Entertainment Magazine: Tucson: Iron Door Mine: Flint Carter: The Lost City in the Santa Catalinas

The Lost City in the Catalinas

The Nine Mile City is found again

Hidden deep within the majestic Santa Catalina mountains, north of Tucson, Arizona are ancient ruins that may be linked to the legends of the mine with the iron door and the lost city.

The site is near the Cañada del Oro in an extremely remote area of the Catalinas.

The remains of nearly a half dozen stone constructed buildings are scattered in an area that is suspected to be connected with the famous legend of the Iron Door Mine.

Nearby, extensive mining activities have been conducted for hundreds of years.

Evidence of mining shafts, tunnels and early human activity have been founded and documented. The U.S. Forest Service retains these items.

The legend tied to the lost city, and the nearby mines involves the Spanish missionaries in the early 1700s.

According to the legends, the Spanish forced the local natives to work the gold mines until the expulsion of the Jesuit missionaries in 1767. The location of the mine and community became lost.

The Nine Mile City of The Santa Catarinas ("Nueva Mia Ciudad") was reportedly rediscovered by two men in an article published in the Arizona Weekly Star on March 4, 1880.

The prospectors said they came to the area "on January 10, 1880 for the express purpose of exploring the mountains for the NuevaMia Ciudad and the mine with the iron door." Actually, milla is Spanish for mile.

The newspaper article described their journey into the Cañada del Oro in search of the mysterious ruins and lost gold mine of the Spaniards.

"About one hundred years ago the Jesuits held full sway over the population of this territory, and at that time they had large fields under cultivation and many men employed delving in the earth after the 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, having a minster church with a number of golden bells that were used to summon the laborers from the fields and mines, and a short distance from the city which was situated on a plateau, was a mountain that had a mine of such fabulous riches that the miners used to cut the gold out with a 'hacheta.' At the time of the Franciscans acquiring supremacy the Jesuits fled, leaving the city destitute of population; before their flight 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. There were only two entrances to the city and they also were closed and all traces obliterated." 1

An article in the February 17, 1891 edition of the Tombstone Prospector reported a recent "New Discovery." It was one of the earliest mentions of a lost city and a mine with an iron door.

"Early in the present decade a prominent journalist of this city discovered in a "rugged and precipitous defile" of the Santa Catalinas the ruins of a long lost pueblo, adjacent to which were numerous shafts that had been sunk in ages past, for in one of them was a giant sahuara fully 70 feet high, only a small portion of which appeared above the surface." 2

21st Century Expedition to the Lost City

The next expedition to the Lost City and Iron Door Mine is planned for October 2011.

A film documentary is planned with more details of the remnants left behind. The Lost City/Lost Mine expedition is headed by Flint Carter who rediscovered the ruins and lost mine in the 1980s. Carter has held several mining claims in the area.

Carter hopes to establish a link between these structures and the first building of one of the San Xavier mission stone houses for the missionaries. Carter also wants to compare the structures to a building at the edge of the Catalinas that once served as a stage depot and possible mission in earlier times.

Lost City Links

Robert Zucker, author, publisher Entertainment Magazine and former instructor.

Flint Carter, researcher, local mining operator and prospector. 520-289-04566 or email finder@emol.org.

Video editing courtesy of Mary K. Johnson

Footnotes:

1. "Mine with the Iron Door and the Nine Mile City of the Santa Catalinas," Arizona Weekly Star, May 4, 1880. University of Arizona Library Special Collections, M9791 Pam.

2. "Lost Mines of Arizona and Sonora" Arizona Silver Belt, Globe City, Arizona, December 3, 1892, image 1 http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021913/1892-12-03/ed-1/seq-1/;words=Dan+De+Quill

Video of the Lost City

The following videos explore the remains of a lost civilization who once inhabited the Santa Catalina Mountains.

The ruins still exist today. But the true location is only known to a few who are working to preserve the historic significance of this overlooked remnant of Tucson's past.

Remnants of a lost inhabitation in the Santa Catalina mountains, as described by local prospector Flint Carter.

"Ballads of the Santa Catalina Mountains" CD

Listen to songs and ballads on CD about the Iron Door Mine, the Santa Catalina Mountains, the Old West by Arizona historian Flint Carter. $9.95. Call 520-289-4566 for more information and to purchase directly. Mention the Iron Door web site.

Iron Door Mine Legend Tour and Artifacts

Explore displays of over 1,000 Old West artifacts and specimens from the surrounding area with Flint Carter. Learn about Western legends. Call Flint at 520-289-4566. Mention the Iron Door web site.

Mt. Lemmon jewelry grade silver ore in quartz

Flint Carter, a Tucson, Arizona miner, has samples of "Cody Stone" mined in the Santa Catalina Mountains of Southern Arizona. This stone is jewelry grade silver and quartz ore, and weighs 8 pounds or more. It also contains scheelite and fluoresces. Valued at $5 a carat. This particular piece is the second largest specimen recovered. Extremely rare. 

There is a 40 page provenance of the object, including an assay by the University of Arizona and opinions from the Gem Institute of America and other sources. More samples of Cody Stone.