Gold Road Mine

In 1900 Jose Jerez, a Mexican prospector grubstaked sixteen dollars by Kingman merchant Henry Lovin, was hunting his lost burro when he broke off a chunk of quartz that assayed at forty ounces of gold to the ton. The claim changed hands fast, resold for $275,000, and by 1907 the mine had milled some 140,625 ounces worth over two million dollars. Jerez himself drank through his share and died poor. Addwest Minerals reopened the workings in the 1990s. The road here is named for the gold, not the man who found it.

What the plaque says

In 1900 Jose Jerez discovered gold here in a chunk of quartz. It was assayed out 40 ounces to the ton! The claim was resold for $275,000. By 1907 the mine milled 140,625 ounces of gold worth $2,250,000. Addwest Minerals acquired the mine in 1992 producing 16,000 ounces in 1995; 40,000 in 1996; and 36,500 in 1997. Low gold prices forced the mine to temporarily close in 1998.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Oatman — 1.4 mi
  A gold camp in the Black Mountains that outlived its mines, now run by wild burros — reached by the wildest switchbacks left on Route 66, and named for a history worth telling straight.
• Kingman — 21 mi
  The working hub of Route 66 in Arizona — a railroad town named for a surveyor, Andy Devine's hometown, and the last real stop before the road's two wildest endings.

More markers nearby

• Durlin Hotel — 1.4 mi
• Fairchild, Olive and Oatman (1837 - 1903) — 1.4 mi
• Arizona Hotel — 1.4 mi
• Oatman Arizona and its Burros — 1.4 mi