Sunday Drive - Tip Top Mine

[Guardrail 1]

Well I think that Larry and party should post up a day trip up this way! I think you'd find quite a few of us interested in going!

Please consider!!

smiles, ladybug

 

^^^^^I second the motion^^^^^

[klaykrusher 54]

Thanks Larry for the insight to the area. Gonna start diggin through the Google results.

 

AZBillyBoy I started at the I17 and Table Mesa exit. It's Forrest Road 9999. It's the road that gets you to Lower and Upper Terminator.

[Larry K. 0]

Right now my plate is full. But if there is interest in this trip, I would suggest a Saturday in early January. Depending on how much exploring you would want to do, it would be a pretty full day.

 

Pack a lunch, bring the cookies, a camera, and we be good to go.

 

 

Larry K.

[AZBillyBoy 2]

Thanks Larry for the insight to the area. Gonna start diggin through the Google results.

 

AZBillyBoy I started at the I17 and Table Mesa exit. It's Forrest Road 9999. It's the road that gets you to Lower and Upper Terminator.

 

 

I never heard of Forest Road 9999 since that area is either private, BLM or State Land Trust. I was wondering about the correct way to get there from I-17 since the County has annexed the upper level where Table Mesa Road runs into the Lake.

 

You used to be able to keep going on Table Mesa road (West) and skirt the edge of the Lake, up some white bluffs, then keep going until you ended up at Cow Creek Road or whatever it's called which is the back way to Crown King.

 

Anyway, before that, where Table Mesa Road meets the Lake, there used to be a road heading north. It ran along a ridge before dropping down into "Cottonwood Canyon" (how often is that named used in this state?)

 

That road, which crossed some little creek about five or six times, intersected with the "other" way from Table Mesa/I-17 - that being the road by Gilette. The Gilette road ran straight to the old AZCO/Mica Mule Mine site. Just before arriving at that site, there was another road that turned as it climbed around the back side of Williams Mesa.

 

Williams Mesa is the prominent feature in that area. Kind of like Turret Peak over near Bloody Basin. One you know where it is, you always know where you are.

 

On the summit up from AZCO, before you drop down into Cottonwood Canyon, there is another road (used to be anyway) that goes up to the top of Williams Mesa. I never had the nerve to try it but I could see others had. I imagine getting to the top of Williams Mesa would be quite a feat and the view must be awesome.

 

Tip Top was the mine site and Gilette was the mill for that mine. I can't imagine hauling ore that far with the primitive equipment and roads they had back then.

 

I have a 1912 map of Arizona and it shows a "highway" running from Phoenix north past Tip Top, Columbia and up to Crown King. If you have ever been out to Horsethief Basin, the top end of that road is (was) clearly visible to the South. I don't know what the Lane Fire might have done to that area.

 

That section of the old road is now off limits to vehicles because it is in a wilderness area.

 

If you explore around Tip Top, which was listed for sale on the internet at one time (as was Gilette)

 

(I found this link for Tip Top. It is an older one)

http://www.arizonagoldprospectors.com/invision/index.php?/topic/168433-historic-tip-top-mine-ghost-town-still-for-sale/

 

you will find many hidden treasures (Unless they have ben vandalized). I can't see all the pictures in this thread at work because our net filter blocks them but it looks like one is of the Beer Hall/Brewery. Unfortunately troglodytes burned the wood on the old tin roof for camp fires which has exposed the adobe to weathering. There used to be a standing building on your right when you first came into town. The same trogs knocked it down :mad: destroying an excellent example of the concrete work made with local sand and rock. Anyway, at that building site is an offshoot road that goes up a quite steep hill behind the old ruins. There may or may not be a locked gate there. The road may or may not be passable. It used to end (actually in went further but only for the daring) at a huge head frame and shaft that guys used to rappel down

 

Also further into town are old ruins of miner's quarters. They are very easy to miss because they look a lot like old Native ruins on the Agua Fria. They are simple rock walls about 2-3' tall and no more than 3 x 6' in floor size. The miners used to sleep there. I think they used make shift canvas or wood coverings to keep the sun off. There are quite a few of them and very easy to overlook.

 

There also used to be a huge steel wheel that was part of some of the mining machinery. The big spoke kind of wheel. I bet it weighed a lot! Buried in some ruins on the side of the road.

 

Tip Top (and Gilette) were the first real ghost towns I ever saw, way back in the 1970s. I drove to Tip Top in a Chevy Luv 2wd the first time! Unfortunately the only thing that has changed over the intervening lustrums

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lustrum

 

is the damage done be careless visitors. And Gilette has suffered far worse since it is easier to find.

 

Sorry about the long post!

[AZBillyBoy 2]

On edit I have been looking at google earth and it looks like the current mining operation at Gilette has diverted traffic on the old AZCO road. Still passable but of course they have closed Gilette to public access. I see also the big sand and gravel operation that used to be just downstream from Gilette is also gone. Unless they are the new operators at Gilette.

 

I have followed the road on GE to the AZCO turn off. To go to Tip Top you turn left at the corral. I know "left" isn't a direction but if anyone gets to that location they'll understand what I mean. I also see they have hauled all the mining equipment out of the AZCO sight. In 2006 I went there and it was quite a sight! Lots of current era mining gear just abandoned. The "tweakers" must have been there because all the copper wire was missing from the miles of conduits! I am now on GE to the point where the road to Tip Top splits with the side road to the top of Williams Mesa. That is one road I would LOVE to try (albeit probably in someone else's vehicle!)

 

I plan on tracking the road down to the bottom of the canyon to see if it is still possible to go back out to the Lake entrance.

[Larry K. 0]

I checked out the ORP trip schedule and found that November is pretty well full of trip activities, December - not so much.

 

How does Dec. 7th (Pearl Harbor day) work out for you folks for a Columbia to Tiptop & out to Table Mesa run?

 

I will need to make a scouting trip up there to check out the west end of the route to see what effect the summer monsoons had on the trail, and if things look OK, we could be good to go.

 

Anyone interested? Would like at least 3-4 rigs, not more than 10.

 

 

Larry K.

[dzJeepChic 2,516]

December 7th will most likely be the date of Hunter's Annual BBQ but he hasn't announced it yet. I only mention it because a lot of people go to it so it might create a conflict.