SASCO Smelter Ruins and Old Mines (Feb 27,2018)

Feb 27, 2017; BobF & Don
A1IronwoodForestNM The red line is the boundary of the Ironwood Forest National Monument (https://ironwoodforest.org/visit/map-and-directions). It looks like a gerrimandered political district. A3IronwoodForestNMAnnotated Our track through the National Monument. We expected the Santo Cruz to have some flow, but it was dry; so we drove right across. About where SASCO Riad neets Silverbell Road is our track up and back along the 4W road to the mines. BobsPIcDSC 8542-HDR(3) Just after crossing the Santa Cruz, we pulled off SASCO Road to explore the remains of an old stone building. BobsPIcDSC 8539-HDR(3) OK, what was it? Want to guess?
sascoHotel The hotel or boarding house for the smelter. So you guessed right. Right? IMG 6125-HDR(3) BobsPIcDSC 8557-HDR(3) IMG 6128-HDR(3) One interesting feature was the wooden lintels above the windows. The lintel for the window at the right has deteriorated and collapsed allowing the rocks in the wall above it to begin to collapse.
IMG 6131-HDR(3) IMG 6143-HDR(3) Looking to the south we notice an interesting, rugged mountain. Lots of smaller jagged peaks on top. Would be tough climbing this one. The building at the left in also interesting, so we head out, on foot, toward it. BobsPIcDSC 8548-HDR(3) Looking back to the north, Picacho Peak is east to spot. If you've only passed this peak driving on I-10, you have seen the other side. IMG 6144-HDR BobF finds a potsherd, but of much later vintage that the potsherds we found up in the Agua Fria National Monument.
IMG 6161-HDR(3) Ok, we are now at the building we had spotted. Bob and I later read that this was the jail. I'm guessing that this would be a human cooker in the summer. IMG 6158-HDR(3) Taggers have been at work on the back of the jail. These may meet the definition of pictographs: dye or paint on rock. But they are certainly not ancient. IMG 6149-HDR(3) Looking south again toward that interesting peak IMG 6152-HDR(3) Zooming in some.
IMG 6155-HDR(3) A short distance away, we spot some more remains of the smelter. Sasco1907 The Southern Arizona Smelting Company or SASCO smelter as it appeared some time in the period of 1907 to 1912, the short time when it operated. It smelted ore from the old Siverbell Mine which is about 12 miles away. Accommpaning the smelter was a town of about 600 people which had a post office, hotel (or boarding house) and a jail, the latter two features were in previous photographs in this photo album. We didn't see any signs of houses, but didn't look that closely. The post office closed in 1919. A railroad between the smelter and the mine brought the ore here for smelting. The large stack in the picture was 175 ft. tall - only the base, or foundation, exists today. BobsPIcDSC 8587-HDR(3) Yep, we are at the place we thought we were: Southern Arizona Smelting COmpany. IMG 6165-HDR Some slag found in a slag heap. This piece shows some signs of copper in the slag.
BobsPIcDSC 8592-HDR Another piece of slag. The copper is clearly visible. IMG 6171-HDR Being on private property, the place is frequently used as a shooting range. Here BobF looks at some shell casings. IMG 6176-HDR(3) OK, the artillery includes even a tank - OK, now we're really pushing the limits of the 2nd amendment. I don't think the Founding Fathers had this in mind................. IMG 6179-HDR(3) Oh, but it's only a minature tank made for fireworks.
BobsPIcDSC 8551-HDR(3) BobsPIcDSC 8590-HDR(3) Those are interesting. Ore bins? 5929-777777 1171731867-09 Yep, and they were built to support the railway. BobsPIcDSC 8596-HDR(3) Some signs of being a shooting range.
BobsPIcDSC 8599-HDR(3) That's the base of the 175 ft. tall smoke stack. BobsPIcDSC 8602-HDR(3) Oops. BobsPIcDSC 8605-HDR(3) The ore bins have been hit by taggers, who have put their pictographs everywhere. BobsPIcDSC 8608-HDR(3) Actually, we were impressed with the quality of the pictographs. The creativity, the colors and the quality impressed us.
BobsPIcDSC 8611-HDR(3) Zooming in on Picacho Peak. BobsPIcDSC 8614-HDR(3) The taggers are obviously very talented. BobsPIcDSC 8617-HDR(3) Don is focussed on taking the previous picture of Picacho, totally unaware of the monster that is about to attack him. But look at the line quality, and the choice and blending of colors. IMG 6182-HDR(3)
IMG 6185-HDR(3) IMG 6186-HDR IMG 6191-HDR(3) BobsPIcDSC 8632-HDR(3)
IMG 6192-HDR IMG 6197-HDR(3) stitch IMG 6203-HDR(3) Another structure. BobsPIcDSC 8635-HDR(3) This structure, whatever it was for, had a mase of internal corridors.
BobsPIcDSC 8639-HDRcrop We were "distracted" by this bird that kept flying around in the vicinity. BobF got a great shot. We have confirmation from a "world-class" birder that it is a Say's phoebe, a bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. BobsPIcDSC 8647-HDR(3)crop IMG 6229-HDR IMG 6206-HDR(3) OK, back to exploring the mase of internal passages.
IMG 6209-HDR(3) BobsPIcDSC 8665-HDR(3) After viewing the remains of the SASCO smelter, we continued on down Sasco Road and into the National Monument. BobsPIcDSC 8668-HDR(3) Soon after passing this sign we turned southeast onto Silver Bell Road. BobsPIcDSC 8686-HDR(3) We had to stop because this Saguaro seemed to be telling us something.
IMG 6239-HDR That interesting peak had come much closer and we realized that it was Ragged Top mountain, the mountain icon of the Ironwood Forest National Monument. We also realized that the hiking track that Don had found went up and over this mountain. OK, is there another place we can hike? This is not for two "mature" men. This is not the place we want to die. BobsPIcDSC 8680-HDR(3) IMG 6235-HDR(3) A chain fruit cholla cactus. IMG 6236-HDR The "chain fruit" of the chain fruit cactus.
IMG 6245-HDR Ironically, we spot an Ironwood Tree in Ironwood Tree National Monument. What a coincidence ;-). These trees have veeeery hard and dense wood, and live for 80 to 100 years. The Australian variety (the Australian Buloke) of this tree has the hardest wood in the world - over 5,000 lbf on the Janka scale. Desert Ironwood (Olneya tesota) has a 3,000 lbf Janka hardness. The Janka scale measures the force required to embed an 11.28 millimetres (0.444 in) diameter steel ball halfway into a sample of wood. It is commonly used to determine if a wood is suitable for wood flooring. For density comparisons, 12 % moisture content Desert Ironwood has a specific gravity of about 1, compared to most 12% moisture content Oaks at between 0.6 and 0.7 . BobsPIcDSC 8698-HDR(3) The leaves of the Ironwood Tree. BobsPIcDSC 8704-HDR(3) A cholla cactus. A4IronwoodForestNMAnnotated We take a 4W road to as close to two old mines as we can drive and then hike the rest of the way.
BobsPIcDSC 8710-HDR(3) The road extended another 1/4 to 1/2 mile to a locked gate, but that short stretch looked much rougher. Besides it was time to stretch the legs. So we hiked the mile to 1 1/2 mile to the miles. BobsPIcDSC 8716-HDR(3) There they are upon the lower slopes on the southwest corner of Ragged Top mountain. IMG 6256-HDR(3) IMG 6265-HDR(3) We've reached the higher of the two mine adits.
BobsPIcDSC 8725-HDR(3) IMG 6261-HDR Someone (the BLM?) has blocked entry. IMG 6262-HDRScoured IF you go up the barrier and shoot between the bars, this is what you get. IMG 6266-HDR We now contemplate how to get down to the lower of the two mine adits.
BobsPIcDSC 8728-HDR(3) Bob has switchbacked the steep slope down. BobsPIcDSC 8732-HDR Don follows. BobsPIcDSC 8731-HDR(3) Looking out over the sea of Saguaros. We didn't see one crested Saguaro all day (turns out we went right by one on the way into the National Monument as we found out in our return visit on March 6th). IMG 6273-HDR(3)
IMG 6281-HDR-HDR(3) This one is blocked off, also, but further into the tunnel. So..... IMG 6297-HDR(6) Don went into the tunnel as far as he could and got this shot back out toward the entrance using 6 different exposures and a HDR program to take the best parts of each. BobsPIcDSC 8758-HDR(3) One last shot up the west edge of Ragged Top Mountain, and we're off to find a place for a late lunch. And wow, did BobF find us a nice place. We feasted on $20 hamburgers.