San Pedro Mountain NM

[Roadrunner]

Hi folks, I've been lurking around here for many months, I finally decided to join in.

I live in the east central mountains of New Mexico. One of my favorite places to visit is in my neigborhood, the San Pedro mountains.

The was a town called San Pedro here, right before the turn of the century there were about 5000 people here gold mining.

Almost all the BLM land is surrounded by private lands, so access is a problem. Lucky for me, I belong to some gold prospecting clubs who have claims in there, and are allowed access.

There are hundreds of abandoned mines and a few turn of the century buildings still left here. I'm getting to know some of the local land owners here, and hope to get access to more of land around here.

I'll try to get a lot more pictures to post here this fall.

These pictures are from San Francisco canyon, on the oree claim.

Really enjoy the forum.

[LauraA]

Welcome to the forum Roadrunner. Thanks for the post and pics, looking forward to seeing more!

[bob3 was bob2]

Welcome to the site, hope to see you on the forums.

[campp]

Gold prospecting club access sounds like a good way to get into some restricted areas! Welcome to the club.

That stamp mill looks promising, we want pics!

[landy]

I've driven around that area and often wondered about access since as you noted much of it is surrounded by private land. An aquaintance of mine had entered one of the mines with a club such as you described.

The Ortiz Mountains apparently also have quite a collection of well-preserved mines and structures - also all on private land. No doubt that's what has prevented the typical vandalism.

Look forward to seeing more info on the San Pedros.

[Roadrunner]

First of all, thank you all for warm welcome.

Yes, there probably wouldn't be much left here if there was public access. I once caught a couple of kids back in there shooting up buildings.

There is a copper mine (the San Pedro) which has miles of tunnels, the mine owner has a party every year, he lets anybody attend and you can collect minerals and whatever on the property. He used let people go in the mine, but his insurance company put that to a end.

There is another old gold mine that is on a gravel pit property, the owner lets us tour the mine sometimes, you go in one entrance and come out about 1/4 mile away.

Both of our prospecting clubs support mining interests up here, a group of homeowners who have recently built expensive homes in the area are trying to get the BLM to close the area off to mining, so we have a good relationship with the mine owners.

Here are some more pictures, like I said in my first post, I'll try to get some more of the other areas this fall.

[NMSandshark]

I would appreciate information on the Prospectors club in the San Pedro Mountains, NM. I possibly would like to join if it can be done. You can email me information to my address. Thanks... I live in Corrales, NM.