Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0
Chispa Gulch, 105.6 grams

Click to See full map extent

The placers of the Greaterville area are one of the best kept secrets in Arizona. Several highly productive placer gulches extend east from a common source in the Santa Rita Mountains.

These gulches, now part of the Coronado National Forest, were held in private hands for the better part of the 20th century. However, no major placering operation has been completed.

In 1989 The US Forest Service acquired these 3000 acres in a land swap. Due to the terms of the land swap, these lands are withdrawn from mineral entry (claiming), but still open to prospecting.

This unique prospecting opportunity is only part of the many gold bearing areas mapped in the Greaterville FootPrint.

The Greaterville FootPrint covers approximately 72 square miles, centered around the historic town of Greaterville in the Santa Rita Mountains, southeast of Tucson, Arizona.

In addition to the Standard map layers, we have custom layers on Mining Claims, Water Flow .and the following unique map layers.

Historical placer workings

With our historical placer layer, you can find Chispa Gulch and read about where the gold was found there.

"... A 5 to 10 foot channel on bed rock, about 10 feet below the surface, was productive and was being worked by Mexicans in the latter part of March, 1909"

Mineral Patents and Withdrawals

There were many mineral placer patents issued in the Greaterville area in the early years. These areas are PROVEN mineral locations.

We have mapped all Land Patents in the area providing copies of the actual patent where available.

We have also mapped those areas Closed to Mineral Entry

High Resolution Geology

Geology map layers and reports clearly show you the main source of the Greaterville gold.

The geology is mapped at 1:24,000 around the major gold-bearing gulches showing faults and hard rock intrusions. The FootPrint includes 5 related reports and 2 map plates in PDF format for additional study.