackson leads guests through demonstrations that showcase the hard rock ore extraction process for which Cave Creek is renowned. The event is filled with fun, history and entertaining moments. Guests will meet western mining workers and residents as they move throughout the mining town. It is the only experience of its kind in the nation.

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 and Tramway, 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 now 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 in 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 skills used when parts and tools had to be fabricated onsite. Guests also will see a hard rock Arizona gold mine come to life as lights flash and the ground shakes to replicate a dynamite explosion. 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.

“The Arizona Gold Mining Experience was very enjoyable and educational,” says one recent attendee.

Guests then are encouraged to try their luck at gold panning, where museum volunteers show visitors how to pan for ore and minerals just like the prospectors did.

Admission to the Experience is $20 for adults and children under 12 are free. Visitors can check in at 9 AM. Culture passes are not accepted for this event. Groups and home school groups are requested to contact the museum office to schedule for special arrangements on another date. The gold mine tour, which takes place after the Experience, is $155 per person. Only available on November 14. Gold Fever lovers are picked up at the museum at 12:45 PM for a 1 PM departure in a unique nine-passenger 4WD Gladiator, which takes them into the Tonto National Forest and the patented Ft. Worth Gold Mine. The three-hour tour ascends to the Mountain Chaparral vegetation zone with absolutely breathtaking views up to a 4,500-foot elevation. Reserve tickets for the Experience and the mine tour at cavecreekmuseum.org. Reservations are required.

The 56-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.