The Cañada del Oro (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, 'Canyon of Gold'), is a primary watershed channel in Oro Valley,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, U.S. The Cañada del Oro originates in the remote Cañon del Oro in the

Santa Catalina Mountains The Santa Catalina Mountains, commonly referred to as the Catalina Mountains or the Catalinas, are north and northeast of Tucson in Arizona, United States, on Tucson's north perimeter. The mountain range is the most prominent in the Tucson area, w ...

north of Tucson, fed by

rainfall Rain is a form of precipitation where water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. ...

and melted

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

from the northern face of

Mount Lemmon Mount Lemmon, with a summit elevation of , is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, United States. Mount Lemmon was named for botany, botanist Sara Plummer Lemm ...

and flows northward toward the town of

Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

. The Cañada del Oro is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

creek in Cañon del Oro at higher

altitudes Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometry, geographical s ...

. The Cañada del Oro curves from flowing northward to southward through the town of Oro Valley north of Tucson, where it is usually a dry riverbed. In Oro Valley, the Cañada del Oro collects watershed from the western face of the

. The Cañada del Oro ultimately feeds into the Santa Cruz River just northwest of Tucson, which is the principal watershed channel in the Tucson valley. Historically, the Cañada del Oro was the focus of significant interest in

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

, beginning with

explorers in the 17th century. As early as 1880, the Cañada del Oro was labeled "Gold Cañon Creek" on American maps. Following the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, American gold-rushers continued the search for the valuable

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

through the 1930s. Prospectors discovered minimal amounts of gold in the Cañada del Oro through

placer mining Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit mining or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Placer mining is frequently used for precious metal deposits (particularly ...

operations, and reportedly mined gold in the ''Lost'' ''Mine with the Iron Door''. The

lost mine The "lost mine" is a popular form of lost treasure legend. Although there are countless examples around the world, several common themes can be traced throughout the various legends. Usually the mines are said to contain valuable elements or min ...

is the subject of a novel of the same name written by

Harold Bell Wright Harold Bell Wright (May 4, 1872 – May 24, 1944) was a best-selling American writer of fiction, essays, and nonfiction. Although mostly forgotten or ignored after the middle of the 20th century, he had a very successful career; he is said to hav ...

in 1923.

References

External links

U.S. Forest Service Canada del Oro Trail Guide

Sierra Club Oracle Ridge–Canada del Oro Trail Guide
{{Coord, 32, 19, 33, N, 111, 03, 46, W, display=title Santa Catalina Mountains Geography of Tucson, Arizona Canyons and gorges of Arizona Landforms of Pima County, Arizona Santa Cruz River (Arizona)

See also

References

External links