Arizona's Mercury Mine

Exploring the Sunflower Claim.

- Jay Kopycinski

AS FALL APPROACHED AND the mercury dropped, we set out into the high desert with the High Country Renegades searching for the source of some of that metallic element. The Sunflower Mine (also called the National Mine) was a significant underground claim in the Mazatzal Mountains within Tonto National Forest, northeast of Phoenix. A number of claims were established over the years in this mercury mining area. The initial claims at this site were in 1911, when a prospector was searching for gold and claims were purchased by the Sunflower Cinnabar Mining Company. Production mining began here and lasted well into the 1960s, and to a smaller extent afterwards. There were four tunnels dug in the hills, with one about 500 feet long. The mine reportedly produced nearly 4,000 flasks of mercury, each weighing about 76 pounds. Other notable finds were quantities of copper, gold, and silver.