Gila City Placers
The Gila City placers can be found on the east side of Yuma and at the north end of the Gila Mountains. The placers in this area were first seen in 1856 and by 1856 miners had already gotten in and mined a great deal of the gravels. The most productive area was known as the Monitor Gulch. This place obtained its name from the attempt of a company in San Francisco to hydraulic mine the placers in 1870. There was also another shot at trying to mine the gravels in 1931 which was the pumping of water from a well close to the railway. Both of these operations were not very successful though and did not last long. There have been some good sized nuggets found in the gulches on the west side of Dome. Almost all of the gulches in the west side of Dome have gold in them. The deposits in this area can be found in spots and some of them are high grade pockets.
The Muggins Mountains
The Muggins Mountains has a good number of gold placers. The best and most productive are though has been Burro Canyon given that a good number of high grade pockets have been found in the area as well as some in other canyons. Whenever there is rain season, it seems that new gold goes washing in with it. The gold washes down from the conglomerates on the canyons walls. These areas have not been worked on as much as some of the other deposits and they are a good opening for prospectors.
The Castle Dome Mountains
The Castle Dome Mountains can be found thirty one miles north east of Dome. This area has placer deposits in a good number of the canyons and gulches in this range however those interested in getting to them will have to dig pretty deep in order to locate them. The gold is for the most part close to or right on the bedrock in the washes and these were worked on first in the 1880’s.