By Robert Zucker and Flint Carter

The story of a lost mine with an iron door near Tucson, Arizona has persisted for hundreds of years.

The legendary Iron Door Mine treasures may still be deep within the Santa Catalina mountains, north of Tucson, Arizona, according to Arizona prospector William T. "Flint" Carter and other historians.

The Mine with the Iron Door has been one of the most extensively hunted lost mines in North America. Movies and books have glorified the legend. It's real riches have yet to be revealed.

That legend, though, may have some truth buried with those treasures.

The lost mine may still be somewhere in the Catarina Mountains, near the Cañada del Oro, "the Canyon of Gold." Some people over the centuries have claimed to discover its location.

But, the exact spot of this treasure has never been documented.

Lost in the Santa Catarinas

"The region's wealth first became apparent in 1535 when Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions reported hearing tales of cities of gold in the region. Calling their finds the "Seven Cities of Cibola."...in 1582 when Antonio de Espejo reported on the richness of the region and the discovery of mines in what is today central Arizona."

"Spain returned to the region in 1686, when the Jesuit missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino was assigned to the area known as Primeria Alta (upper land of the Pima Indians), which is now Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona. Four years later Kino entered present-day Arizona and established the missions of Guevavi, Tumacacori, and San Xavier del Bac. Although Kino's emphasis was on missionary activity, there are reports of mining by the natives."

"In addition to mining being done by the natives, the Spaniards also resumed mining. In his accounts of Pimeria Alta, Kino wrote, "many good mines of gold and silver . . . many rich veins now being established." While it is believed he was writing about Northern Sonora, he may have been referring to the area around Tubac, Arizona. This belief is based on the presence of many abandoned Spanish mines in the Tubac-Tumacacori area, which were re-discovered when the Americans arrived in 1848. "

The Jesuits bury the treasure

Cabeza de Vaca never found the City of Cibola reported to be near Tucson. Instead, villages of poor Indians lived in the area. Father Kino arrived in Sonora in 1687 to work with the Pima Indians to established the first Catholic church.

According to the newspaper story in 1880 Arizona Weekly Star, it was known that in the 1700's, the Jesuits had "large fields under cultivation and many men employed delving in the earth after precious metals and turquoise stones."

"At that time, the principle gold mines were situated in these mountains and there was a place called Nueva Mia Ciudad" (Nine Mile City), having a monster church with a number of golden bells that were used to summon the laborers from the fields and mines." The article describes the city on a plateau of a mountain that had a mine full of riches.

When the Jesuits fled the Franciscan's occupancy of the Tucson valley, "they placed an iron door on the mine and secured it in such a manner that it would require a considerable time to unfasten it," the article said. There were only two entrances to the city that were closed. All traces of the city were obliterated.

The article called "The Mine with the Iron Door and the Nine Mile City of the Santa Catarinas" was dated from the Martin and Welde's Camp, February 24, 1880 and published the Arizona Weekly Star (now, the "Arizona Daily Star") on March 4, 1880. The article continues with a story from several prospectors who described their exploration for the Nine Mile City and the mine with the iron door. In the story, they found the tunnel and recovered some gold.

The Lost Escalante Mine

In "Lost Gold and Silver Mines of the Southwest" Eugene L. Corotto connects the Lost Escalante Mine with the Iron Door Mine, the subject of Harold Bell Wright's 1924 book "Mine with the Iron Door." The story is that the Papago Indians helped the Jesuits work the Escalante Mine in the Santa Catalina Mountains prior to their expulsion iin 1767. In 1768, Franciscan missionaries of the College of Queretaro were placed in charge of the Pimeria Alta missions, according to Tumacacori's Yesterdays.

In 1751, the natives conducted the Pima Indian Revolt against the harsh discipline of the Jesuit missionaries. In 1767, the Spanish government had expelled the Jesuits and the Franciscans to replaced them.

An account by John D. Mitchell ("Desert" July 1952) says "the treasure vault was near the south bank of the Cañada del Oro...the ruins of an old camp and the foundations of the little chapel where the priests said mass may still be seen." On San Juan Day in June 1796, the Apaches raided the mine camp and killed the Papagos. The settlement was destroyed and forgotten.

One clue Mitchell gives to its existance is a ventaña- a large natural hold in the rock that resembles a window. Ventaña is Spanish for window. The mine is "one league northwest of the veñtana," he wrote. One league is equal to about 3 miles. A league could be covered in about an hour walk.

Some say the settlement may have been located near the present site of the Romero Ruins. Others speculate it is deep within the mountain valley. It may have also been called the Mission of Ciru in the Valley Viejo ("old valley"). It was also called Rancho Viejo.

Mining in Oracle brings Buffalo Bill

Books and movies about the Iron Door Mine

Arizona and Southwest Mining historian Flint Carter

William Thomas Carter, "Flint" to his friends, is an artist and author born in 1947 in Danville, Illinois. After attending Danville High School, he served in Panama during the Vietnam conflict at the Latin American Headquarters Post. He received the National Defense and Good Conduct medals.

Returning home, Flint attended Danville Junior College and later Southern Illinois University. Special interest in the design department, headed by Buckminster Fuller, inspired the building of Arizona's first solar heated and cooled museum. For more information contact Flint at 520-289-4566 or email [email protected]. Mention the Iron Door web site. Read more about Flint Carter, Celebrity Stones, art and jewelry and the Iron Door Mine.

---

This information is found in the comprehensive book on the legends and history of the Catalina Mountains– "Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains." Read sample pages and download free PDF.

---