Arizona State Parks & Trails: Central Arizona Smelters

Some of Arizona's earliest mining and refining can be found in central Arizona from Jerome to Mayer. Mining activities started shortly after the establishment of the Arizona Territory in 1863.    The first smelter began operation in 1866 to process lead and silver ores along the Agua River. This presentation will discuss the process of materials going from the mine to the refined metals and the different smelters in the Verde Valley area.    About Our Speaker          Brian Beck, CPG, RG has wandered across most of the Southwest for over 50 years, being paid to hike the hills and pick-up rocks. Of course, this all relates to geological work concerning mineral resources and environmental nit-picking (the act of excessively focusing on, or criticizing, minor and trivial details). He has worked both underground and still aboveground, mostly. He still works with paper maps, Brunton, paper notebook and hand-lens (the lens have gone from 8x to 50x).