What Is the Gold Mining History of Lynx Creek?

If you've crossed Lynx Creek on a drive or spent a morning out near Lynx Lake, you've been close to one of the places where this whole area got its start. It's a story we love telling. Here's the answer. In the spring of 1863, a group of prospectors called the Walker Party, guided by Jack Swilling, found gold on the headwaters of the Hassayampa River and then found real ore on Lynx Creek. Word of the find drew miners, soldiers, and Arizona's first territorial governor to the area, and the territorial capital was set nearby. Later, miners worked the creek with high-pressure water in Arizona's first hydraulic mining.

Let's walk through how it unfolded, using the Sharlot Hall Museum's Days Past archive.

According to a Days Past article by Andrew Wallace, the Walker Party followed the Hassayampa into the central mountains of Arizona in the spring of 1863. Jack Swilling had persuaded Joseph Walker that the mountains around the Hassayampa headwaters would likely hold the kind of ore they were after. They found some "color" on the headwaters, and shortly after, they discovered real ore on Lynx Creek.

A Days Past article by Mick Woodcock adds the month: the discovery was made in May on the headwaters of the Hassayampa, and the Walker Party then moved onto Lynx Creek, where more gold was found. The same article notes that a second party, guided by Paulino Weaver, found gold at Antelope Peak, better known as Rich Hill.

Here's the part most people don't hear. We have an eyewitness account from that first summer. A Days Past article by Al Bates describes the visit of Surveyor General Clark, who reached the diggings in August 1863.

By then, the Walker Party and the newcomers had moved eight or ten miles east to Lynx Creek, where miners were "dry washing." Placer mining, meaning gold gathered from loose gravel rather than dug from rock, was still the main method, despite water shortages. Some miners around Lynx Creek were starting to make lode claims too.

Clark was impressed. In his journal he wrote, "The gold is very coarse & is found in almost every ravine."

It wasn't easy work, though. Bates explains that a seasonal lack of water in the creeks limited what the miners could take, because dry washing caught only the coarser gold while the smaller flakes were lost. Getting from place to place over roadless, rugged country was another struggle.

The find didn't stay a secret. Wallace writes that when word got out, the officials of the new Territory of Arizona, including the first governor, John N. Goodwin, were diverted from their original destination of Tucson to the diggings. Governor Goodwin soon decreed that the territorial capital would be there.

The Army followed the miners too. Bates writes that General James H. Carleton responded to Clark's report by sending troops to establish a presence at the diggings, to protect both the miners and the territorial officials on their way. According to Woodcock, Fort Whipple was established on December 23, 1863, and was later ordered to move closer to the mines and the site of the territorial capital. Here's more on the history of Fort Whipple and when Prescott was the capital of Arizona.

Panning and dry washing could only do so much. A Days Past article by Mick Woodcock, "Hydraulicking on Lynx Creek," tells the next chapter. The hydraulic method was developed in California in 1853 to work gold-bearing gravel. A strong stream of water washed the gravel loose, and a sluice box caught the gold.

In Arizona, it was first used on Lynx Creek in 1868, by a company known as Little & Taylor. The early reports were modest:

Woodcock writes that Prescott businessmen, the Jackson brothers, bought the claim and later controlled much of the lower creek, and that other owners and lessees followed through the 1880s. Water was the limit the whole way through, which tells you a lot about mining in a high desert.

Here's a local thread we love. Sharlot Hall, whose name is on Prescott's history museum, grew up along this creek. The Sharlot Hall Museum says her family settled on Lynx Creek near today's Prescott Valley, and its Rose Garden biography says her father first worked a hydraulic gold mining operation on Lynx Creek.

Woodcock's article even finds him in the newspaper: on March 27, 1889, James K. Hall, Sharlot Hall's father, came to town from the Lynx Creek Hydraulic Works. In 1890, the family built Orchard Ranch above the junction of Lynx Creek with the Agua Fria River. Here's her full story in who was Sharlot Hall.

The gold story isn't only in books. The Prescott National Forest lists a Lynx Creek Gold Pan Day Use Area, which it describes as primarily used for recreational gold panning, and it notes that rockhounding, gold panning, and prospecting are all popular on the forest. If you'd like to try it, it helps to check the forest's current rules first.

It also makes for a lovely day out from Prescott Valley. Pair it with a walk at Lynx Lake, then stop at the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott to see the history up close. Here's what you can see at the Sharlot Hall Museum and our guide to hikes near Prescott and Prescott Valley.

Many people who end up living in the Quad Cities first fell for the area on a day like this: a creek, a trail, and a little history. If you're thinking about a move, we're glad to help you build a timeline for your visits, so you can see Prescott Valley and the surrounding towns in more than one season without feeling rushed. Here's how Prescott Valley got its start, too.

When was gold discovered on Lynx Creek?
In 1863. According to the Sharlot Hall Museum's Days Past archive, the Walker Party found gold on the headwaters of the Hassayampa River in May 1863 and then moved onto Lynx Creek, where more gold was found.

Who discovered gold near Prescott?
The Days Past archive says the Walker Party, named for Joseph R. Walker, was the first group to arrive and find gold in the area, with Jack Swilling helping guide them up the Hassayampa. A separate party guided by Paulino Weaver found gold at Rich Hill.

Can you pan for gold at Lynx Creek?
Yes. The Prescott National Forest lists a Lynx Creek Gold Pan Day Use Area that is primarily used for recreational gold panning. Check the forest's current rules before you go.

What is hydraulic mining?
It's a method that uses a strong stream of water to wash loose gold-bearing gravel into a sluice box, which catches the gold. In Arizona it was first used on Lynx Creek in 1868.

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