Entertainment Magazine: Arizona
Oracle, Arizona– historic mining town
By Robert Zucker
Tucked into the hills of the northern range
of the Santa Catalina Mountains is the town of Oracle, Arizona.
Originally, Oracle started in the 1870s as an outpost for local
prospectors and mining groups.
Oracle was founded in the late 1870s by
prospecting miners and grew into a community hub for several mining
districts– the Old Hat, American Flag, Campo Bonito, Apache Group,
Mammoth, Oracle Ridge and others.
Oracle Events
Oracle, Arizona is located northern side of the Santa Catalina Mountains, about 40 miles northeast of Tucson.
Today, several thousand people call Oracle
home. In this above photograph, the Oracle Inn Steak House (center)
has been a popular diner, neighborhood barand entertainment venue for
decades.
As more residents settled in Oracle,
extensive mining operations were set up around the growing town to
further explore and exploit the veins of minerals running
through the mountains.
Some of the big producing mines in the Old
Hat District near Oracle endured well into the 1900s. One of
the Oracle deposits developed into the mining town of San Manuel. The
San Manuel copper mine, northeast of Oracle, became the largest,
underground producing copper and gold mine in the state. [1]
One of the by-products of copper is gold. According to a U.S. report on
the San Manuel Mine in 1988, thirty five thousand ounces of gold
and silver were produced each year through a filtering process. [2]
Continue reading about The Founding of Oracle.
[1] According
to David Ridinger, former president of the San Manuel Mine in 1985,
it was “by far the largest underground mine in the state.” From Going
for Gold: The history of Newmont Mining Company, by Jack H. Morris.
University of Alabama Press, 2010. Page 95.
[2] “Site Visit
Report: San Manuel Facility Magma Copper Company,” U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste. 1992. Page 3-52.
"Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains"
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Robert Zucker has published several Tucson, Arizona-based tabloid newspapers– Youth Alternatives, Youth Awareness Press, Tucson Teen, The Magazine and Entertainment Magazine.
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