Zulu Mine

In 1878 Sam Hill discovered gold near the present site of the Zulu Mine. The mine operated via an underground shaft following a vein of gold encased in diorite. The mine ceased operation in 1940, and little is left of the site beyond the tailings and the road leading to it. Cattle graze over the former site, more interested in the sparse grasslands of this high chaparral biome than any gold that might be left. Located in the Tonto National Forest, at 2,873,200 acres, the largest of Arizona's National Forests and seventh largest in the nation, Zulu Mine Road, FR 523, is in the looming shadow of the jagged Mazatzal Mountains to the west. Indeed the views afforded from the small hill on which the mine sat are worth a bit of gold themselves and definitely worth the effort negotiating the final steep, narrow portion of the trail. Come check them out for yourself.