Arizona Gold Mining Experience

Cave Creek Museum will open for its fun western event, the Arizona Gold Mining Experience, which will take place on Saturday, November 14 and Saturday, November 28, 2026, from 10 to 11:15 AM.

The massive, working mining exhibit comes to life and features an old gold miner, El Monty Jackson, who helps bring the 1800s to life along with the hardworking miners and townsfolk. Guests learn the hard rock ore extraction process for which Cave Creek is renowned.

The excitement builds with the arrastre, a primitive mill for grinding and pulverizing gold or silver ore. Visitors then witness the amazing Golden Reef Stamp Mill and Tramway, Arizona’s only fully operational ten-stamp ore crushing mill at work. The 10, 1,000-lb. stamps slam down in synchronized motion to pound ore removed from the mine into fine gravel. The stamp mill was brought from its former location at the Golden Reef Mine on Continental Mountain to Cave Creek Museum, which has the only fully operational mining stamp mill in its original mining district in Arizona; it is located just five miles from its site on the mountain. The giant stamp mill also is connected to a working tramway and ore carts that carry the ore to be pulverized to the stamp mill.

The experience continues as guests peer into a mineshaft to show the blasting techniques used by hard rock miners. Next, onto the blacksmith shop for a demonstration of the many skills used when parts and tools had to be fabricated onsite. Guests also will witness a hard rock Arizona gold mine come to life as lights flash and the earth shakes to replicate sequential dynamite explosions. Visitors will learn how the introduction of dynamite and compressed air rock drills increased a mine’s output making it far more dangerous for Arizona miners at the time.

“The Arizona Gold Mining Experience was very enjoyable and educational,” says one recent attendee.

Guests then are encouraged to try their luck at the gold panning station, where museum volunteers show visitors how to pan for ore and minerals just like the prospectors did. Admission to the Experience is $20 for adults and children under 12 are free. Reservations are required.

Reserve tickets online at cavecreekmuseum.org as there is a limit. Visitors, who should plan on coming early, can check in at 9 AM. Culture passes are not accepted for this event. Groups and home school groups are requested to contact the museum office to schedule for special arrangements on another date.