Our classroom historical tour is designed to create an exciting and interactive experience for students of all ages. Students explore over sixteen authentic and beautifully restored 19th century buildings and get a taste of Arizona’s adventurous mining history during Vulture’s booming gold rush of 1863-1942. Our student historical tour covers many intriguing topics and stories about gold mining in Arizona and Vulture City. Some examples include:

- How gold was processed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. What kind of chemicals were used and why pack animals like donkeys were so important in

processing gold in the 19th century.

- Where the average miner lived and how much they earned compared to a military officer and other professions.

- Why Vulture was considered a dangerous city and known for its lawlessness, hangings and mining accidents.

- Vulture City’s growing conflicts with its “sister gold mining city” of Prescott and its newly elected 1879 Constable, Virgil Earp.

- We talk about rocks! Arizona is the fifth largest gold producer in the United States, right behind California. We talk about the minerals of Arizona, with

demonstrations of gold panning, lessons on how to identify gems and minerals, ancient uses, etc.

- A kid’s daily life in a turn of the century mining town.

Vulture is a substantial gold mine—950+ feet down with over 25 miles of mining tunnels crisscrossing under this single remote city. Students can stand directly

over and peer down one of our ominous mineshafts from a viewing platform. They learn about the daily risk of being raised and lowered into a deep

treacherous mine for many hours during a shift in hopes of striking it rich. We can also customize our group tours to focus on specific topics your group is

most interested in learning about.

Vulture City is located 10 miles outside Wickenburg on Vulture Mine Road, which can be reached via taking 1-10 South or Grand Avenue from Phoenix

into Wickenburg. www.vulturecitytours.com

Here are a few fun trivia questions we like to ask our student groups:

1) Where is the biggest gold strike in Arizona’s history and how much gold did they find?

2) Did you know that Vulture Mine’s engineers created the City of Phoenix? How and why did they do that? What was the “Jack Swilling Ditch Project” of

1867 (now called the Salt River Project)?

3) What is Vulture City’s connection to Wyatt Earp’s notorious family?

4) Why was Vulture City considered one of the most dangerous mining cities in Western United States? Why did Wells Fargo cancel all services to

Vulture in 1887?

5) Why did the discovery of Vulture Mine in 1863 spark the federal government to begin lobbying for Arizona Territory to become a state? Why were they

worried about Vulture Mine?

6) How did Vulture City get produce and meat for its 5,000 residents when they didn’t have farms? What is the private grain road built by Vulture engineers

now called?

7) Who was Henry Wickenburg? How did his record-breaking discovery of Vulture Mine change Arizona forever? And what happened to Henry next?