Located next to the southern Arizona town of Sierra Vista, the Huachuca Mountains are a prime location for fluorescent minerals. 

Miller Canyon Pictures and Collecting Reports

Minerals and Assemblages of Miller Canyon

Collecting Report June 2011

I was very lucky to have made a trip to the Huachuca Mountains before the Monument fire hit.  If I had waited too long then it is likely that I would not have been allowed access to the area.  This, perhaps my final collecting trip to Miller Canyon, was different because I didn’t do any actual lamp collecting.  Instead, over the period of two long days I made multiple trips up and down the mountain to retrieve specimens that I had previously collected and put aside for later.  Out of these I have selected a number of the most interesting pieces including some that are larger than I usually offer.  Also included in this lot are some of the rarer combinations with Powellite, Smithsonite, and Sphalerite.  If these do well then I may put up another set of pieces in a few months.

Starting at this point, the prices of the better Miller Canyon specimens will be higher and are likely to continue that way simply because of lack of availability.  I have put in my 10 + years of work at this location and so it is time for me to retire, as it were.  I hope to take trips out west again and may perhaps visit the mine site on occasion, but that remains simply a hope at this time.  If somebody new wants to go up and work the area the way that I used to then perhaps that will keep prices lower. 

As always, I kept an eye open for wildlife but the weather was unusually hot and dry, conditions that have made the fire season so bad in Arizona this year.  As a result, this trip I just saw mostly deer, squirrels, and the usual numerous Yarrow’s spiny lizards scurrying over rocks and up trees.

 Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

Another lizard spotted on this trip was the Madrean alligator lizard.  On this specimen you can see that the dorsal pattern ends part-way down the tail, indicating that it was broken and has regenerated.

Madrean Alligator Lizard

A less-common sighting was a group of frogs that jumped into a small pool of water, all that was left of the usual mountain stream due to the dry heat.  Although I wasn’t able to verify, these may have been the endangered Chiricahua leopard frog, a species with the unusual behavior of calling while under water.

One creature that I have searched for many times in the Huachuca Mountains is the Sonoran mountain kingsnake.  This very secretive reptile has markings similar to a coral snake but is completely harmless.  Despite my efforts I never did find a kingsnake in the Huachuca Mountains, but in recent years I was finally able to find them in northern Arizona.  Below is a picture of one that I found near Flagstaff.

Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake

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The State of Texas Mine is a Zinc mine similar to the prospect in Miller Canyon.  Although the fluorescence there is generally not as spectacular, there are still some interesting combinations.  Unfortunately the area is entirely closed to collecting and so these pieces are a rarity, particularly the larger ones.

Copper Canyon Scheelite was one of those magical discoveries.  One evening I spent many hours searching the various mines in the canyon only to come up with a handful of pieces.  Then out of dumb luck I found an outcrop of Scheelite in the stream bed not associated with any of the mines.  The variegated patterns are some of most attractive I've seen and a limited number of pieces also feature orange Calcite.