LUTZ CANYON

Lutz Canyon leads into one of the most heavily mined areas of the Huachuca Range.  The Lutz Canyon Trail follows an old mining road for much of its length as it climbs into a canyon, which reputedly has been the site of prospecting activity since Spanish explorers   visited the area in the mid-16th century.   The road was originally made to accommodate two wheel bull wagons. Bull Wagons were used to haul heavy loads and were pulled by oxen.   In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mining activity in Lutz Canyon reached a peak.  It then tapered off and came to an end, for all practical purposes, by the 1950’s.

There were six major mines that were worked in the Black Bear Springs area of Lutz Canyon.  The largest mine was the Lutz Tunnel or Black Bear Mine which had an adit 4 feet wide by 7 feet high and 1086 feet long.  Two mines had adits 200 feet long while the other three mines were only 20 to 45 feet long.  Silver and copper were the primary minerals obtained with a ton of ore being about 6% copper and also yielding about 14 ounces of silver. All of the mines have been abandoned.

The remains of a processing facility are located on the north side of the trail about a half mile up from the trailhead. Approximately 2 ½ miles up the trail are the remains of two large pieces of mining equipment, a steam engine and an air compressor.  The air compressor was manufactured by the Rand Drill Company at their Painted Post, New York facility.  Albert Rand started the company in 1872 when he formed the Rand and Waring Drill and Compressor Company.  The company name was changed to the Rand Drill Company in 1879. Later that same year, the first Rand air compressor was produced.  Rand Drill merged with the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company to form Ingersoll-Rand in 1905.  In 1987, Dresser Industries and Ingersoll-Rand formed a joint venture now known as Dresser-Rand.

Summarized in April 2004 by T. Johnson from various web sites and the Miller Peak and Huachuca Peak Quadrangle Volume of the Hazardous Abandoned Mine Finders series of books.

Additional Material: GVHC Library File 31