Local News

Yuma desert full of abandoned mine shafts
BY BLAKE SCHMIDT, SUN STAFF WRITER
--See Image(s) Below--

Published on: March 20, 2006

Bureau of Land Management officials don’t know how many abandoned mines, like the one "discovered" recently by two unfortunate people in a Suzuki Samurai, are out there.

Nearly a week after a couple of men touring the desert fell nose-first about 30 feet into an abandoned mine west of Yuma, BLM officials are perplexed by just how many mine shafts there could be in the desert surrounding Yuma.

"We’ve got mine shafts from when (the) Spanish first came here, (that could) date back to the 1500s," said Gary Rowell, environmental protection specialist for the Bureau of Land Management Yuma area field office.

The Spanish settlers who came through the present-day Sonoran Desert more then four centuries ago were looking for gold.

Since then, the 1.6 million acres in the BLM’s Yuma field office’s area have continued to see mining claims, much of it recreational.

Many of the mine shafts that were dug out over the years have been abandoned, said BLM spokeswoman Lori Cook, like the one the Samurai fell into.

One of the two passengers suffered a broken arm and the other suffered nicks and cuts from the accident, and it wasn’t the first of its kind. Cook and Rowell said it is not uncommon for people walking through the desert to fall into mines.

Cook said that abandoned and unaccounted for mines in the desert represent a definite safety problem for people who go into the desert.

Cook said the BLM has no way of locating abandoned mines other than researching tips from concerned citizens who report them. Rowell said he has received two tips from citizens in the last month.

Once it receives reports, BLM then typically seals the opening with a fence that allows bats to come in and out or puts up warning signs near the mines. Depending on the availability off funds, it may even fill in shallow mine shafts, Cook said.

Sometimes signs and fencing put up in the desert often don’t stick around.

"You put a nice new sign up one of two things is going to happen: (people) shoot them or take them," Rowell said, adding that fences have been taken as well.

"People like them for souvenirs," he said.

But sign and fence thieves aren’t the only challenge faced by authorities trying to reduce the safety risk that mines present to people who go into the desert.

"If a person has a mining claim, they hold a bit of responsibility for keeping their mining claim safe to the public," Rowell said, adding that many fail to make seemingly inconspicuous mine shafts known to passers-by.

Cook said there are thousands of mining claims in the BLM’s Yuma field office area, most of which has not been inventoried.

Cook, and Gary Taylor, BLM spokesman at the El Centro office, said they do not know how many abandoned mine shafts have been signed, fenced or filled up in their areas of jurisdiction.

"(Abandoned mines) are an ongoing concern for us because there are so many abandoned mining claims out there," Cook said. "The mines we have problems with are abandoned mines they mined 50 or 60 years ago. We just don’t have record of where all those are."

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Blake Schmidt can be reached at bschmidt@yumasun.com or 539-6852.

The earth in the Gold Rock Ranch area off of Ogilby Road is pockmarked with pits and excavated shafts like this one. PHOTOS BY TERRY KETRON/THE SUN

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