Castle Dome Mine Museum

Hull Mine

Useful Information

Location:	Castle Dome Mine Rd, Yuma, AZ 85365. From Yuma Highway 95 north 50 km, turn right into Castle Dome Mine Road. (33.045893, -114.178006)
Open:	14-OCT to APR daily 10-17. MAY to SEP after appointment. [2023]
Fee:	Ghost Town: Adults USD 15, Children (7-11) USD 7, Children (0-6) free. Hull Mine Underground Tour: Adults USD 125. Hull Mine Above Ground Tour: Adults USD 35, Children (7-11) USD 18, Children (0-6) free.
Classification:	Silver Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	T=29 °C.
Guided tours:	D=2 h.
Photography:	allowed, no flash
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Castle Dome Mine Museum, Castle Dome Mine Rd, Yuma, AZ 85365, Tel: +1-928-920-3062 E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1864	Colonel Jacob Snively and William Ehrenberg discover "a huge silver vein right on top of the ground".
1898	shootout over a stolen windless.
1901	a new guy came to town and shot Juan Liego over a woman.
1979	last miner left the town, after silver prices dropped.
1994	Castle Dome purchased by Allen and Stephanie Armstrong.
1998	mining museum opened to the public
2014	Hull property purchased by Allen and Stephanie Armstrong.
JAN-2017	Fluorescent Wall discovered by Phil Smith, a friend of the museum.

Geology

Description

Castle Dome Mine Museum is actually a mining ghost town which has a mining museum and an underground tour in Hull Mine. The 50 weather-beaten buildings include saloons, barber shop, the stamp mill, church, school and many others. Most are from the former mining town Castle Dome, but some were relocated from other sites in the mining district. The tour also includes a desperado hideout and the worlds largest collection of 1889 Levi Strauss pants. We have no idea why the jeans are part of the mine museum, but probably because they were used by the miners during work. The town sits on three patented mining claims the Floral Temple, Floral Temple extension and the Castle Dome.

The Hull Mine Underground Tour is quite exceptional for the numerous fluorescent minerals, a chamber which is called Enchanted Cavern. The minerals are still in situ, in the walls of the mine tunnel. Short and mid-wave ultraviolet light makes them glow in various colours. The site is located at the 33 m level and reached down a 100 m long inclined tunnel. Visitors enter the mine with "an underground mine transport vehicle", which is a modern vehicle with four wheels, a low platform and benches mounted on the platform. Definitely a one of a kind self made vehicle based on modern standard mining equipment. The gangue with silver galena was mined for the ore until it was mined out, but the other minerals in the gangue, like calcite, fluorite, scheelite, willemite, barite, hydrozincite, aragonite and selenite, were classified as slack and left in the gangue. Those are the minerals which are fluorescent, some are even phosphorescent, which means they keep glowing for some time when the light is turned off. The underground tour also includes an underground blacksmith shop.

There is also a Above ground Hull mine tour, which shows the machinery used to process 2,000 tons of ore daily. Machinery like compressors for the 100 drills, mine office, saw mill, cookhouse, powder house with dynamite boxes, and even the local undertaker with unused coffins. The three stamp mill was restored and is demonstrated. The infrastructure for the miners includes shower house and canteen.

The tours are a bit strange, but as far as we understand the standard fee is for visiting the so-called Mines Museum, which includes the 60 buildings on the surface self-guided. The guided surface tour is more expensive, and includes the entrance fee, but there is also a guide explaining the numerous machines, some are still in working condition and are demonstrated, for example the stamp mill. And finally there are the underground tours with the fluorescent minerals which are in Hull Mine. This mine is located outside the ghost town and the tour includes the transport to the mine and ride on the mine train. Nevertheless, a price of USD 150 seems ridiculous, and we have no idea how they justify this. As far as we understand from comments by visitors, the mine tour was only half as expensive in former years and around a third a few years before. We have no idea if the infrastructure was so expensive or if this is a result of the pandemic. However, many visitors skipped the mine tour with the former price, many more will do so with the current price. That's sad, as the tour sounds quite interesting and makes the site unique, there are several similar ghost town around. And a final drawback: the site is open during the colder half of the year, while we guess that most tourists actually visit a foreign country during summer. The site is at the end of a cul-de-sac, unfortunately only the first part is paved. A gravel road is not really a big problem, but it seems numerous visitors have (imaginary?) problems, especially those with camper vans.

The Castle Dome Mining District covers a 10 km long area along the western flank of the Castle Dome Mountains. The silver ores were discovered by Colonel Jacob Snively and William Ehrenberg in 1864. It became the longest worked mining district in Arizona and there were over 300 mines. There was a silver rush during the 19th century, the mines were reopened during World War II by the Holmes Brothers who mined 4,500 tons of silver galena. The last mine actually closed in 1979, after the silver price dropped and the mining was not profitable any more.